...Go!

So far so good. The flight went smoothly enough, though we did get an extended tour of the airspace about 40 miles south of Manila for about 20 minutes as we awaited a slot in the queue to land.

It has been a while since I have flown on a plane which only has drop down TV monitors along the centre of the cabin. And I'd say they desperately needed a colour calibration, with the faces on one screen a distinct green!

Exit through the airport formalities was pretty smooth - in fact I think the taxi to our hotel in the Intramuros district through rush hour traffic took slightly longer.

Looking forward to a good night's sleep before starting our exploration of Manila in the morning. 

Ready, steady, ...

A little over 12 hours until our 11:15am departure. About 8 hours later we will be touching down in Manila on our first visit to The Philippines. Why go to The Philippines? Well for one thing we've never been there, and it is known to include some very scenic locations, such as the terraced fields of northern Luzon, the spectacular coast line of Palawan Island and the "Chocolate Hills" of Bohol. Plus its a relatively short flight away (compared to Europe the Americas or Africa) and it is close to being the same time zone so there is less problem with jet lag.

Another incentive is that in recent years we have been lucky enough to celebrate NYE in very different places: Sydney NSW (2010), Canmore Alberta (2011), Canberra ACT (2012) and Wodonga VIC (2013). So this year it will be Manilla; before we continue on to explore more of this fascinating country.

One more sleep and we are under way!