Hot and cold in Palau, Philippines, Mexico, Canada & Solomon Islands

[Scr77]

You didn’t go to Jellyfish lake.

Did you speak to anyone who did? I’m wondering what the current jellyfish numbers are like?

(Photo from google)

 

[Mattg]

Looks like it can be booked on Velocity for 12500 points

That’s a great deal if you can get it! Sadly this wasn’t available on Velocity around my dates when I booked.

I was thinking that girl in one of your photos didn't use her sunscreen.

I think you’re referring to the Finnish girl. This was her second day in Palau and yes, you can see how much suncream she (didn’t) use on the first day!

 

[Happy Dude]

Per chance, does United offer some kind of "Explorer" or multi-stop ticket for island hopping?

 

[Mattg]

You didn’t go to Jellyfish lake.

Did you speak to anyone who did? I’m wondering what the current jellyfish numbers are like?

(Photo from google)
View attachment 501192

I'm not a marine buff and decided to save the USD50. The few people from our group who did go to the jellyfish lake seemed to enjoy it but the consensus on the tour was that it was quite a lot of money if you're not specifically interested.

The numbers of jellyfish are apparently quite low now, so I'm not sure it would look like that photo any more. (I think the reason for the expensive permit is precisely because the numbers are dwindling, so they don't really want that many people going in there.)

 

[Mattg]

Per chance, does United offer some kind of "Explorer" or multi-stop ticket for island hopping?

Not that I can tell or am aware of. Which is a shame.

I just tried pricing up a multi-city Island Hopper itinerary on the United website and the Economy pricing is basically full Y. You can do it in "First" for slightly more.

I think the most cost-effective way to do this with stops, other than non-revving (you'd need to be an airline employee) would be redeeming miles.

One of the Americans I met in Koror was a United employee and she was able to easily and very cheaply jump between the islands at will using non-rev tickets. That would be the best way to do it but most people obviously aren't eligible!

Incidentally, I also just had a look at current pricing on the ROR-MNL route. Looks like Philippine Airlines' entry into this market has brought United's fares down a little, but not by too much.



And of course, flying from Guam to Manila (via Koror) is cheaper.

 

[markis10]

Per chance, does United offer some kind of "Explorer" or multi-stop ticket for island hopping?

United do offer such a fare from HNL through to Japan with 5 stops for under USD300 at times but it takes planning and good timing, most suggest redemptions are easier

United Island Hopper: €247/$284 One-Way Tickets from Hawaii to Japan with 5 Pacific Stops (With Luggage)

The so-called Island Hopper from Star Alliance member United Airlines is one of the most interesting flights in the world. It starts in Hawaii and stops at up to four Pacific islands before reaching its destination in Guam. You can currently book the entire trip one way with departure from...

travel-dealz.com

 

[Mattg]

United do offer such a fare from HNL through to Japan with 5 stops for under USD300 at times but it takes planning and good timing, most suggest redemptions are easier

United Island Hopper: €247/$284 One-Way Tickets from Hawaii to Japan with 5 Pacific Stops (With Luggage)

The so-called Island Hopper from Star Alliance member United Airlines is one of the most interesting flights in the world. It starts in Hawaii and stops at up to four Pacific islands before reaching its destination in Guam. You can currently book the entire trip one way with departure from...

travel-dealz.com

Would this kind of deal allow you to stop over on multiple islands?

 

[markis10]

Your allowed 5

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Your allowed 5

The flight has *up to* five stops on your way from GUM to HNL. I’m not sure you can have five *stopovers* on your ticket - at least for those prices

 

[markis10]

I’ve done it a couple of times with overnights on a few of the islands, once when a similar product existed ex CNS which had an OMG departure time

 

[Happy Dude]

That route map certainly is interesting @Mattg. Would be great to put together a South Pacific adventure using ferries and an island hopper ticket. I've done such in the Caribbean and similar in Greece.

 

[Mattg]

My family lived in Manila for a year when I was a 7 year-old, as my father was sent there for work. During that time, I went to the British School Manila and we did a fair bit of travel around the Philippines.

Since then, I had never actually been back to the Philippines. It was time to change that, and I was particularly looking forward on this trip to revisiting some of the spots I remember from my childhood.

I'm sure I must have realised this to some extent at the time. But looking back now, I can see even more clearly that we lived a very privileged life in the Philippines. During that year we lived in a gated community, in a very nice house with four domestic helpers, and I went to a good private school. Even as a 7 year-old I thought this all felt a bit over the top, and I am very aware that this is not how most people live in the Philippines! It's one of many countries with a huge wealth inequality, where your experience depends greatly on whether or not you have money.

I wanted to visit a local friend who lives in Tagaytay, about a 1-2 hour drive south of Manila. He kindly offered to pick me up from the Belmont Hotel the next morning and drove me to his place, where I stayed a few days.

Leaving Manila:


Getting to Tagaytay:


Tagaytay is one of the spots that my family used to go for short trips during weekends and school holidays. The Australian embassy owned an apartment in one of the buildings in Tagaytay Highlands, and I believe they had some sort of arrangement where Australian expats could book it.

I have great memories from Tagaytay Highlands, and asked my friend if we could go there. He almost laughed, saying "you won't be able to get anywhere near that place unless you own a house there or have an airbnb booking". So, I suggested that I book an airbnb for a night, and invited him and his family to join.

The airbnb ended up being in the exact same building that we stayed in all those years ago, an iconic building called The Belle View. This indeed had an excellent view overlooking the Taal lake and volcano, and was in a really peaceful environment within the Tagaytay Highlands country club.




Getting into Tagaytay Highlands was a bit of a faff, as the airbnb host had to endorse our vehicle and there were various checkpoints. The host also had to endorse us to be able to get a guest pass for the country club, which cost extra money but allowed us to use the various facilities and eat at the restaurants within the Highlands area. This was worth doing, as the restaurants were really good and we enjoyed using some of the facilities like the bowling alley and mini-golf. I have great memories of bowling at that alley as a kid with my brother and friends.





Another thing I did as a kid was ride a donkey up Taal Volcano. Since that volcano erupted in 2020, it's now closed and off-limits to tourists. However, you can do a boat ride on the lake that surrounds the volcano. My friend organised for us to do this, and while I'm not sure how "official" the tour was, it was quite fun. The water on the lake was pretty rough but I guess that's part of the experience!

 

[Mattg]

There were quite a few Starbucks stores along Tagaytay’s summit ridge, which had great views of Taal Lake. And my goodness, were they popular… this was the queue at one Starbucks store, in the evening, just to get in!



As a kid I really enjoyed Yellow Cab Pizza and Jollibee, two Filipino fast food chains. Of course, I took the opportunity to eat at both. This may sound silly, but I'm sure Yellow Cab pizza has a different taste to any other pizza I've tried. Maybe the secret ingredient is fennel?



I had a spare day in Manila after returning from Tagaytay, so went back to check out my old school. When I was a student there, it was basically surrounded by empty fields and construction sites. That's changed completely, and in the decades since I was last there, Bonafacio Global City (BGC) has been built around it.



I had a morning flight out of Manila, so for my last night stayed at the Savoy Hotel near Terminal 3 at the airport. This was similar to the Belmont Hotel - fine for the price and also walkable to T3 via the Runway Manila bridge, although a bit further away.

This was the view from Savoy Hotel: