This post is going to be different from my usual ones (well, I will still keep in the map and the daily entries) as it will focus more on my personal life over the last few months that have led me to be in the Philippines.
A few months ago, I got a message from A on one of the apps I use. Well, he sent me a flirt on there to start with and then followed that up with a message.
I took a couple of days to respond, but respond I did. I had a look at his profile and thought: “Wow, this guy is really blunt. I wonder what his issue is”. I looked at his profile anyway, and his (safe for work) photos immediately caught my attention.
I messaged him because of how blunt he was on his profile – his photos were just an added bonus.
There was something about him that I really liked. I liked how upfront he was about what he was looking for. I liked that he could carry on a conversation. I liked his sense of humour too. As I said, the photos were an added bonus.
I gave him my number and that was that. We have video calls every day (minus when I was in Seville and I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know him.
Before I had chatted with him, I had a trip to Argentina booked for September. About a month before that flight, I decided I would just go to Davao instead to see A. It was such an easy decision to make. I decided I couldn’t wait 3 months to see him in person, and this is why I am now in the Philippines. A decision I am so glad that I made.
If you ask my friends, they would have told you it was inconceivable for me to change a trip just like that. Yeah, I never thought I would either.
I was so happy to be counting down the days until September rather than November.
It came time to leave for the airport. I just changed my outbound ticket from September 7th to September 4th. The return portion I wasn’t able to do as I found out the airline made a change, and I was arriving back into Heathrow rather than Gatwick. That was fine for me, though. It’s cheaper to get from London to home than from Gatwick to home.
I packed 2 days before I was due to leave, so I didn’t have to rush around on leaving day, and so I could sleep a little longer – it was going to be a long travel.
I got to the airport and checked in my bag, asked them for an aisle seat, and they obliged. Security was just a couple of minutes too which was very welcome. I then went and got the obligatory meal deals for the plane and then sat where I could charge my phone and call Addy.
Thankfully, the gate wasn’t too far away either, and that was welcomed too.
The route to get to Addy was a long one with a few connections. The route was as follows:
- London Gatwick – Shanghai Pudong
- 10 hours in Shanghai Pudong (I know, don’t even)
- Shanghai Pudong – Manila Ninoy Aquino
- Go through immigration, collect bags, go for the shuttle to T2, check bags, go through security, board
- Manila Ninoy Aquino – Davao Francisco Bangoy
In total, the flights and connections were about 25 hours from leaving Gatwick to arriving in Davao. I didn’t care, though. It was totally worth it.
Kidapawan
Davao
Macao
Hong Kong
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I arrived in Davao 30 minutes early, and I messaged A along the way to let him know of the progress. I got my bag pretty quick and then went outside. I messaged him and told him where I was, and he told me to go straight ahead as he wasn’t allowed into arrivals.
I looked but couldn’t find him. I made my way up the ramp to go find him, and he was standing at the top. I was so happy to see him. He looked even better in person than on video chat. I am so blessed. He bought me the cutest bunch of flowers I have ever seen.
He said he was waving when he saw me, but I genuinely didn’t see him – probably because I was getting annoyed at the women taking ages to take a picture of a sign that I also wanted to take a picture of.
His sister and brother-in-law took him to the airport to meet me and then back to his city and to our hotel.
The drive was really cool. It was so different from home, and I loved it.
On the way back, we stopped off for some food. It was a nice place – very busy though. I had some rice and some pork Adobo. The pork was really nice.
We went and relaxed for about an hour in the hotel. I had to shower as I was feeling yucky after all that travel. Nobody tells you about that side of travel and how yucky it can be.
I showered and then we went out to the mall. We took a tricycle (as you can see below) to the mall.
There was no room for a tall man such as me to be sitting in them. It was ok, though. I wanted to ride one so I could also get some video of it.
We left the mall and got in a tricycle to go to Jollibee to get some food. I got my video of that ride.
We got our food, sat in for a while eating and then headed back to the hotel via a tricycle.
