Flying Home

Over the Chinese New Year weekend, I had the chance to do a quick home visit. While quick home visits are something I do all the time, it is my first time to do so on a plane!

I documented the flight and the result is the video above. Pardon the iMovie stock music haha. I realized that it is also my first time flying northward from Manila. So the usual seas and islands I see during flights to Visayas and Mindanao were replaced by mountain ranges and vast farm lands.

It excites me to discover that air travel is now an option for us who live in Isabela via Cebu Pacific. Cauayan City airport has greatly improved and the transport system in the city has been boosted by the presence of SM City Cauayan which houses the transport terminal for jeepneys going to several towns in the province.

For us, bus trips have been the norm for going to and from Isabela but the 10-12 hours of travel time has been becoming a challenge, especially when I'm travelling with my parents.

Also, bus lines travelling the north route have very manual (primitive?) ways of ticket reservation. You have to go to the terminal days before the trip to but the actual tickets and reserve your seats with handwritten notes on a photocopied seat plan. Most times, tickets would also sell out quick and you'll be encouraged to still go to the terminal come your travel date and wish a passenger who reserved a seat doesn't show up.

Then there's also the chaos and disorder in bus terminals especially during peak seasons.

But for most people in the north regions, travelling by bus is still the primary choice because, obviously, it's the more affordable option. Hopefully, the bus lines upgrade the ticketing/reservation system and make travelling more efficient and comfortable for commuters who wish to go home to, or discover the north.