First Time as a Business Traveller...Part :01

I may have travelled as a leisure traveller several times in my life; whether it is with my family or my friends. And it has always been filled with so much excitement and so much to look forward to where basically I was never able to sleep with all the hype. 

In 2022, somewhere in November, I was told by my manager that I'll be visiting Manila in 2023 to meet our new team and spend time training & mentoring for one good week. Everything will be prepaid by the company with a travel allowance in hand itself, I mean that's exciting! Days, weeks & months went by and we gradually started processing Visa, booking our flights & hotels and every other services; with that my dates were set to depart on 25th of March 2023. 

Days were getting closer and I was still chilled with no excitement and no rushing, probably could be because I was occupied with my work and coordinating the tasks to complete in Manila. The excitement in being back inside an aircraft & up in the sky was in me, because this is my first trip after pandemic and as a business requirement where I had nothing to worry because everything was taken care of by my company; all I had to do was to provide necessary documents and pack my bags. 

The week I was flying, it was the week where MH370 Air Crash documentary was released and ironically I was booked with Malaysian Airlines. I have been looking forward to watch this but I ended up watching half and woke up with a nightmare. I was constantly looking for a way to book with another airline, such as Singapore Airline, unfortunately the return flight has a one day layover which I didn't want to take at that moment. With this unfamiliar feelings and uneasiness, I started packing my bags to leave. 

I took copies of every document I had, Covid-19 Digital certificate, e-ticket, updated my Frequent Flyer Number and blocked a window seat which is my preferred seat at any given time, bought gifts for my team and for one of my family member too; apparently I do have long distance relatives in Philippines since my uncle [ my mom's brother ] married a Filipina whom I have known her since I was a kid back in the days when we were in Italy. 

The Day of the Flight....

It's Friday the 24th March and my flight was departing at 00:25 IST on 25th March; that day I worked from home and took a half day to get ready in the evening. I decided to leave home by 21:00 IST at least so I could be at the airport by 21:45 IST which gives me enough time to check-in and clear the immigration process so I could sit & relax with a cup of coffee or tea until my flight; which I would usually do. So much so, soon after I was done with my work, I went out to buy last minute gifts where I came back home by 20:00 IST, had a quick dinner, took a shower, got ready and left by 21:15 IST and it started raining like cats and dogs. Well, so much Good Luck for my flight. 

We reached our Colombo Airport [ Bandaranaike International Airport ] by 22:00 IST and I straightaway headed to check-in counter after bidding goodbyes to my family. Fortunately the check-in counters were not crowded and the gates were not open either, so with a big fat smile I headed to the queue. While there were three counters opened for Malaysian Airlines [ Counter number 35 - 32 ]. The queue were not long either, I was pretty much the fifth or sixth in the queue; yet the queue was not moving forward at all and more passengers was adding up behind me. All I saw the agents in the check-in counter were moving up and down keeping the seat vacant and the passengers in the front not moving at all. This took good 35 minutes from my time that I had enough, so I jumped in front and asked the agent who came back to his seat what is going and why the queue is not moving. To see, the passengers who were in the front were missing out few documents and they are travelling as a group; hence the team was helping them out with it and assumed I was part of that group. Now, assuming I could understand but in customer service aspect, I would say 'ask & clarify' before any assumptions so you could provide a better service. Once I cleared that I am not part of the group, the agent told me to come forward to proceed with check-in; with that relief I took my check luggage to the front and handed my documents to proceed with the check-in. Few minutes later he is asking if I have a QR code. Now, what's that? I was not told about this at the time of booking my trip and I was so confused and I said no. This made my head go upside down thinking the worst could happen and I asked what is it and how can I get it, can I get it now? The agent was kind enough to help me out with the link and asked me to proceed with filling the application and download the QR and give it to him; until then he held my documents and bags and asked me to move aside rather than going back to the queue; which I was so grateful for. 

This QR code is obtained by filling up your Travel Details online via eTravel [Philippine Travel Information System]. Once you submit the application, a QR code will be given to you which you need to download and provide at the time of check-in. With my family calling me back and forth and bad network at the airport, it took me another 30 minutes to complete this task and finally I got the QR code and handed over to the agent. Finally I made myself through check-in and ran to immigration. Our airport has done several changes and the immigration is now upstairs and the process is much more convenient because now you can fill your Immigration/Emigration card online and provide the confirmation to the officer. 

