Day 128: Reuniting

Time to check out and move on. Excited today because I was heading back to Manila to meet up with Shandos! My flight was at 1:50pm so I took my time over breakfast and used my laptop at the pool until it was time to depart at 11:30. Had a nice ride in a hotel van to the airport - the driver was very friendly and we had a good chat about life and so on. He was a 25 year old guy who'd finished a college degree in hospitality and worked at the hotel for 3 years. His girlfriend had just graduated from her hospitality degree as well and they were hoping to find work on a cruise ship so they could see the world for a few years before settling down and starting a family. Nice young guy.

Although I'm very cynical these days about arriving at the airport a couple of hours before the flight is scheduled, I unfortunately found myself in a very small, very empty airport with more than 2 hours to kill. Thankfully they had decent wifi so I read the internet and killed time until my flight. Everything went smoothly and I was back in Manila by 3pm. Grabbed a Grab to the nearby Belmont Hotel where Shandos's tour was finishing, and the lobby was absolute bedlam - chock full of people I'd met a week previously, returning from their tours!

A lovely young lady from Melbourne who was good friends with the organisers convinced the hotel that it was fine for me to check in as Shandos, so I did and settled into our room on the 9th floor. Not huge, but very modern and super convenient with things like five separate universal plug adaptors on the walls. Again I spent a few hours online, catching up on stuff that I hadn't done the previous week.

I was keeping tabs on Shandos's flight as it wasn't due for a couple of hours, but it got delayed a few times and she didn't end up arriving until nearly 7:30pm! I had a brief chat with her group while everything got sorted out, then we had a quick dinner downstairs in the hotel restaurant. Shandos wasn't feeling well, with an upset stomach and slight cold, but otherwise she'd had a very enjoyable week travelling through Iloilo, Bacolod and Negros.

Exhausted, we both collapsed into bed fairly early but excited about our trip to Hong Kong in the morning!Read more