It took us a little more than 25 hours from our check-out at
our Seattle Hotel before checking into our hotel in Cebu City. We started our morning with a quick breakfast
at the 5-Point Café, a dive bar that serves alcohol at 8 in the
morning. Although we didn’t get bloody
mary’s or beers as the other diners, we did take advantage of their early
morning happy hour special, the Mo got French toast for $3.00 and I got a
delicious thick cut apple bacon egg and cheese sandwich for $2.75.
 |
| Delicious $ 2.50 breakfast sandwich |
The hotel courtesy town car drove us to the Westlake LinkRail station where we caught airport shuttle.
The train set us back only $2.75 each compared to the $50.00 cab ride we
paid upon arrival.
Check- in and airport security was a breeze and we were
sitting at our gate in no time. Funny
story, the Mo tried to surprise me with a “Special Occasion” cake on the flight
by requesting one in advance. Of course, the ticketing agent verified this
information in-front of me and I had no idea what she was talking about. The Mo looked all panicky and bothered and I
finally got it. LOL, it was supposed to be a surprise and she ruined it.
Shortly after our Korean Air flight took off, we were served honey
roasted peanuts and drinks, of course I got red wine. Our meal choices were pasta, chicken or
Korean bimbimbap. Both the Mo and I went
with the Korean staple dish. The flight
attendant gave us a “recipe” card on how to assemble our meal with the separate
rice, sesame oil and red chili paste.
After several glasses of wine and catching up on the last
jaw dropping episode of Homeland, I passed out to Celine Dion's Greatest Hits album. I woke up a few times and watched 3 different movies.
After 10 hours we arrived in South Korea
where we herded through airport security again.
I appreciate the extra security but it was quite the hassle. We stood in line for almost an hour with
anxious passengers fearing they would miss their connection flight. People were
shoving and yelling at each other as the line slowly moved. Finally the TSA agents had to let those
passengers with “Final Boarding Calls” through the line so they would make
their flight.
Our flight was slightly delayed because we had to wait for
other connecting flights to arrive. I suspect it was the emergency/disaster
relief teams from other nations. Once the final group arrived, we boarded.
I have never rode on a 777-200 before with 2 decks of seating. Our seats were in the back where there were
only 2 of us in a row and the Mo appreciated the extra leg room.
After our dinner of Chinese beef and lo mein was served, the
flight attendant brought out our “surprise” celebration” cake.
I was too tired to eat it so we put it
aside. Every time I fell asleep, I would
be woken by the turbulence. It was not a
good flight.
We arrived in Cebu City and were greeted with a warm welcome
by both the Korean airlines crew and the employees at the Mactan/Cebu
airport. Immigration line was a bitch! We stood in line for 30 minutes in a hot room
with people pushing and cutting the line.
I had a little” freak-out” moment when a lady decide to tend to her baby
at the very bottom of the escalator causing a bottleneck situation that led myself
and others to fall along with our
luggage tumbling on top of us. All she
had to do was take one step aside so everyone can get through. We had nowhere to go and it was not a pretty
scene.
The airport taxi stand was very efficient and the line went
by fast. Two to three taxis would line
up and the airport employees helped us with our luggage and wrote down our taxi
number for us in case there were any issues.
It was raining when we arrived in the city and the airport
transfer to our hotel was about 20 minutes.
I was relieved to check into our hotel, the Best Western Lex Cebu, it was listed #5 on Tripadvisor and we will actually be staying in the #2 hotel later. Upon entering the hotel, I felt like I walked into Christmas. The lobby was adorned with a beautiful Christmas tree and the speakers piped out Christmas carols. The modern hotel only set us back
$50.00 for the night.
The room boasted a
large king size bed, LCD screen and separate tub and shower. It was very similar to the Pan Pacific hotel
we just stayed at with the large soak tub having a view of the bedroom.
We were too tired to go out and explore. We took a nice bath, ate our cake and called
it a night.
