El Paso to Philippines

Author Message   Larry W. Carnes Senior Member Username: Larry Post Number: 1046 Registered: 06-2003 Posted From: 112.202.195.163 Posted on Tuesday, January 26, 2010 - 06:16 am:    "send the K=Bay DF info to John G" I did; he says he'll incorporate it in the next update to the data base. I also called both Kadena DFs to inquire about their policy for retirees. Both said no retirees except on major holidays. I was very welcome at Yokota's, though, at least for midnight rats. It's mostly breakfast type food at that meal. Speaking of food: Forgot to mention in my trip report that of course no box lunches were available at K-Bay, but money was collected by C40 loadmaster before landing on Wake. The box lunches were a buck cheaper than typical AMC variety, but only half as big. I think it was a sandwich, 10 ounce fruity drink, big cookie and cup of fruit cocktail. Better than nothing!   John D. Moderator Username: John_d Post Number: 3870 Registered: 06-2003 Posted From: 95.208.80.143 Posted on Monday, January 25, 2010 - 03:42 pm:    Larry, You may want to send the K=Bay DF info to John G so he can update his goodeats spreadsheet for future travelers.   Edgar Inocentes Senior Member Username: Traveler88 Post Number: 453 Registered: 01-2005 Posted From: 209.242.132.226 Posted on Monday, January 25, 2010 - 03:01 pm:    SM beer - Cheers! Great report Larry.   Gary J. Roberts Advanced Member Username: Roadrunner58 Post Number: 399 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 70.128.15.199 Posted on Monday, January 25, 2010 - 12:17 pm:    Larry....good report....sounds like everything went about as good as could be expected after getting to CA! We'll be heading to the Philippines in a couple weeks....hope the Space A Gods are with us. My wife took her Oath of Citizenship last Friday, so this will be her first time traveling on an American Passport. Sure glad to be finished dealing with U.S. Immigration! Enjoy the SM beer and dancing girls....have a safe trip home!   Larry W. Carnes Senior Member Username: Larry Post Number: 1045 Registered: 06-2003 Posted From: 111.125.79.69 Posted on Monday, January 25, 2010 - 05:44 am:    I found out on the morning of Jan 5 that I suddenly had two options for getting to Kadena: a Ft. Worth C40 with 48 projected seats and a Kelly/Lackland C5 with 73....both departing the following day. I chose the C40 because I'd always had good luck getting out of FW, and as everyone knows, C5s rarely get off as scheduled. So, I took the overnight bus to downtown FW, the city bus out to Ridgmar Mall, and set out walking to the NAS/JRB. I was pleased to see that in the 2 years since my last visit, they have installed sidewalks along Green Oaks Blvd, and once you get to the intersection of Alta Mere Rd you can cut through the new Target parking lot. That saves 100 yards of walking. A Reservist stopped and gave me a lift all the way to the PAX terminal. That was the extent of my good luck: The C40 seats dropped to 26 because of extra cargo, plus SPATs that had gotten on at the plane's origin in JAX and stop at ADW. Plus CAT III moms with kids came out of the woodwork just before roll call. End result was none of the 12 or so CAT VIs got on the FW bird. I had no Plan B, so had to take the overnight bus back to El Paso. And to add injury to insult, the K/L C5, as well as another Memphis C5, both had departed on time with oodles of empty seats. Go figure! NASNI's schedule showed several flights to Hawaii & beyond the next week. I took the overnight Greyhound to Santa Ana on the 12th, then the MetroLink ($9.00) to Oceanside and the Coaster ($6.50) to downtown San Diego. NI had rooms available but I elected to stay the night in the HI Hostel on Market Street ($22 for members, with free pancake breakfast). Caught the first city bus leaving for NI the next morning ($2.25) and arrived at the PAX with time to spare for the 7 AM show time. This was a C40 to K-BAY, Wake and Kadena. Only problem was NI would not manifest anyone past K-Bay because they said there was an RON on Wake. I made the cut for the flight....barely. About a dozen or so other CAT VIs didn't. Arrived at K-Bay around 2 PM, and learned the C40 was only refueling at WAKE, so they would offer seats the next morning to Kadena. It was the usual Chinese fire drill of people trying to figure how to get from the K-Bay terminal to Hickam. I had been calling the BOQ there the previous 2 days and been told there would be no rooms. Called the