February 23, 2010
Beauty, Cagayan de Oro City, Flights, Leisure, Mindanao, Mindanaoan Update, Musings, Personal, Tourism, Travel
Mindanaoan has always been very curious of Iloilo City, the largest province in Panay Island. We’ve all heard the many stories about this beautiful city – just how malambing Ilonggos are, just how fascinating the tourist sites are, just how delicious their delicacies are, just how booming their business sector is and just how warm and friendly the people in Iloilo are.
So when I recently got the chance to travel to this beautiful city located at the Western Visayas Region, I no longer had second thoughts. Off I went to the city formerly called “Irong-Irong.”
From Cagayan de Oro City, Mindanao, I took an airplane ride going to Cebu City (roughly 30 minute ride). From there, I took another flight, this time from Cebu to Iloilo (roughly 50 minute flying time). If you’re in a bit of a hurry, taking plane rides is the best and easiest way for you to travel from Mindanao to Iloilo. Of course, it may be a bit more expensive than taking the RORO ship or a bus.
When my plane finally landed on Iloilo soil, this welcomed me:
LikeJanuary 16, 2010
Arts, Beauty, Entertainment, Events, Features, Festivals, Fiesta, Flights, Leisure, Mindanaoan Update, Personal, Tourism, Travel, blogging
Mindanaoan is off to yet another fun adventure! Mindanaoan will be off to the Queen City of the South – Cebu City - today to take part in this year’s colorful Sinulog 2010 or what’s dubbed as the Sinulog at 30.
Here’s hoping that I will have a safe trip today via Philippine Airlines (Mindanaoan’s favorite airline as of late). Nay, make that a trip that will push through! I’m a bit worried because it’s been rainy the past few days and I heard about the Cebu Pacific Air passengers who got stranded at the CDO airport. Hundreds of passengers who were supposed to be bound for Cebu were reportedly left to fend for themselves as the airline refused to provide food and accommodation because, according to the Cebu Pacific Airlines management, they weren’t obliged to provide anything especially if the flight got canceled due to force majeur. Ouch!
Anyways, I hope that my flight will be safe and smooth. I have lots of activities lined up in Cebu City and I cannot wait to join in the Sinulog 2010 festivities!
Will you be in Cebu City as well? Let me know 
And for my Cebuano readers — if you have any tips for me (where to go, what to do, what to buy, where to eat etc) please, please feel free to share them!
By the way, for those of you who want to check out what you can do during the Sinulog Festival 2010, here’s a copy of the Sinulog 2010 schedule of activities: (click on the image for a larger view)
Cebu City here I come!
November 17, 2009
Announcements, BIMP-EAGA, Business, Consumer, Flights, Mindanaoan Artists, Tourism, Travel, Zamboanga City, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Sur, zamboanga peninsula
Zest Air, formerly Asian Spirit, is now back to serving the Zamboanga-Sandakan route. This is definitely good news for travelers who want a faster way to reach Sandakan, Malaysia…and hopefully a way to discourage people from using the back border.
The Zamboanga-Sandakan route is in consonance with the continuing confidence in the potentials of trade, tourism and investment in the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA). Zest Air is now plying the said route three times a week.
Check out the photo of the 56-seater MA60 modern ark aircraft below:
This Zamboanga to Sandakan, Malaysia route is, I believe, Zest Air’s first international flight here in Mindanao. The airline company currently serves flights to Hongkong and soon in Japan, Incheon Korea (December 4, 2009). Check out Zest Air’s website to know more.
August 19, 2009
Cagayan de Oro City, Features, Flights, Mindanaoan Update, Personal, Photos, Tourism, Travel, blogging, northern mindanao
During my PAL Express flight from the Cebu International Airport, Mactan to Cagayan de Oro Domestic Airport, I took some aerial shots. I got a window seat at that time (I was also supposed to have a window seat during my PAL Express CDO to Cebu flight but my seatmate, an elderly woman who confessed that it’s been so long since she last traveled by plane, looked pale and scared so I no longer insisted) so it was easy for me to take aerial shots of Cagayan de Oro City as our plane descended and prepared for landing.
