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5.00 am buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuz......alarm clock goes off....damn it feels like we just went to bed an hour ago. Where did all that sleep go? Hmmm....maybe it left through the gap under the door to the hotel room and crawled out on the sea right besides the hotel front gate.....I don't know, I don't have a clue - but it feels that way.
Well thank God we packed allready - just needed to shower and get dressed...and so we did.
First stop was the Barangay to say good bye to Hernie's familly, and then take all our blongings back to the bus stop, and this time it was the 3 of us as Hernie's cousin who was on her first flight ever was going with us. This time we got on the airconditioned express bus for Dipolog so about 2,5 hours later we sat our feet on Dipolog soil.
Had a nice lunch at the Airport cafeteria...sat outside in the shadow for an hour I think and relaxed abit and with two hours to go we proceeded to check in. The line was long and the airport filled with people - but the staff worked efficiently so we were soon inside the most dull and uninteresting departure hall I've ever seen...and then it happend - through the loudspeakers it suddently sounded: "Cebu Pacific Flight 5J704 bound for Manila is aprox. one hour delayed" - I could have killed that woman had she been right beside me. Not onley did I start to feel tirred now after the early wake up, the bus ride and waiting in a departure hall that is practically nothing but a white box, and looking forward to another hour was not exactly makeing me less tirred.
Well....as allways we did get in the air....just at another time then we planed, and by all means we also landed in Manila. Got into a taxi, droped off Hernies cousin and then proceeded to hotel Atrium in Pasay City. Our first meeting with the front desk staff was not exactly pleasent. I know we had been travelling for about 10 hours, we were tirred, and we probably looked like shit, but that does not justify the staff to look like we were really not welcome in the most arrogant manner.
Then came the next step of check in "I'm gonna need a security deposit!" and I just throw my Visa card over the desk, as he replied " ohhh yeah or better yet a credit card" (implying that he had not expected me to have one) "but I'm gonna need to authoriza at least 5000 Php" and I just looked at him like.
We went up to the room which was huge - around 52 m2 which is acctually a lot for a hotel room, and it eased my temper, allthough for about 30 minutes I really considered calling the Mariott just to see if they had an available room. But then I thought okay..let's just stay here and have the freedom for more fun outside the hotel...
The rooms are really big - nothing below 52 square meters.
Nice furniture, nice settings and big balcony. Safe deposit box available at the front desk.
Also a good affordable restuarant.
What I did not like though and what is probably gonna keep me away from this hotel forever - is the service from the staff.
This started allready upon check in when we were both tired after a long travel from Minadanao which had let us on the road for the better part of ten hours. I aknowledge that we did not look our best that day, but that is no exquse for the front desk staff to act arogant and like we did not belong there.
All first class hotels charge either a security deposit for expences or require a credit card. At first he assumed that I did not have a credit card (without asking) so when I handed it over he said " aaa yeah better yet a credit card" then he wanted to make sure that it could handle a 5000 php authentification...which to his surprise it could.
At this point I was so close to geting the hell out of there.
Later on I was often offended by the fact that when we left or arrived, if my filipino boyfriend would walk in front they would say politely "hello", "good morning", "good evening" but as soon as I apeard they would add Sir. As I stated in my feedback to the hotel because I am white and he's not does not mean that he is not entitled to the same level of service as I am.