I went out onto the balcony, and the view of the mountains was really cool.
Addy had his brother come pick us up from the hotel and take us to his house so I could meet his mam. It was nice to meet his brother and mam in person rather than on a video call.
We only stayed for a little while, as I said I wanted to take him on our first official date.
We went to a place with good food and good views. It was truly amazing. It was so nice to be on a date with him. It wasn’t a traditional one, as we already knew a whole lot about each other from the video calling every day.
It was more about just being with each other and enjoying each other’s company.
We stayed here for a few hours and then went back to his house so I could meet his siblings and some of his nieces. These nieces have seen us chat and are often talkative when we are on the phone – tonight in person, not so much though. That’s ok. They were probably as nervous as I was.
Today has been a really amazing day and the most amazing start to a solo trip I have ever had.
Total steps: 13,556
Total miles: 6.16
Total kilometers: 9.91Below are some pics from today
Today was the day we headed to the airport to head to Hong Kong. It was a long travel day, so we didn’t really do much. We were up super early to get to the airport.
We got to the airport around 02:15 and went to drop the bags at the check-in desk. The person there asked if we wanted to get on the flight leaving at 02:55, and we could have upgraded seats. We both said yes and then headed to security and the gate.
Thankfully, the gate was right after security, and it had already started boarding. We went right through and took our places and just sat down waiting to leave.
We landed in Manila and had to change terminals. We just sat here until the flight to Hong Kong. We had around 8 hours here.
We were glad to be on the flight to Hong Kong, though. We landed in Hong Kong, and immigration was fairly quick. We got our landing cards and headed to arrivals so we could find where to get the bus to the area of the hotel.
We decided we would just do the bus as it wasn’t too much longer than the MTR, and it didn’t require any changes to get there.
We got to where Jordan MTR is and headed to the hotel, and checked in.
We were so glad to be in the hotel and in the cold room.
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We decided last night that we would go to Macau today instead of on Sunday, as we weren’t sure if much would be open then.
We were up early and left around 07:15 to head to the MTR station to get an Octopus card so we could pay for the buses.
We got that and then headed back to street level to wait for the bus.
The bus turned up after around 15 minutes, and it was almost full. We managed to find a couple of free seats on the upper deck. We settled in and just enjoyed the views heading to the HZMB passenger terminal building.
Immigration and customs were really fast here. I didn’t remember much of it from my time here last year with Ken (see here). The one thing I do remember is that there was more light today than the last time. We got some really good views.
We got through immigration and customs, then bought our bus tickets and went to the bus. We got on the bus straight away, and then we were on our way.
The views across the bridge were really cool. So many mountains, so many islands, so many high rises.
We got to Macau port and then went through immigration and customs, and that was pretty quick here too.
We found a tourist information shop and got some info on things to see and where to go. We also found a Bureau de Change and I changed some HKD to MOP so we had change for the bus and money for stuff we wanted to buy.
We got the 101X bus to near Senado Square. Addy had looked it up and said that he wanted to go there. We did exactly that, and it was really cool to see the square.
We both decided that we were hungry and we wanted something to eat. I had to apologise to Addy as I was walking slow because I was taking pictures. I didn’t want to forget anything, and I love architecture. I was telling Addy that Macao was a former Portuguese colony and that the streets here are like those in Lisbon.
We found a church and took some pictures outside, and we wanted to go in, but we also wanted food more.
We left here and then headed to find some food. We finally found somewhere and went in to eat. We were happy for the food but even happier for the cold air.
We got some Char Siu pork and some egg fried rice. Both were nice – though the egg fried rice not so much as it had spring onions in it – what a way to ruin it!!!
We ordered some drinks, and I asked for cups, and she said it was 1 MOP to use the cups. I said no thanks.
We left here and then headed back down to St Dominic’s Church and went inside for a look. It was pretty cool. It also said you couldn’t go and sit to pray unless you were Catholic – that’s something I’ve not seen before.
