Seat Time

[mjarrels]

Getting read to leave the Phillippines tomorrow... Going to Manila late tonight for a early morning flight... 20 hours and almost 10,000 miles. Pay my exit tax (bribes) to depart the country... Probably take my last swim today in the South China Sea and arrive in Virginia to snow, ice and cold... No heat in the house since mid November... Cat will look foward to seeing me... been alone in the basement for two months with just an occasional visitor looking after him. I think I will start looking at visiting the Phillippines yearly instead of every once and a while... Great country if you know how to work the system. I probably have 4 years under my belt living here.

mark

 

[Spanky1000]

Mark

Welcome back to the states. Turn the heat on, feed the cat, and take a couple of days to get interal timeclock and body back on eastern standard time and get some seat time on the tractor. The tractor seat is much more enjoyable then the airline seat time. I seem to remember 747-400 NWA coach seat width is 17.17 inches armrest to armrest, not a nice thing to think about before the flight. Enjoy the flight . Hope you were up front in the nice seats as those are nicer but get old after the first 8 hours. My longest flights to Japan are around 14 hours on the plane so your 20 hours is much more time for building character. After about 8 hours, if I am not sleeping, I keep wondering two things: are we there yet and I hope the flight crew was well rested and not sleeping or daydreaming on the job. It normally takes me about 24 hours door to door including car and train rides.

What are the cost of living over there compared to home for a US long term visitor?
Wayne

 

[mjarrels]

Cheap cost of living. Biggest expense is airfare. Can fly cheaper via the middle east but wife refuses to go that route. Hardest thing to overcome is the poverty. Son went home after 3 weeks, 14 year old daughter stayed the entire two months (probably destined for summer school now). She wants to feed 60 million people here... my pockets are not that deep. Once flew from Whidbey Island WA. to Dubi... talk about a long flight. Best flights I ever had were on Thai airplanes and on charter purple airplanes... remember Braniff? Probably why they don't exist anymore... flying 6 people around the country using a crew of 8... Those were the days!

mark

 

[Jagmandave]

My son took his family there for a vacation over xmas - to Borocay Island. They went via Korea and Korean airlines.........