Bali 2026: The Airport Departure

Since the SEA Games in December 2025, I haven’t travelled out of the Philippines. Took me extreme will power not to, since I’ve been wrapped up in the re-opening of Nueva Vizcaya Paragliding.

When I was younger, the airport adventure excites me. But now, I just feel like I want to skip all that and go to the good part – arrival anywhere outside the suffocating Philippines.

But I’m still in the process of acquiring teleportation skills, so until then, I have to go through this airport episode.

I have turned into a lazy writer so I’ll just photo dump here and mention what’s noteworthy about the whole 4-5 hours of long lines and waiting.

Until now, I don’t understand why the Airport in the Philippines are not adding counters or creating better systems to make lines shorter. It’s already obvious that there is an exponential growth in Filipino travelers, so someone out there must address this boring issue of hell lines.

At Philippine Immigration:

Officer: What’s your job?

Me: I’m a paragliding pilot

Officer: Where?

Me: Nueva Vizcaya

Officer: (3 seconds loading)

Yes, I know. Where and what in the world is Nueva Vizcaya? Sad.

I passed through this Etihad Boarding Gate and I had emotions-explosion. Missing you, my dear friends in Etihad Airways!

My baon, which almost never made it to the plane. Because I ate most of it while waiting to board. Note to self: Need 2 sets of snacks – for boarding and for in-flight.

I’m happy these water stations are still working. I remember years back when it had signs plastered on it “not available”.

My flight was delayed for almost 2 hours. It was ok. My brain was prepared for this. I just felt bad for Manuh who was waiting for me at the Denpasar airport on the other side of the world.

Finally settled. I will never get used to Economy. But it’s the price I have to pay for resigning from an Airline job. As long as this seat will get me out of the Philippines, I will endure.