Marine Lodge and was told only one room was available, at $109 a night. Split a taxi with another SPAT over to the BOQ just to try in person. That netted a nice room with shared bath for $39. Guess they had cancellations. Someone had posted earlier that retirees were welcome at the DFs on K-Bay. That is NOT the case! I was told by the head count/cashier at the main DF retirees could only use it on major holidays, and a retired military PAX REP at the terminal told me retirees can't use the small flight kitchen near there, either. Split a cab with two other SPATs from BOQ to PAX next morning. There were plenty of seats available to Kadena. The 2-hour stop on WAKE was interesting, the highlight being the museum in the terminal. Definitely wouldn't want to live on the island, though. Pretty small and barren. Got into Kadena in early afternoon and was driven to Immigration by PAX personnel. He dropped me and one other SPAT off at the Habu Hilton office on way back. They had no rooms left in that area, but had some in bldg 324....even farther away than the AF Billeting office. But they were only $34 a night, which helped with the 9 buck cab fare over there. The next afternoon, 17 Jan, I got manifested to Yokota on an Alaska Air Guard C130 on its way home from deployment in Afghanistan. Landed around 8 PM, just as the PAX terminal was closing. The Rep signed me in, and, since a DC-8 would be leaving for Singapore early the next morning, advised me to walk over to Jap Immigration right then to get stamped out of the country. No rooms available at Kanto Lodge! I killed a couple of hours in their business center surfing the Internet, then walked over to the mess hall for midnight rats. After than, walked back to the Kanto and killed a few more hours online. Decided to take a chance and book a one way ticket on a Tiger Airways flight from Sing to Clark, Philippines for the 19th online while the seats were available and at a bargain price. It ended up costing me the equivalent of 93 USD, charged in Sing dollars. If I'd charged it in "home currency", it would have been $99 US. Lesson: don't fall for the home currency offer! Anyway, I printed out my confirmation email and was set. The DC-8 took all 25 or so people who wanted to go early the 18th. Nice flight, with movies and lots of free food. Landed in Sing mid-afternoon, took 94 bus (SGD 1.20) down to Eunos MRT station, then the MRT to Aljuneid Sta. From there, I walked a block south on Aljuneid Ave to Geylang Ave then 3 or 4 blocks West to Lorong 18. I'd stayed at the Budget One hotel on the corner two years ago; it's still just 45 SGD for a small air conditioned room with toilet & shower. Exchange rate was 1.39 SGD to USD. Lots of reasonable restaurants in the area. Next morning I checked out of the hotel, walked back to the MRT station and bought a ticket to Changi Airport (2.60 SGD). Had to change lines once along the way....entire trip probably took 20 minutes or so. At Changi, I followed the signs to the Free Budget Terminal bus. The budget terminal has a McDonalds and one or two mini-cafeterias, which I'd recommend using before boarding because Tiger charges for EVERYTHING inflight. Boarded before noon, arrived at Clark around 3:30. Walked the half mile or so south out the gate, and caught a Jeepney heading to the Friendship Gate (8 PHP). Walked from the gate about one mile to the Hotel Maharajah along Perimeter/Don Jucio Ave. Got a nice large air conditioned room with frig and cable TV for 1200 PHP. Exchange rate is 45.8 PHP to the dollar. My credit card statement shows I'm paying around $26 a night. Jeepneys pass by the hotel every 5 minutes heading into Angeles City; fare is 7 PHP, or around 16 cents U.S. Trike fare is usually 100 PHP but the jeepneys only take 10 to 15 minutes for the trip. Beer is 40 PHP in most restaurants, and 50-80 PHP in the bars that have the dancing girls. Food is very reasonable here, too. I've just been chilling out, enjoying the nice weather & interesting sights for the last 6 days. Made contact with the Clark AMC rep; mostly small planes transiting Clark for the next week or so. I have about 45 lbs total so I'll probably wait for a larger A/C. Tomorrow I plan on taking a bus to either Baguio, which I visited two years ago and really liked, or to Manila, which I haven't been to in my 2 previous trips. It's looking doubtful that I'll make it back Hickam in time for the BFB. Shame to miss out on their 4 dollar cups of draft beer but choices have to be made.