Balikbayan Program: One Year Free Stay in Pinas

For those former Filipino citizens like me who would like to return/travel/stay in the Philippines, the government has this Balikbayan Program that allows us a one year "free" stay. Upon arrival, the Immigration officer will stamp (or write) a one year permitted duration of stay in the Philippines.

My son Nathan, who's a Canadian citizen at birth, was also given a free one year stay because he's traveling with a "Balikbayan" parent (this also applies to the spouse). If he's traveling to  the Philippines alone, he will only be given 30 days.
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The one year free stay can be extended daw for another 1, 2 or 6 months but the Balikbayan and/or immediate family of a Balikbayan would have to go to the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to apply for such extension.

According to BI's website, a balikbayan may be required to provide proof/s that he/she was born in the Philippines (like birth certificate, old Philippines passport). But in our case, hindi na hinanap kasi nakalagay na Canadian passport ang "place of birth." Hindi ko lang alam sa ibang foreign passports.

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Side Thought -- Ang lungkot din pala na may "limit" lang ang (free) stay mo sa bayang sinilangan mo. Basta, iba sa pakiramdam. #SentiCessie

China Airlines' In-Flight Food

Between China Airlines and EVA Air, I prefer the food that the former serves during flight. Mas kahawig kasi ng food ng Philippine Airlines ang pagkain nila (or akala ko lang yun?) kaya mas nakakain ko. I am a very picky eater, madami akong hindi kinakain like salad and fruits.

To give you an idea pala, the flight from Vancouver to Taipei is about 12 hours while Taipei to Manila is around 2 hours.

Vancouver to Manila Flight.

For a 12-hour flight, they serve two meals.

Una kang makakakain just one hour after take-off. Once na mag-stabilize na ang plane sa taas, the flight attendants will begin preparing and serving meals. Kaya hindi na talaga ako kumakain sa airport while waiting kahit nagugutom na ako kasi nga kakain din naman kaagad sa airplane.

Ito yung unang sinerve nila. Dalawa ang choices as usual and I said "both" to the flight attendant para matikman ko parehas (at mapicturan) kaso namali yata siya ng rinig. Hindi nga kasi ganun kagaling mag-English and mga Chekwa, di ba? So ayun, dalawang "pork" ang binigay sa akin.

I noticed na parang mas kumonti ang serving nila ng rice compared to two years ago. I am lucky because I had two sets of this meal kasi nga hindi naman kumakain niyan ang anak ko (at tulog na rin siya because it was past 3am na in Vancouver time). At dahil hindi ako kumakain ng fruits at salad, yang rice meal lang ang kinain ko plus bread (carbs, I know!). I had to be busog kasi I won't be eating anything else during our trip kundi itong airline flood.

The second meal was served naman mga 3 hours before landing. May pagka-breakfast feel na, may omelete na choice pero ayaw ko nun. Again, times two ang pagkain ko. My son ate the apple slices na lang (ayaw nya rin ng orange and strawberry, manang-mana sa ina).

Taipei to Manila Flight. 

Dahil mahigit-higit 2 hours lang ang flight to Manila, mabilisan din ang pag-serve nila ng food. Wala na ring choice, isang klase lang ang pagkain. Unless siguro may "vegetarian" request ang passenger.

I was glad that they didn't serve rice this time. Umay na ako sa rice lol.

I was generally happy with these three meals. Nabusog ako (kasi ng times two palagi ang pagkain ko) at nasarapan. Mas nasatisfy ang tummy ko kesa noong nag-fly kami sa EVA Air.

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For those who are flying, make sure na nakapagrequest kayo ng specific meal (ex. vegetarian) if you have special dietary requirements. Sakto lang kasi ang pagkain sa airplane, you can't demand for a special food the last minute.

Minsan malas din kapag nasa likod ka, baka maubusan ka ng gusto mong food. It happened to my husband once, shrimp na lang ang natira tapos di siya kumakain nun. He didn't assert himself kaya gutom ang inabot niya. Nangyari din yan samin last year ni Nathan, naubusan kami ng chicken meal. I was pissed kasi nga pareho kong gusto yung food lol (again, times two ang meal ko haha). Ang sabi ko sa flight attendant, hindi kumakain nung isang dish (fish) ang anak ko. Ayun, nataranta siya, hindi niya kasi kami inunang bigyan (we were seated at the very last row). Hahanap daw siya tapos pagkabalik may chicken teriyaki na (na hindi nila sine-serve sa economy passengers). Ayos! Nakakadiskarte rin pala sila ng ibang food. Sabagay, andami nilang options for business class passengers eh.

Cheap Airfare to the Philippines

Jetsetter daw kami sabi nung isang kapitbahay namin nang makita kami last Holy Week. Sabagay, ten months ago lang nang huli kaming nandito ni TanTan sa Pilipinas. Tapos last March, nakita niya rin siguro sa Facebook na nagpunta kami sa Caifornia for a few days.

Pero syempre kapag sinabing "jetsetter," may connotation yan na sosyal. At ang layo namin sa pagiging sosyal noh! Haler, super mura lang kaya ng plane tickets na binibili namin palagi!

Here's how much we paid for our roundtrip Vancouver-Manila plane tickets this year:

That's just around Php53,000-56,000 for two pax, depende sa conversion.

