Japan & Philippines | Discover the Enchanting Landscapes
Who knew that the land of sushi and cherry blossoms would become my unplanned detour? But hey, the Philippines is beautiful—just not as beautiful as the surprise layover in a country that feels like a dream!
Day 1: Flight from YYZ to NRT
Where do I start? The trip began with me and my family leaving the house at 4:50 in the morning of July 31st, to drive all the way to Mississauga and then take an Uber to the airport. Checking in to the airline is very interesting. I arrived at the airport by 7:50-ish am.. but the check-in doesn’t start until 9 am, which was very strange... waiting to check in for 3 hours and 10 minutes is a long time.
After checking in and going through security, we got to the gate, but we had a quick snack/lunch break, I obviously got
and tried the Mango Strawberry Lemonade Refresher (with an energy boost), which was a pretty good drink to have (even before a long flight to Narita). The boarding was delayed due to security reasons & due to a route change cause of the volcano that erupted in Alaska.
After boarding the plane, I thought that I didn’t get window seat but I did. And the view was very nice and since it was a Boeing 787, the windows can be tinted (through the button below the window), which was an awesome thing that i've seen, cause the previous plane i took with my family to go to the philippines didn't have that kind of window.
I arrived to Japan around 6 pm(-ish) on August 1 (5 am EST) which meant my flight to the Philippines had to be rebooked. But thanks to Air Canada, my mom didn’t have to book the hotel. And it wasn’t just any hotel… it was a 4-star hotel, called The interior of the hotel was ON point, the growing bonsai tree behind the glass pane going to the elevators; the convenience store; a cafe; not one, not two but 4 restaurants. Everything in the hotel was giving ‘welcome to Japan! Hope you enjoy your stay!’
Day 2: Layover trip around Narita and Tokyo
The next day (August 2), me and my family went to see the Naritasan Temple, which was a workout just to get there, then after me and my family went on a ride on the JR line to go to Tokyo (not the touristic part of Tokyo | just Tokyo Station and the Edo-era side of Tokyo).
Then I saw the Starbucks location - which was near historical Imperial Palace and obviously, I had to get a souvenir from that location so I got the ‘Been There’ Series Tumbler
Day 3: Flight from NRT to MNL
I arrived at Ninoy Aquino Int'l Airport on August 3 and it was a very emotional time as I missed being in the Philippines, even after a year. I travelled from Terminal 1 of NAIA (cause my original flight was supposed to be August 1 with Air Nippon Airways [ANA], but it changed to Philippine airlines [PAL] on August 3), and took the PAL transfer bus to Terminal 3 (domestic flights), and since my flight was not till the 4th at 3:30 in the morning, me and my family (me, my brother, my mom, and dad) had to wait till 8pm to go past security and to the gate (which was unknown and wasn’t shown till 12am)
Day 4: Flight from MNL to CGY
I was so emotional landing in CGY. Cause that’s where my family and I have a property in, and it was very amazing cause I got to surprise one of my cousins (who was picking me up), and when I got to my house, my nieces and nephew were so surprised (EVEN my dog was surprised and happy!). Seeing my home and my mom’s side of the family after so long was like coming to a happy home.
Dates & What I Did (In bullet form)
August 6:
Tried Starbucks in the Philippines for the first time
When I saw the Starbucks, it wasn’t like the Starbucks in Canada. It was a TWO storey Starbucks, with lots of outdoor lighting, and the menu…. MASSIVE! And I got the tea-ramisu cream Frappuccino, while my mom got the Pure Matcha Latte (iced). And the Tea-Ramisu Cream Frappuccino was soooo delicious!
Had Jollibee for lunch & Goldilocks cake for dessert
August 7:
Went to SM CDO Downtown
When I told you I went shopping… I WENT shopping! I got a new school backpack (a MaH Oli Backpack & a Philippines Flag Pin from Kultura), and then I went to Gerry’s to eat lunch, which the menu was amazing, so I got my favourite - Sisig and rice, and Sago’t Gulaman.
August 8:
Spent time with my nieces & 1 cousin, and brother
Since Spider-Man Brand New Day came out 2 weeks prior to me watching it - me, my cousin, my nieces and my brother watched it, and we loved it, till there were not one but TWO blackouts, but at least we finished watching it 30 minutes after it was supposed to end.
August 11:
Went to Camiguin Island
CAMIGUIN Isle Be There - Camiguin Slogan
Me, my aunties and one uncle, my brother, my mom and dad woke up VERY early to catch the ferry boat to Camiguin Island. And we had a very little itinerary (cause our original itinerary was supposed to be a 1 night, 2 days trip) but we had gone through 2 of the 7 items off the itinerary
Original itinerary (Bolded are the ones that were completed)
Walkway to the old volcano
Old Spanish Church ruins
Mantigue Island
Sunken cemetery
Katibawasan falls
Tuasan Falls
The first boat ride there wasn’t as good as the boat was very small and it was swaying as it was on the water… but the boat ride back was very smooth, it was a large boat and it was very calming
Last Day: Flying from CGY all the way to YYZ
It was August 30th. It was so hard to say goodbye to the Philippines and my family (relatives from my mom’s side), but I had so much fun creating new memories and spending more time with family and my dog, even if it was for 3 or 4 weeks. It was more of an emotional moment for me cause that would probably be my last trip to the Philippines. I went to the airport around 10 or 11pm to check in and wait by the gate till 12 in the morning of the 31st of August.
I landed in NAIA around 1:55am and took an airport bus from one terminal to the next (as I had a layover for 7 hours), and had the McDonalds iced coffee, which was very strong and kind of bitter. After I entered immigration, I went to eat Tapa King for breakfast, as the layover was long. Then I had to go through a secondary screening at the gate for Air Canada as they didn’t want any defective electronics on their flight.
I landed in YVR (for a layover) around 5:50am, and it was so beautiful! When I saw the mountains and the view of Vancouver in the airport, I kind of was like “should I quote CW’s the flash in the airport?” cause the CW’s the flash was filmed in Vancouver, and it was very cool. Their security screening was very quick and I didn’t have to take out my liquids (that are about 100ml) or my computer. And when I went into the airplane that’s bound for my final destination - YYZ, I realized that this was the airplane that had the camera that had views from the belly of the plane and the tail, and it was awesome!
Landed in YYZ around 4:47pm, and as I arrived to Toronto, It was gloomy and foggy, and I was like "dang, going from a sunny and beautiful scenery to arrive in a gloomy and rainy scenery is different" which to me it was like going from "have a nice summer" to "hello rainy weather"… and I thought that I was gonna go through customs again and do immigration, but turns out I just had to go through some escalators and grab my bags, cause the Port of Entry to Canada was in Vancouver
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