Philippine Travel Journal – Day One
It’s 8:45 AM and I’m sitting in a coffee shop in the Manilla airport wrapping up a cheese and cracker tray. So far so good on the WorthPoint trip to Iligan City. I left Dulles International Saturday afternoon at 6:00 PM on American Airlines to Los Angeles. That 5 hour trip was just a precursor to the Los Angeles to Guam to Manilla marathon flight on Philippine Air. 16 hours. Thats 21 hours without a cigarette. Ok…Ok…I hear you. I shouldn’t be smoking anyway.
The Manilla airport has a very Singapore feel to it. It is extremely clean, I cannot find one piece of trash anywhere inside or outside the terminal. The airline representatives and terminal security guards are all very helpful and friendly. I’ve actually had two guards come up to me and ask if I needed any assistance (I didn’t think I looked that
lost).
Manilla has the smell of burnt oil and exhaust fumes that I’ve found in almost every port city I’ve visited throughout the world. Ecology Green has not taken root here yet. Taxis, buses and the delivery trucks I see are all spouting black smoke from their mufflers. Oh and if you visit here and walk around outside expect to be approached by every cabbie in the area asking if you need a ride.
My last flight takes off in about an hour taking me to Cagayan de Oro. There I’ll be met by some NewHelix folks who will bring me to Iligan. 
I should reach NewHelix at 2:00 and I’ve got my first WorthPoint meeting scheduled at 3:00. No sense in wasting time, may as well jump in as soon as I get there. No matter how rough the trip here is, its definitely worth doing. I’m looking forward to working face-to-face with my developers and setting up process to improve our Skype communications in the future.
In a little over 5 hours my 30-something hour trek will be concluded for the trip out. I don’t want to think about having to do it all over again on the way home.
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