Hindi na masama kasi naalala ko dati, sobrang mahal ng pamasahe sa America. Ang dami kong kamag-anak na taga-doon at talagang bihira silang makauwi ng Pinas noon dahil mabigat nga ang pamasahe. Ngayon dahil sa competition at proliferation ng budget airlines, affordable na ang airfare kahit paano.

This is actually our (Nathan and I) fourth time to go home in Pinas. Noong una (2015), Nathan was only 7 months old so we flew via Philippine Airlines (PAL) para direct flight na from Vancouver to Manila. We were still living in Edmonton then kaya we needed to fly pa to Vancouver. We paid a total of $2068.81 (around Php83,0000) for those flights. Take note, wala pang bayad si Nathan noon kasi baby pa siya. $319.50 lang ang charge sa kanya for taxes and other fees.

In short, ang mahal ng PAL! Kaya I told myself na di na ako uulit sa PAL kahit na mahirapan ako. Sayang kasi ang perang matitipid, panggastos na rin yun sa Pinas.

We were already living in Metro Vancouver sa pangalawang pagbabakasyon namin sa Pilipinas (2016). While looking for cheap flights, my husband learned na mas mura pala kung magdi-direct booking sa airline company mismo. Nasa Vancouver na kami kaya posible yun, hindi na kailangan ng "agency" na katulad ng CheapOAir. So yun, he booked us a flight on China Airlines for $1379.74 for two pax na.

For our third vacation (2018), sa EVA Air naman siya nakatagpo ng cheap flight. He paid $1445.40 para samin ni Nathan.

So yun, ang two cheapest airlines so far na nakita niya ay China Airlines at EVA Air. Both have layovers at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. Halos pareho rin ang time ng flights nila.

For our latest flight, hubby asked me kung ano ang preferred airline ko sa dalawa. Sabi ko kahit ano, parehas lang naman kako, basta kung ano yung mas mura na lang.

China Airlines won this time. Cheapest na talaga sa ilang araw na pagbabantay ni Ford ng rates online. Nagfa-fluctuate ang  fare prices so medyo kailangan ng tiyaga sa pagbabantay at pagko-compare. Contrary to popular belief na kailangang matagal pa dapat ang flight sa pagbu-book para makamura, hindi naman talaga. Chambahan lang din kasi talaga ang pagbu-book. In our case, Ford bought our tickets less than two months lang before our trip.

That's our plane!

Ang drawback lang talaga ng cheap airlines ay ang layover. Pero two hours lang naman usually going to Manila (4 hours going to Vancouver) kaya hindi naman masyadong matagal ang ipag-aantay. So may additional 4 to 6 hours ka lang sa buong trip mo. Not bad given na sobrang laki ng matitipid mo.

Nathan in Taiwan

Recently, may promo daw ang PAL na $800+ lang for Vancouver-Manila roundtrip flights. We checked it out kung totoo. Olats, parang joke lang. the cheapest we found was $1200+ (we tried all the dates). At yan din ang complaint ng ibang Pinoys who were trying to book, nanloloko lang daw. Hay naku, never na nga akong aasa sa PAL tutal may China Airlines at EVA Air naman.

Overall, I was satisfied naman with our recent flight. The plane was new (Airbus A350-900) and the food was good. Naprioritize kami sa pagpasok sa loob (Vancouver to Taipei) dahil sa bata (but not in Taipei to Manila kasi less than 2 years old lang daw ang may priority). Hindi rin naman sila ganun kahigpit sa carry on bags (or else yari kasi andami naming dala at mabibigat pa). I was happy, too, kasi malapit na yung gate for our connecting flight, unlike dati na kailangan pang mag-train at maglakad ng malayo kasi nasa dulong-dulo ang gate.

Heavy Travelers!

We've had a very smooth flight and I have to give credit din to my well-behaved son. Imagine, 25 hours ang total trip namin (from our home in BC to our home in Marilao) pero hindi siya tinopak man lamang. Such a trooper, my boy! =)

Guarding our bags dutifully. He was such a great help to Mommy!

It's hard to travel with a small kid pero "pro" na nga yata kami in flying. Kaya I don't mind kahit hindi kami direct flight. =)

Pinas Vacay 2019

Hello, hello! As I have mentioned in my last posts (matagal-tagal na rin yung huli), Nathan and I are going home in Pinas again at eto na nga -- nandito na kami!

We arrived on April 9, 2019 (Tuesday). It was a tiring 25-hour trip all in all but it was so worth it. Ang sayang makita ng bahay namin!

My cousin Sandoc/Mylyn volunteered to pick us up at the airport

Anyway, we've been here for sixteen days already and there are times na nagsisisi ako kung bakit nga ba umuwi kami ng summer haha! Dagdagan pa ng El nino! Nakakaloka ang init grabe. Oh well, wala ng magagawa. Wala rin naman akong choice. Nathan will start school na this September 3 so if I want to stay here in Pinas nang matagal-tagal, kailangang agahan namin ang uwi. We are flying back to Canada on August 15.

But I am really bored. Literally, ang ginagawa ko lang dito ngayon ay kumain at magpalamig sa aircon. Sobrang init kasi kaya wala akong magawa. Ni hindi ko na nga maasikaso ang anak ko (lol), buti na lang Mamoosh and Ate Charry (our house angel) are here.

Oh I can't wait na matapos na ang summer para may magawa naman ako. I want to enjoy my last long vacation here in Pinas. 

Please stay tuned. I will be blogging a lot in the coming days. Kasi nga bored ako hehe.