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:

 

[Bindibuys]

You are running a bit behind... still waiting for the Solomon Islands bit.

 

[AIRwin]

You are running a bit behind... still waiting for the Solomon Islands bit.

Are we entitled to denied reading compensation from you @Mattg ?

 

[Mattg]

You are running a bit behind... still waiting for the Solomon Islands bit.

Sorry.. life has gotten a bit in the way, but the next chapters are coming!

 

[wannabeinvestmentbanker]

Great TR so far and wasn’t aware you had abdicated from the editor position

 

[AIRwin]

Great TR so far and wasn’t aware you had abdicated from the editor position

Abdication announcement:

Thread 'I'm stepping down from the AFF editor role'

Dec 18, 2025

As some of you are already aware, I'm stepping down from my role as AFF's editor at the end of this year.

I've been in this role since 2015, and it's been quite a journey. I'm very proud of what AFF has achieved over that time, and I'm happy to have had the chance to meet and perhaps even help many of you. But the time has now come for me to move on to a new challenge.

I will still contribute to AFF for the foreseeable future, both as a freelance writer next year and as a member of this wonderful community. I just won't be the person behind the AFF Editor account going forward, which...

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• Replies: 79
• Forum: Open Discussion

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[Mattg]

From Manila, I basically wanted to get to Mexico City. There are no direct flights on this route, and most of the shorter/cheaper indirect routes involved transiting through the US. I had no interest in doing that, and ANA via Tokyo was way too expensive (with no reward seats available either). So I expanded my search.

I could have flown Air Canada from Manila to Mexico City via Vancouver, but this was also quite expensive and the layover time at YVR was really long. It was cheaper to instead fly to Seoul, and then book an Air Canada ticket from Seoul to Mexico City via Vancouver (with about a 5-hour layover in YVR... still long but acceptable). This would all be in Economy.

I was planning just to book a direct flight from Manila to Seoul on Philippine Airlines, and already had my credit card out when I got to the seat selection page. But when I realised that PAL would be using an A330 with a 3-3-3 seating layout on this route (i.e. the seats would be really narrow), and that Cathay Pacific via HKG was $30 cheaper, I decided just to go with CX. Sure, it would add a few hours to the trip. I would spend most of those extra hours lounge hopping in Hong Kong, so that was hardly a problem! And at least Cathay's Economy seats are comfortable.

So, I checked in at Ninoy Aquino International Airport and headed up to the Cathay Pacific Lounge there for some breakfast. I know the lounges at MNL get a bad rap sometimes, but the Cathay lounge was lovely. The noodle bar was a highlight.



Cathay Pacific was great. The A330 taking me up to Hong Kong was comfortable, and the Oneworld Emerald recognition on board was excellent. I got personal greetings from multiple crew members before we departed, and they had left a pillow and blanket on my seat. The bottle of water came a bit later, which was apparently a major issue for Mr "You Normally Give Me A Bottle Of Evian" sitting in front of me (who I assume was also Oneworld Emerald).



We had some great views of Manila after take-off.




A hot meal with a bottle of water was served during the flight.



After landing in Hong Kong and clearing transit security, I headed over to the CX Pier First Lounge. This is such a good lounge and IMHO one of the best that you can access with Qantas Platinum status. I enjoyed some dandan noodles and sampled the local tasting menu, then retired to the bar for a martini.



Unfortunately, no spa appointments were available until well after my connecting flight would have departed. (Very much a first world problem! I can live with that )

My flight to Seoul was leaving from the other end of the terminal, near the Qantas Lounge, so I popped in there as well on my way to the gate. I tried a couple of the "plates of the day" and a coughtail, which were all good. The Qantas Hong Kong Lounge really is very nice! I think I was a bit too early for the dim sum trolley, though.



I was not hungry at all when I boarded the next flight to Seoul, but still attempted to eat the meal provided - which was pretty good. One of the cabin crew offered to fetch me some wine from business class, which was nice, although it still came in a paper cup.




The sun set as we zoomed through the sky towards Incheon International Airport. I would stop over in Seoul for two nights, and the temperature when I arrived was about zero degrees Celsius. My jacket finally got a chance to be useful for the first time on this trip!

 

[Mattg]

On arrival at ICN I noticed a sign pointing to a desk for e-gate registration. It turns out that Australians are now eligible to register for South Korea's e-gates, and this ended up being a very efficient process. It took all of a minute, and once that was done I could enter the country through the e-gate rather than queuing for an hour. Wonderful!

I've been to Seoul numerous times before and enjoy the city. Since I've already seen most of the main sights, I instead just spent the couple of days there chilling - both figuratively and literally - before the most grueling leg of my trip.

I stayed at a hostel for the couple of nights and ended up going out on the last night for some drinks, fried chicken and bowling with someone that I met there. By 2am I was wondering if I should try to get some sleep ahead of my flight the next day. Then I realised that I was about to enter a time warp anyway - the difference between Korea and Mexico is 10 hours, and I'd be travelling for around 24 hours to get there - so time at that point was practically meaningless.