Discovering a new way to travel

MANILA, Philippines - I am an avid traveler. All throughout my career with the APO Hiking Society, I must have taken hundreds of trips all over the Philippines and the world doing while doing live shows. Then, there were also the individual and family travels I have taken which were quite many. I have been to most continents and, despite the wear and tear of travel, I have not lost my love and lust for it. There is nothing like seeing a new place, meeting new people, learning new words and ways of doing things from different languages and cultures. Travel itself demands that you lose a certain rigidity in order to find the experience enjoyable and rewarding. Decades of travel have made me quite adaptable to the new, the strange, the unconventional.

On my last trip to Sydney, I decided to make it a different one by trying something completely new. This was my 20th trip to Sydney in the last five years and I thought I’d do it differently. I decided to try an airline I had not used before.

I booked a flight on AirAsia, a relatively new but successful international low-cost airline that had just started its operations in the Philippines (through a 60-40 joint venture with Filipino and Malaysian investors). This meant that the whole routine of travel for me would change almost completely for this trip. For one, I was not going to leave the Philippines from NAIA 1, or the Centennial Airport or even NAIA 3. I was going to leave via Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA for short). This meant flying out of Clark Air Base in Pampanga.

A day before the flight, I drove to Clark with my granddaughter Ananda who was going to travel with me. We checked into a hotel and decided to have a leisurely dinner inside the air base where many restaurants of all kinds can be found. We had a good al fresco dinner at a quiet eatery called Café Mesa. It was a good idea to go a day before since we did not have to wake up early and rush to catch a plane. We were at a leisurely pace and that was great.

The next day, we were at DMIA airport at 10 AM for our 11:15 Air Asia flight to Kuala Lumpur. The airport is a tiny one, and can be described as almost boutique-like. It has the feel of a large provincial airport like the one in Davao. We were checked in electronically through a kiosk by very able, efficient and super-friendly help from AirAsia ground staff who took us through every step of the procedure. We were checked-in in less than two minutes and our bags promptly taken care of at another counter. We breezed through immigration with no fuss, and soon we were on our way.

AirAsia is classified as a low-cost airline mainly because of its cheaper airfare vis-à-vis conventional airlines. What is attractive to me about AirAsia’s setup is that you can have the amenities of a big airline if you are willing to pay a little more, like choice of seats, or whether you want to sit beside anyone at all (if the plane is not full). You can also choose the meals that you want and pay on the spot, or you can reserve online before flight and get a 15-percent discount. The food is pretty good too, and even quite varied. I ordered chicken cooked in Malaysian style, a bit spicy and delicious. The price wasn’t bad — below P200 per meal. And yes, thank God they had kiddie meals for my fussy granddaughter Ananda.

The stewardesses are friendly, accommodating and will make you feel at home. And yes, they are quite beautiful, too. The flight to Kuala Lumpur was quite uneventful, meaning it was not bumpy or rough and was pretty smooth and routine. We landed ahead of schedule and got off at the AirAsia hub in KL.

It was quite a long eight-hour wait at the airport before we boarded our plane to Melbourne Australia via AirAsia X, an extension of AirAsia that services destinations that require more than four hours’ flight time from Malaysia.

This was a seven-hour stretch of flying time we had to do to get to Melbourne. We had two meals on board. We chose one hot meal, and the other was ramen soup. My granddaughter Ananda slept through most of the flight. Again, we landed ahead of schedule in Melbourne with more than enough time to catch a local airline to Sydney.

I was quite happy to take AirAsia. From the time we booked the flight till the time we got to our destination, it was a pleasant experience except for the long wait at KL. It is a smart, modern airline that gets you where you need to go on time, in comfort, and most importantly, at prices that will make you smile. And leaving from Clark Air Base in Pampanga was not a bother at all. It is near enough and travel to and from it is pleasant, short and traffic-free.

And I heard that soon, they will be flying the Philippine skies to favorite local destinations. I think I may have just discovered a new way to travel.