[Project FeeTrail September 2014]: Hello Hong Kong, Merry Macau

This trip to Hong Kong and Macau has long been booked since last year. Aprille and I scored really cheap tickets online and decided to book a trip to Hong Kong as gift for our mom's birthday. It's our first ever trip together as a family. My parents have been in Hong Kong years ago and our mom's last visit in HK was back in 1997 so with all the new technologies and improvement, it's like seeing HK again for the first time.

Since this trip is a gift, 95% of the total expenses was shouldered by my sister and me. And because we already knew that beforehand, we saved up and researched all the possible discounts, made our own itinerary (to save up from tour agency fees), bought USD and HKD as per recommendation of friends who traveled to HK before.

When asked how's the HK-Macau trip was, I could sum it up as: Learning experience. On top of the other stuff that I already learned when traveling, here are my discoveries in this trip:

1. When travelling with a Senior Citizen (SC), it is important to have a big, nice, very comfortable accommodation. ( I flunked this part because we stayed at a traveler's inn/backpacker's inn. The photo looked nothing like the one on the internet and I was not informed that we have to pay cash upon arrival. But it turned out good because we just really need a place to sleep with wifi, and we saved a lot on transportation as we are situated in a good location, few steps from the MTR)

2. Check your itinerary, make sure it is SC-friendly. ( Macau is probably the best decision for the SC-friendly tour as we walked and discovered the city, watched the House of Dancing Waters-stay tuned for that post-and rode a comfortable ferry.) The other travel boo-boos we had was we had Ocean Park and Disneyland as part of the trip. It requires a long walk under the sun. Although my mom enjoyed the trip to the Peak Tram and Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, all the walking tired her out at the end of the day.

3. Book your tickets in advance to avoid the hassle. I got discounted tickets from Madame Tussauds (due to early booking online), and discounted Ocean Park and Disneyland tickets (from Travel and tour office in MTR stations). My sister booked the House of Dancing Water a week before the trip so we will not be lured in getting the priciest tickets when we get to Macau (it's a tactic, I was told).

4. Coins are important and handy, especially in MTRs. Important to pack your own tissue (restaurants/eatery don't usually give them out freely), bring an umbrella, bring a huge garbage bag for luggage protections when it rains, and when shopping, use a stroller bag. Bring your own toiletries, HK doesn't have the retail (tingi) culture, so no sachet shampoo or conditioner available.

5. Check the weather, dress accordingly. HK weather in September is HOT. Like Summer in Manila. When we were there, it didn't feel like we are in a different country at all. I also downloaded a lot of smartphone apps to help us get around including currency converter, MTR map, and journey planner in HK. I also printed out a day to day itinerary (that I made myself) and instructions how to get around HK. We were able to roam around HK like locals, made friends with other fellow pinoys (there are a lot of them!) and if only I took a picture of every Filipino that my mom made friends with, I will have a collage.

6. When in HK/Macau, pay when you can pay using a credit card (provided you are a responsible spender, of course) you never know when your actual HKD cash will come in handy.  You can buy HKD at the airport, and it is surprisingly cheaper. But always make sure to have a USD with you. Another lesson I learned when buying dollars is it is illegal to buy dollars in the Philippines if you are not travelling. You can't just buy dollars and deposit it in a dollar account. That is why some banks require you to present your passport/plane ticket/itinerary. Some banks don't allow you to buy dollars from them unless you are an account holder and charge Php 100 for it (read: PNB).

7. Forget what it says on the internet, ask the locals to show you the good finds. Everyone was saying shop at Mongkok, but there are other places for really affordable goods.

8. Earlier this year, my sister and I traveled to Japan. Japan was the comparison point we had since it was the most recent out of the country trip we had this year. I learned a lot of culture and values stuff from HK locals, that in respect for HK locals, I will not write them in this blog.

9. Overseas Filipino Workers are really nice to Pinoy Travelers. Of course, not 100%, but we were blessed to have met really nice pinoys who gladly, and willingly showed us where to go. Also, its a good thing my friend Rogus and his wife Carie are based in HK, they delighted us with stories about life in Hong Kong.

At the Venetian, in Macau

At the Ocean Park Observatory, Hong Kong 

The night before our flight, Hong Kong released a Typhoon 8 warning signal and all business establishments shut down. They sent everyone home, regardless if there are still customers in stores. I was worried that our flight might be cancelled (I never experienced that before). Carie told me not to worry because storms in HK only lasts up to 6 hours, it'll be gone by the time of our flight. But at 3am, I got an email and text from our airline that our 10:40 am flight was moved to 2:50 pm. That's alright, but when we got to the airport, I found out that all flights were cancelled due to bad weather. To make the story short, I fought to get seats for the next available flight. Although it's no one fault, I learned that:

10. In the event of a cancelled/moved flight due to a force majeure, You will have to call the airline call center (Cebu Pacific Manila Office) to rebook your ticket, otherwise you will just be considered as a chance passenger. Re-booking your ticket means your names are on the list and secured. But you can only do it once, if you re-book again on another time, you will have to pay the charges. I also found out that when your mobile phone's roaming is on, Globe charges you Php 120.00 per minute. I spent the first call to Manila for about 5-7 mins then got cut off. The second call was a success lasting 13 minutes with secured plane tickets. The next day Globe cut my line off saying I exceeded my line credit and that I have to settle it first. But my mobile phone plan was on auto-charge in my credit card, so they definitely heard from me. They heard a lot from me.

Anyway, when we finally reached home, I wrote this lengthy Facebook post to commemorate the day:

Braved Hong Kong's Typhoon signal 8; got drenched running in the rain trying to get to the airport; reached the airport found out that all flights to MNL were cancelled; called airline in Manila and fought for the last seats for the last flight of the day; got stranded for 12 hrs at the airport; camped out and napped at McDo couch; had limited pocket money; read the news about the bad weather flight to HK from MNL hrs before our flight; concealed anxiety over expected turbulence by chatting with friends via Viber and Line; finally got our new flight ticket boarding pass; flight back home got delayed by an hour, landed in the Philippines at almost 2am; and now I finally get to sleep on my own bed by almost 4. Hong Kong was fun, but I am really glad to be home! Thank you Lord! Good Mornight!