Manila, Philippines

LAX with my longboard

Greetings from Manila Philippines!.

After a wonderful flight on Korean Air, I am now in a condo here in Manila. 

The check in procedure at LAX was easy. Korean Air gave me a phone quote of $125 to bring the surfboard with a 110" max length. My board with bag was almost 112" I was sweating this as I approached the counter. I arrived extra early in case i had to speed home and dump the board. The travel gods were smiling down on me on this day as the super friendly Korean Air agents never even measured the board just weighed it and sent it thru. Then I was only charged $75! SWEET!

On board the plane seemed new and nice. I sat next to a nice guy from Pasadena headed to Hong Kong on holiday. We shared the same travel strategy of drinking beers till one passed out. I had 7 till I fell asleep for 5 hours. The 12 hour flight to Inchon, Korea was a breeze. I wandered the wonderful new airport during my 2 hour layover till I boarded the 3 hour flight to Manila. Maybe the best trans-Pacific flight I ever had.

Once in Manila I had to convince a taxi to bring my board to the city center. I brought along some rope to lash the board to the roof of the cab. Of course we got some funny looks as we negotiated the traffic [see photo].

The weather is hot and humid as expected. 80s and 90s during the day. The evening brings some powerful thunderstorms with crazy lightning. Im on the 15th floor so the lightning seems to be right on my balcony followed by booming thunder. A golden retrievers worst nightmare!

On Monday I fly Philippine Airways south to Surigao City... but that story is for another blog.
Feel free to pass this along to other kind souls.    Peter.

Manila taxi