ginapeterb
1st June 2005, 04:02
Hello Guys, well I am back in Country once again...hello Kieth and Rob, and Paul, hope you are all ok back in the Mother Country.
I left UK on Saturday the 28th, after my other British freind Steve turned up at mine about 7am in the morning, we had to rush to beat the bank holiday traffice and decided it was better to sit in the airport than get caught in the rush, so we arrived at Heathrow around 11am.
Thanks for the tip about Q Park Rob, however I nearly didnt get in, they wouldnt take the car, as I had not pre-booked, but I mentioned your name Rob, and said you had recommended me, and they checked back your booking and gave me a slot. but then the guy said no more slots today, so i got lucky.
We sat in the bar all afternoon getting p...until around 17.30pm when finally we checked in...having got our boarding cards, we then went airside and had a walk around but the time soon passed and we boarded at 20.30pm, sadly we got stuck at the gate, as by the time we had boarded, some guy decided he wasnt going to fly, so his bags had to be taken off...sounds familiar right ?
Emirates Service.
The Aircraft type was there Boeing 777-300 a favourite of Keith, much more seat pitch, and what straight away impressed me, was the quality of the Entertainment system built into the seat in front.
Rob had already mentioned this to me in a previous post, so i was looking forward to it, the forward and downlooking camera was neat, also the satellite phone using Emtel was impressive, however as i was going on a suprise visit, I thought I would reserve using this until the return leg.
The seat to seat call system did not appear to work, or when I tried it...to talk to Steve my freind, who was a few rows in front on this leg...did not work, or perhaps he did not hear my call.
The Entertainment system was a superb advancement considering the quality of some of the other carriers systems, notibly the choice of CD on demand, the movies sadly were the same ones as I have seen recently on Singapore Airlines, although I was glad to watch the Dirty Dozen again, as some of the old flicks were a nice time passer.
The food was also slightly better than Singapore Airlines and the choice of spirits were welcome, I noted Champagne was chargeable if needed, but the majority of drinks were free, however trying to get a 2nd drink straight after appeared to be problematic due to the sheer pressure on the cabin staff.
the 6 hour and 30 minute flight to Dubai seemed to labour.. a little, but around 0620 in the morning we arrived to a temperature of 42 degrees, the airport is as Rob says, fairly transit style, however I thought more modern than some UK Airports, although there was only a 2 hour gap in between our onward connection when we stepped off one flight, it was ready to go and Queue for the next one.
The Dubai to Manila connection was the usual hundres of Filipinos returning with all the goods and chattels they could carry, designer bags and Nike Trainers, the 8 hour flight was delayed by 1 hour, and after a rather long experience we landed at NAIA at 22.30pm, over 1 hour late inbound, passing through immigration quickly and customs I departed company from my freind who met his wife in NAIA and took a taxi downtown.
Conclusion.
Emirates offers in my view the best Entertainment system however, on the food and general service their is little to choose from with Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Gulf Air, and Emirates, but Emirates just seems to tip you in their favour, but they were sadly let down by a rather grush boarding procedure in London, where their was a mad rush to get on board and no clear procedure for boarding.
Makati.
Having took a taxi downtown, though Pasay City, I was recommended to go to the Great Eastern Aberdeen court hotel, in Makati Avenue, interestingly, the hotel has large Superior double rooms and yes...large lovely bath tubs, the Mini Bar was stocked which was welcome at that time of night, and their was toothpaste and a tooth brush, albeit it wasnt free with the room but it was there to add to your room bill if you wanted it, also there was 2 large matrimonial beds, plenty of towels, cable t.v. and a good airconditioning system.
The breakfast room was good too with a view overlooking Makati City, the complimentary breakfast included was a bit on the mean side, it was a continental, however other breakfasts were available, on a pay per eat basis.
I left at 06.30am in the morning for my trip back up to Terminal 2 Centennial, for my flight to the Provinces, Philippine Airlines PR 133 to Bacolod left at 0900am, and arrived in my destination Bacolod at 10.05am, at that time, The Philippine Air Forces Fokker jet used for the President was on the tarmac, it appeared that PGMA was in town doing a ribbon cutting exercise, so there was a few military around on the tarmac.
as many of you will know, my wife had no idea I was actually coming, so I was gambling on complete suprise, which in the end worked to a treat, I did take a taxi to my wife's company, and got the taxi driver to drop me
I left UK on Saturday the 28th, after my other British freind Steve turned up at mine about 7am in the morning, we had to rush to beat the bank holiday traffice and decided it was better to sit in the airport than get caught in the rush, so we arrived at Heathrow around 11am.