Mindanaoan wishes to share these Cagayan de Oro City aerial shots:
August 3, 2009
Business, Cagayan de Oro City, Consumer, Flights, Internet, Leisure, Mindanaoan Update, Musings, Personal, Society, Tourism, Travel, northern mindanao
A few hours after the Rock the Vote 2009 Cagayan de Oro leg and after sharing a hearty meal with the members of Team Oro Photo and Video (who generously extended their time and support to the Register and Vote Campaign…thank you, thank you!) as well as the event’s hosts, Maxine Monasterio (Miss Teen Philippines 2007 and a CDO native) and Titus “TJ” Monterde (he’s the son of Tito Monterde, the station manager of Wild FM CDO) — (Max and TJ also host the ABS CBN Northern Mindanao Sunday show, Mag TV Na, Ato Ni!), I caught a CDO – Cebu PAL Express flight.
PAL Express is owned by Philippine Airlines and is geared towards shorter flights.
It was my first time to catch a PAL Express flight. After years of traveling from CDO to Cebu via boats (I’ve tried Trans Asia Shipping Lines, Superferry and – gulp – Sulpicio), I decided that a PAL Express flight was already in order. I simply had no time and energy to endure roughly 11 hours of travel time at sea.
I caught the 9:50 AM Cagayan de Oro – Cebu City PAL Express flight PR 286. I was already at the airport an hour and a half early but I didn’t mind since I brought along my trusty Hewlett Packard 2133 netbook (if you want to check out my jazzed up HP baby, click this) Unfortunately, CDO airport still does not offer free wireless internet so to while away the time, I decided to sift through photos I recently took. The PAL Express staff members were very courteous and even the security guard helped me with my one big Nike gym bag (which hardly contained anything except for a few clothing pieces and my DSLR camera) Thumbs up for helpful staff!
Something embarrassing happened that morning, by the way. My name was called via the PA system because apparently I dropped my boarding pass…and get this…I didn’t even notice! Ayayay…I was probably so zoned out after the many days of preparing for the RV Campaign that I just sipped my coffee, checked my computer files, watched TV…and didn’t even realize that I no longer have my boarding pass and baggage number with me. Good thing someone found it and promptly returned it to the PAL Express counter. Thanks to the PAL Express staff, too!
We boarded the plane on time (9:30 AM) – which, I must admit, is a bit surprising knowing that PAL’s notoriously known for being “late” (hence, the joke “PAL-aging late.” Thank goodness the flight that day was on time.
Here are some photos I took before I boarded my plane:
Pre-departure area of the Cagayan de Oro airport
Here’s a photo of the PAL Express plane (along with a shot of the plane’s tail where a cool and golden “Cagayan de Oro” logo complete with pineapple can be found! Nice no?)
The entire flight was pretty short — very short! A total of thirty eight minutes! Can you imagine? Compared to traveling for 11 hours, you’ll be at your destination within 38 minutes!
And you can’t beat the airfare, too. I only paid P980.00 for a one-way ticket. Add P30.00 for the airport fee so that’s P1100.00 all in all — still not very heavy on your pocket especially if you need to be in Cebu right away.
One “highlight” during my Cagayan de Oro to Cebu plane ride, by the way, was when the captain took to the microphone and greeted us passengers. It turned out that Captain Patrick Roa had quite the baritone voice LOL So the passengers who were already in deep slumber couldn’t help but wake up when they heard the captain speak LOL The captain was fluent in English and sounded friendly so even if he told us that we were cruising at 16,000 feet or something like that…I, for one, felt safe and secure. Too bad I didn’t get to see the man behind the baritone voice! Hehehe 
Anyways, my trip was safe and fast. I highly recommend that you ride a plane the next time you’re planning a CDO to Cebu or Cebu to CDO trip. Less hassle, fees and rates are reasonable and budget-friendly and you can enjoy the sights and sounds of Cebu or CDO in no time!
By the way, you can book your PAL Express flights using your ATM card. Enjoy traveling!
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