By the time I ran through the elevator to get to the immigration, I already have wasted good one hour with the whole check-in process; it was 23:35 IST the moment I cleared the immigration after good 10 minutes, I had no choice but run to the gates passing all the duty free shops where I wanted to buy souvenirs for my team and a good cup of coffee before I board the plane. When I reached the gate, passengers were already lined up and moving forward through security checking process; which is another hassle. Removing your shoes, belts, watches, laptop from the bag and I was already exhausted from work on the same day and whole week with a workload to be completed prior to my trip. After the security hassle, I found myself a seat at the boarding area where I finally sat down and got an opportunity to call my family and update them. I can see the aircraft was already there getting ready with the pre-boarding checks and of course the crew was already inside prepping the aircraft for passengers. I may have got like 15 minutes to sit and relax and the next thing you know, they were calling out the 'Zone' code to board the passengers. The Zones are categorized based on the seat allocation in the aircraft; the boarding starts from the back of the aircraft and gradually moving forward. 

After all that, finally got inside and found my seat. I am a big fan of window seat; and of course I made sure I blocked my window seat at the time of purchasing my ticket itself and of course I added my Frequent Flyer Number as well. I am a SriLankan Airlines FlySmiLes Frequent Flyer Member, which is part of Oneworld Alliance; Malaysian Airlines being part of the same alliance, I still can earn points with my FlySmiLes Account. 

Here is the Link for my post where I have included Pre-departure Checklist for a less stressful flight.

In-Flight Experience....

The aircraft type was a Boeing 737-800 with 3-3 seat configuration, small aircraft since it was a short haul flight. Now, the leg-space was not so great and I had my carry-on bag which practically has my documents and my office laptop and every other essentials and my hand luggage was up in the cabin. I usually prefer to fly without a hand luggage but this time, I did take one with few extra clothes in case my luggage won't make on time and I have work to go to. You never know, better to be prepared. 

Well, got into my seat, the safety video was playing on the screen, I settled with the seat belt on me and here we are pushed back from our air bridge, heading to taxi our way to the runaway. I'm passing all these green, red & yellow lights with all the runaway, taxi and ramp signs to position ourselves at the edge of the runway ready to take off. My seat number of 7A, so of course I was on the left side of the aircraft and third row with a good view from the window. Reached the runaway and you can feel and hear the engines of the aircraft making the noise getting all the energy to take off and with that, the aircraft sped through in our runway and next thing I know, we were cruising up in the air into the darkness and all we could see my beautiful country lighten up. With that, the aircraft took a turn and headed off crossing our country towards Indian Ocean and heading towards Kuala Lumpur, my transit point to connect to my next flight to Manila, Philippines. 

Once the flight was up to required altitude, the seat belt sign went off and we were offered beverages with the dinner to follow. Personally I always go for orange juice and a small packet of cashews was offered too. For dinner, I went with the regular meal, didn't pre-order any specific meal and choosed to go with the Chicken with rice and curry. The meal was not so great but it was edible and good enough to survive a short-haul flight. After meal, the passengers were offered Tea and coffee and I went with the coffee as I needed some boost to get through next couple of hours till my destination. Enjoyed my meal and coffee over a movie starring Julia Roberts & George Clooney titled as 'Ticket to Paradise'. Well so. much so for the movie time, I fell asleep. Not that the movie was bad but mainly because I was physically exhausted  with all the work I was doing and the hassle I went through at the airport until I boarded the flight.

I woke up after an hour or so with slight sun raises shining through the window and we were offered coffee and tea once again as we were approaching Kuala Lumpur 25th March early morning. Even though I was having this major headache, I tried to enjoy my coffee by watching over the window cruising above clouds. By the time I was done with my coffee, next thing I know, the seat belt sign popped up and you know that we are about to descend. And there we go, we touched down the KL runaway early in the morning and we were delayed by 15 - 20 minutes whereas my transit was 1 hour and 50 minutes; so now I have only 1 hour and 30 minutes for my next flight. Regardless, I felt familiar when touched down in KL as I have been there before as I was on my way to a destination I have never been before. 

With the delay in landing, I decided to proceed to the gate right after we got out of the aircraft as it was a short transit time frame. The gate was literally towards the end of the terminal and I had a good walk, that covered my morning workout and good stretch after keeping my feet all crumpled with not enough legroom. After an hour of waiting while watching early morning hustle in the ramp, the boarding for my connecting flight was announced and the next thing I know, I was up in the air, once again cruising towards Manila. As it was a morning flight, we were offered breakfast followed with a coffee, enjoyed my breakfast with few episodes from Friends. Took a nap and woke up after an hour or so to witness our approach to Philippines. The Boeing 737-800 MH 806 switched on the Seat Belt sign, signaling we are preparing to land. Sitting on the right side, window seat in the aircraft, I could clearly see few buildings standing tall looking up in the sky far from distant in the middle of a massive land, I could feel the aircraft turning towards left and descending gradually to approach Manila Airport. The sky was so clear that you could literally see the shape of lands, islands we were flying over; of course Philippines being an archipelago consisting of more than 7000 islands in South Eastern Asia between the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean, you will be flying over many many beautiful islands. 

