HK SERIES: THE AIRPORT FIASCO

After a 1-1/2 hour bumpy ride, we arrived at Chep Lap Kok, the new HK international airport.

As a traveller, I can officially be classified as a free-wheeler. I don't like packaged tours. I don't like following a schedule that someone else drafted for me. (I like making my own schedule and have everyone else follow it instead, hahaha! Joke! Half-meant. =))

I don't like packaged tours because I don't like being herded off from one location to the next before being able to fully appreciate what the current place is all about. During past travels with friends, the only thing we booked prior to taking off is the plane ticket, plus loose arrangements for accommodations. Hehe. =D

When I travel with family, however, I inevitably shift to "safe-mode" and book the hotel, the hotel transfers and transpo arrangements to and from the different locations of interest in advance. For HK, I decided to go hybrid. I booked the hotels plus the transfers to the city hotel, the transfers from the city hotel to the Disney hotel, and finally, the transfers from the Disney hotel to the airport. Aside from that, I told travel agent Teri that we would just find our own way around HK. With two kids in tow, I felt arranging for transfers was the right thing to do.

We took the 8:30 a.m. flight out of Manila with me thinking that we can at least make the most out of our first day. Expecting to arrive in HK by 10:00 a.m., we can at least have the rest of the morning to rest, and the entire afternoon to finish our shopping, leaving the rest of the days for the visits to the different "tour sites".

We landed on time and proceeded to look for the hotel transfer station. HKite Tour Guide asked us to wait for 10-30 minutes (quite a range, I know) because we were waiting for another group who will be joining us for the transfers. No biggie. We can use the time to rest--except that the 10 minutes took 30 minutes which then stretched to 45 minutes, then to 1 hour with HKite Tour Guide not even bothering to update us on what's going on.

By that time, Hubby Sweet and G-Genius were already running out of ways to entertain the kids. By that time, an entire group of Pinoys were also beginning to gang up on HKite Tour Guide, demanding that we be transferred to our hotels already! The wait was getting ridiculous. He apologized and begged for our understanding. The last group has finally flown in, he said, and we will be ready to leave in 15 minutes tops. I was seething....>;\

30 minutes later, he finally rounded up the troops and asked us to follow him to the bus terminal.

"All folks booked at The Marco Polo, follow me please..." HKite Tour Guide called out as a group of disgruntled but now relieved Pinoys followed him.

"All folks booked at The-Whatever-Hotel, please follow me..." HKite Tour Guide called out upon his return as he led another group of Pinoys to the next bus.

We were booked at the YMCA Salisbury. (I stupidly thought I would be getting cheaper rates because it is, after all, the YMCA. Wrong. =) Still, considering its location, it was a pretty good deal. I mean it was right next to The Pen, and I'm pretty sure we paid less than half of what the Pen folks paid for their rooms. =))

Growing impatient and confused as to why stupid HKite Tour Guide made all of us wait until we were complete, only to realize he was going to put us in different buses anyway, I approached him and politely asked (with all the restraint I could muster), "Excuse me, we're going to the YMCA in Salisbury. Which bus should we board?"

"A few minutes, Madam," he said, quite distractedly.

"I have been waiting for a lot of minutes already," I said sarcastically.

"A few minutes more," he replied quite apologetically. It was all I could do to stop myself from strangling him!

AUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All these assurances of "a few more minutes" have ended up making us wait in the airport for close to 2 hours already! AUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! It's almost noon and the only thing we had in our bags for the kids were a few milk tetra-briks and a box of animal biscuits. We would have been in the city by now if we had taken the airport express to the city! This is why I hate tour packages. Still, with kids and luggages in tow, I wasn't entirely sure if the group will be up to the train ride and the transfers. A few more minutes, he said. I suppose it would be best to wait. Augh! Lech. >;/

He finally herded the last batch (which included us, yes) onto a big bus. Apparently, he decided to put together all the folks who are staying in mini-hotels within the vicinity of Nathan Road together. HKite Tour Guide could barely look at us as he rattled off all the stop-overs...."Disney Hollywood first, sorry. Then VVV Hotel, sorry....then WWW Hotel, sorry...then XXX Hotel, sorry....then YYY Hotel, sorry...then ZZZ Hotel, sorry....and finally, YMCA Salisbury, sorry for the inconvenience..." GAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Hubby Sweet had to restrain me the entire time because I wanted to get up and kill the stupid HKite Tour Guide. Hmp. >;\

In any case, we were finally on our way. It was almost 1:00 p.m. The kids haven't been fed. We were all hungry. Augh! Lech. Except for the irritating incident during which the bus driver decided to have a yosi break after the Disney Hollywood drop-off (que horror!!!)--and Hubby S once again had to restrain me, lest I go after the bus driver this time, haha--we were at least on our way to the city! Our moods improved slightly, our cool being restored by the stream of comments from adorable Ray*-B as we made our way to the city. "Daddy, nasan na ba ang Hong Kong?!" she asked, almost impatiently, in her typical sing-song tone. We all had to laugh. True to form, she laughed along with all of us--probably thinking we were all funny for thinking she is funny. Haha! Hay....=)

One by one, we dropped off our fellow Pinoy tourists in their hotels. Some of them turned out to be hostels with tea houses on the ground floor. (Tea house, apparently, is the HK term for carinderia cum mami HAWS. Haha.) Having waited more than two hours at the airport with us, some of them looked at their dinky-star hostels with concern. Judging from their expression and their obvious hesitation to get off the bus, it was not quite what they had expected. Sister Pusjing looked at me, trying real hard not to burst out laughing, "Please just tell me that the YMCA does not look like that..." Hahaha! Oblivious to the ordeal everyone was going through, adorable Ray*-B looked out the window and upon seeing the dining folks, blurted out in her signature sing-song tone, "Wooooowwwwwww!!! Gusto ko ng siooopao!" HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Thank God for adorable little girls! Haha. =)

After what seemed like an endless ride through the city, we finally reached Salisbury. It was way past 2:00 p.m.

More in the next blog!

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TIPS!!!

If you're all adults, forget about the tour packages and the hotel transfers! Take the airport express to the city instead. I am actually tempted to advise you to just take the airport express to the city and a cab to the hotel--even if you have kids--but I won't. There are children involved and I will not be held responsible, haha! In any case, a friend of Sister Pusjing told her that in HK, you have to make special arrangements so that they will assign you to a coaster instead of the bus to keep the wait manageable. Not fond of tour packages, I of course did not know that. Now, I do! Hay....=(

We stayed at the YMCA Salisbury,and it's the one thing that went right for us on our first day in HK. (NOTE: Apparently, there is another YMCA in HK, but the nice one would be the one in Salisbury.) The YMCA Salisbury is sooooooooo worth it. The accommodations are more than decent and it's near everything! It's across Victoria Harbour, the Cultural Center and the Avenue of Stars (not that we knew any in HK except for Jackie Chan and Jet Li, hehe). It's a few blocks off Nathan Road and a stones-throw away from the Star Ferry terminal. Just remember to ask for a room with a DOUBLE BED though when you book. Otherwise, the default arrangement is to book you in rooms with two single beds. Hehe. Hindi masaya kung couple kayo. Haha! (The pic shows our room. Not bad for a "budget hotel", right? =))