We left here and started walking in the direction I thought the Ruins of St Paul were at. It turns out that I was walking in the wrong direction. We did pass a McDonald’s, though – which will make sense later.
I looked at the map and we started to make our way the map said to go. I told Addy that we needed to go left and then left again. He looked at me like I was crazy (I mean, he isn’t wrong) and said if we did that, we’d be going in a circle. I told him I meant right then right.
We followed the map and ended up in front of the ruins. They were still a sight to behold – even though there were a million other tourists there too.
I asked Addy if he wanted to go up the stairs or the path, and he said stairs. It almost killed us both because of the heat. We went and found some shade, and there was a Macau sign there that we needed to take a picture of.
By this point, we were super hot because of the temperatures. That McDonald’s we saw earlier came in handy for the heat. We went there and got some drinks, and just sat for about 45 minutes. Addy had taken some travel sickness pills and needed to rest for them to kick in.
We then went by bus to the Macao Tower. It was amazing. We got our tickets (once we found the ticket counter that is) and then we went to the 58th and 61st floors for the views.
The views really were amazing.
The views here really were good. I took so many pictures. I just didn’t know what to look at and where to look.
We stayed here for about 5 hours.
In here, there are a couple of bits of the floor that are glass that you can walk on, and Addy did not like it at all. He isn’t fond of that and quickly got off the glass as soon as he could. Later in the day, he stepped on it, not realising and jumped back off it. It was funny to see. I didn’t care and just walked on it.
As we were walking around, we saw some tassels and cards on the fence around the stairs and wondered what they were. We had a look and Addy said we should get some. I told him we should and that he should go buy us some. He said he had to go to the toilet first. He came back and I went and got them.
As I was getting them, I got the engagement ring out of my pocket, ready to propose. Little did I know that the reason he went to the toilet was to get the ring he got for me out too. Great minds and all that!
We both wrote on the cards, and on his was his proposal. It was super sweet. I really liked the way he did it.
I proposed too. We both said yes, and we also both said this wasn’t where we had planned to do it, but it just felt so right.
We tried to get a view of the sunset, but the clouds had other ideas. We headed out of the tower and then down to get the bus to the port so we could go back to the hotel in Hong Kong.
We got some pictures of the tower outside, too. Pretty cool views!
We got the bus and had to change at Hotel Lisboa. It was a cool changing point too, as there were a lot of neon lights that made for some good pictures.
We got the bus back to the port and cleared immigration and customs in Macau in no time at all.
We then got the bus back to Hong Kong to go through immigration and customs there.
We waited for what seemed like an eternity for the A22 bus to come back to the hotel. It was so nice to be on the bus in the cold air, though.
We stopped and got some noodles at the 7-Eleven and made our way back to the hotel.
I took us to the wrong (unintentionally) floor [mostly because I put the key card on the sensor and pressed floor 23 and it worked] and tried a couple of doors, but the key card didn’t work, and both of us were confused as to what our room number actually was. Addy then said he thought we were on the 21st floor, and he was absolutely right. We went back down and then found our room and got in without an issue.
All in all, today has been a really amazing and life-changing day for both Addy and me.
Total steps: 12,676
Total miles: 5.57
Total kilometers: 8.96
Below are some pics from today
Today was the day we left Hong Kong. We got up later than usual since we were just checking out and then heading to the airport.
It was the day I was hoping wouldn’t come. It was the day A was hoping wouldn’t come either. We both didn’t want to go home but knew we needed to.
We checked out and then headed to the bus stop. Thankfully it was a direct bus from near the hotel to the airport. Even better was the AC on the bus since it was so hot already. We were both grateful for that.
I had a look at the Hong Kong City Sightseeing app and saw that we still had around 12 minutes usage left of the ticket. We both hoped the bus would turn up before that. Spoiler: it turned up with around 3 minutes before the ticket expired. It saved us both HK$41.