With all that beauty I was witnessing, I could not bear the headache I was experiencing throughout my journey. Sure it was not my first time flying either, but for some reason I literally couldn't keep up with it. I had no choice but to close my eyes, rest my head in my seat and my neck pillow and let my tears flow down my cheek because of the pain and muttered myself 'Let the patience bring peace, this is just temporary'.  And after many many turns, our Pilots finally touched down in Manila [Ninoy Aquino International Airport]. From the outer look, the airport does not look like it was maintained properly or neither it is massive enough, but once I deplaned and moved inside the airport from the air bridge in Terminal 1, realized the airport is quite massive and every services were upto international standard. 

Next stop of course was immigration/emigration process which I did not have a pleasant encounter. The lady in the counter was asking questions, which I understand it is their job to secure who enters their country for security purposes, yet when you are asked if I am holding my visitor pass to my office, which clearly you do not get it until you visit the office building and will be handed over to you, which in my scenario it has already been issued as my visit was informed in advance. Knowing what kind of situation I could come across, I have brought my access card which I use my office here in my home country. Still our access passes does not define anything except for our picture and the four values, who only an employee would recognize the same. It does not mention the organization name or the role; this is all for security purposes as the organization I am working for it's one of the largest and top stock exchanges in the world. Sleep deprived, exhaustion I have been carrying from the whole week I was preparing to travel, wondering if my luggage made it to the destination just as me, these unwanted questioning was not helping me. Onto my left side, was the baggage belt where luggages from our aircraft was cleared and I could see from the distant my luggage made it, one relief and the next was when I heard my passport was stamped and cleared to enter and proceed with my journey. Got my luggage, headed off to the exit, there were two counters on both corners to exchange money and I exchanged my USD into Pesos. 

At the time of my hotel booking, we arranged and prepaid for airport transfers too, hence, I had a representative from the hotel waiting for my arrival with the name board and the hotel name. Was relieved to see them already waiting for me because I could not wait to get into my room, take a shower and sleep. Finally, got into the car, it was so warm even though the air conditioning was blasting in the vehicle. The weather was so warm.

En route to the hotel....

The hotel is located 10 - 12kms away from the airport and with no traffic, you can reach within 30 minutes. I was told how bad traffic could be in Manila and I witnessed the same on the very first day on my way to the hotel. Roads packed with vehicles, bikes trying to sneak into every open space to move forward and the city did not look like a Business Centre area. I have laid all my trust upon this driver and drop me exactly where I was supposed to be. After rushing and somehow getting our way out of this traffic, I felt relieved with the sight of BGC Sign. BGC - Bonifacio Global City, is a modern, master-planned urban development in Metro Manila which is well known as a financial district and for it's upscale residential areas and vibrant lifestyle. 

The Hotel Arrival & settling down...

After an hour or so, we made it to the hotel. Staff was so welcoming and helpful and the check-in process was so smooth, and the atmosphere was so peaceful, calm and quiet. As my stay was already prepaid, I had nothing else to pay except I had to provide my credit card to hold for any incidental charges apart from what room rate & taxes whereas for my stay breakfast was included too. After providing all the required documents and completing the check-in process, I was taken to my room. I was staying at a Studio Executive room category, which consists of a kitchen, indoor laundry with office desk and sofa with a coffee table apart from the bed, TV, wardrobe and bathroom. The coffee table was laid with a warm welcome note along with a bag of few sweets and a separate safety kit with masks, sanitizers and every other necessities. I literally sat on the sofa, to finally breathe and let my shoulders sunk down with all the tired I have been flying all the way from Colombo, Sri Lanka. Next thing I know, took a long warm shower, ordered a one nice warm cappuccino along with a pad thai for dinner. Until my dinner arrived, all I did, laid in my bed after my shower, sipping down my warm cappuccino and watching my favourite TV Show, Friends. This was much needed rest for my whole body and could hardly keep my eyes open. But better to have a proper meal, take some medicine which I packed in my handy first-aid kit and make sure I'm up and running from next day onwards as I have hell of a week waiting ahead for me.

Until then, keep travelling & enjoy every bit of it.

See you with Part 02 of 'First Time as a Business Traveller'...