Thanks for the tip about Q Park Rob, however I nearly didnt get in, they wouldnt take the car, as I had not pre-booked, but I mentioned your name Rob, and said you had recommended me, and they checked back your booking and gave me a slot. but then the guy said no more slots today, so i got lucky.
We sat in the bar all afternoon getting p...until around 17.30pm when finally we checked in...having got our boarding cards, we then went airside and had a walk around but the time soon passed and we boarded at 20.30pm, sadly we got stuck at the gate, as by the time we had boarded, some guy decided he wasnt going to fly, so his bags had to be taken off...sounds familiar right ?
Emirates Service.
The Aircraft type was there Boeing 777-300 a favourite of Keith, much more seat pitch, and what straight away impressed me, was the quality of the Entertainment system built into the seat in front.
Rob had already mentioned this to me in a previous post, so i was looking forward to it, the forward and downlooking camera was neat, also the satellite phone using Emtel was impressive, however as i was going on a suprise visit, I thought I would reserve using this until the return leg.
The seat to seat call system did not appear to work, or when I tried it...to talk to Steve my freind, who was a few rows in front on this leg...did not work, or perhaps he did not hear my call.
The Entertainment system was a superb advancement considering the quality of some of the other carriers systems, notibly the choice of CD on demand, the movies sadly were the same ones as I have seen recently on Singapore Airlines, although I was glad to watch the Dirty Dozen again, as some of the old flicks were a nice time passer.
The food was also slightly better than Singapore Airlines and the choice of spirits were welcome, I noted Champagne was chargeable if needed, but the majority of drinks were free, however trying to get a 2nd drink straight after appeared to be problematic due to the sheer pressure on the cabin staff.
the 6 hour and 30 minute flight to Dubai seemed to labour.. a little, but around 0620 in the morning we arrived to a temperature of 42 degrees, the airport is as Rob says, fairly transit style, however I thought more modern than some UK Airports, although there was only a 2 hour gap in between our onward connection when we stepped off one flight, it was ready to go and Queue for the next one.
The Dubai to Manila connection was the usual hundres of Filipinos returning with all the goods and chattels they could carry, designer bags and Nike Trainers, the 8 hour flight was delayed by 1 hour, and after a rather long experience we landed at NAIA at 22.30pm, over 1 hour late inbound, passing through immigration quickly and customs I departed company from my freind who met his wife in NAIA and took a taxi downtown.
Conclusion.
Emirates offers in my view the best Entertainment system however, on the food and general service their is little to choose from with Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Gulf Air, and Emirates, but Emirates just seems to tip you in their favour, but they were sadly let down by a rather grush boarding procedure in London, where their was a mad rush to get on board and no clear procedure for boarding.
Makati.
Having took a taxi downtown, though Pasay City, I was recommended to go to the Great Eastern Aberdeen court hotel, in Makati Avenue, interestingly, the hotel has large Superior double rooms and yes...large lovely bath tubs, the Mini Bar was stocked which was welcome at that time of night, and their was toothpaste and a tooth brush, albeit it wasnt free with the room but it was there to add to your room bill if you wanted it, also there was 2 large matrimonial beds, plenty of towels, cable t.v. and a good airconditioning system.
The breakfast room was good too with a view overlooking Makati City, the complimentary breakfast included was a bit on the mean side, it was a continental, however other breakfasts were available, on a pay per eat basis.
I left at 06.30am in the morning for my trip back up to Terminal 2 Centennial, for my flight to the Provinces, Philippine Airlines PR 133 to Bacolod left at 0900am, and arrived in my destination Bacolod at 10.05am, at that time, The Philippine Air Forces Fokker jet used for the President was on the tarmac, it appeared that PGMA was in town doing a ribbon cutting exercise, so there was a few military around on the tarmac.
as many of you will know, my wife had no idea I was actually coming, so I was gambling on complete suprise, which in the end worked to a treat, I did take a taxi to my wife's company, and got the taxi driver to drop me