It was a nice bus ride to the airport. AC and good views. It’s just a shame we would both be heading in different directions once we reached Manila.
We went to the check-in counter for the airline as we both needed to have our documents checked and I had a bag to check-in too. They had no issues with the weights of any of the bags which was good. I know A was a little worried as he had some gifts for home that put him over the weight limit.
We were kept at the desk whilst the agent went to speak to a colleague. I asked what the issue was when they came back and they said they just had to check the rules for China immigration. I told them it wasn’t an issue since I wasn’t leaving Shanghai airport. I also said that it wasn’t an issue since the country after landing in China was the Philippines and the country before landing in China was Hong Kong.
China has some weird travel without visa rules and one of them is that the country you go to from China has to be different from the country you get to China from in order to qualify for the 144-hour visa free permit.
London – China – Philippines and then Philippines – China – London wouldn’t be permissible as the country right after and right before China are the same.
London – China – Philippines and then Philippines – Hong Kong – China – London would be permissible as the country right after and right before China are different. Hong Kong is considered a different country for the purpose of the transit without visa.
We were finally let go and we went to the embassy for some breakfast. We were super hungry and we needed to spend what we had left on our Octopus cards.
We finished eating and then headed through security. It was so quick and then immigration was just as quick as we were able to use the eGates.
Once done here, we found somewhere to sit until our gate was called. We then went and sat at our gate until it was time to board.
We were happy to be on the plane and just relaxing. The flight itself was a little bumpy and the landing in Manila was quite bumpy too.
We headed to immigration and were confused about what lanes we needed to be in because it made it seem like the transfer and arrivals lanes would lead to different places. They didn’t. They led to the arrivals hall and then to customs.
We went and got the transfer bus to terminal 1. A wanted to go round there with me before going back to terminal 3 (the one we landed in). We got there and found a Jollibee for us to have some food and a rest. We both ignored that we had to separate soon. Neither of us wanted to.
We went outside the terminal and said our goodbyes. I watched as he walked off to get the shuttle bus back to terminal 3. I went and queued for check-in for my flight. I was in that queue for around 45 minutes. I managed to get an aisle seat from Shanghai to London though which is good since the seat it allowed me to select was a middle seat.
Immigration was fairly quick too. I then went and got something to drink and a Philippines flag and magnet and went and sat at the gate and called Addy. We sat and chatted until it was time for me to board.
My flight to Shanghai was ok. It was a tad warm for part of it. I tried to sleep as much as I could too. I think I maybe got an hour.
I got to Shanghai and then connected to the wifi and then to the VPN so I could call Addy after I passed through security. Security wasn’t fun. They took everything out of my bag because I forgot I had a can of drink in there.
I was glad to be through. I called Addy and walked to my gate and we chatted until he had to board for his flight back to Davao.
After Addy got on his flight I just sat and put my feet up and relaxed for a little bit. I was tracking his flight so I could see when he was back in Davao. I still had hours left before I had to board for mine.
He let me know when he was off the plane and on the bus on the way back home.
The time came for me to board and I was so happy to be out of the airport and on my way home. I just wanted a shower and my own bed.
The flight was ok. Bumpy at times – but as is expected in this part of the world. I gave in and bought a wifi package for the flight. I wanted to be able to still message Addy and Ken and doom scroll on Instagram.
The guy in the seat next to me had no concept of personal space either. He kept falling asleep and his head ending up on my seat. I kept moving so he would wake up and move back.
I was glad to be off the flight so I could get some food and then head for the tube to King’s Cross.
I got there with around 40 minutes until the train left for Peterborough. I was so glad to get to Peterborough and walk home. The colder temperatures were very welcome and I took a slow walk back because of it so I could enjoy the cold.
The trip was a really amazing trip. I can’t wait to go back soon and see Addy.
Total steps: 102,365Total miles: 45.41
Total kilometers: 73.08
View all of my Kidapawan/Davao media here
View all of my Hong Kong media here
View all of my Macao media here