I’m flying home this afternoon so it’s time to say goodbye to Manila and my gwapa uyab. We had to be out of the place by 12-noon and our flights were after 5pm so we decided to go straight to the airport. Nica’s flight was leaving slightly ahead of mine and we were hoping to wait together.
We packed up our bags and said goodbye to Azure Resort in Paranaque. It was a fun few days!
We took our taxi to the airport and were there about 40 minutes later. We saw a place called Newport which reminded me of home…
Once we got to the airport, it was busy! Waaay busier than any other airport I’d been to in Philippines so far. I took a photo of my luggage with a beautiful new cover gifted to me by Nica!
We stopped off at Jollibee for some food…
Then we wandered around the airport for a couple of hours. Every time we stopped we got emotional so we didn’t really stop a lot! I got Nica some Mary Grace to take home with her, I’d also ordered a flower delivery which will hopefully be there when she gets back home tonight. I’ll land back in the UK tomorrow morning and then be back to work the following day. Here’s our last couple of shots together for now…
Soon it was time to check in. Sadly, we can’t wait together as we have to go to different parts of the airport so it was time to say goodbye. It all happened so fast and Nica was gone before I knew she was going. Probably for the best else there’d have been a huge scene ð¥². Definitely one of the most difficult and painful moments I can remember.
Nica’s flight was on Cebu Pacific…
And I was on Emirates again, heading to Heathrow via Dubai…
Nica was airborne and well on her way home when I was just boarding the plane. She’d be most of the way home before I even get in the air! Sana all!
By now I’ve lost connection so I won’t be able to communicate with Nica until the Wi-Fi is turned on at Cruising Altitude. Luckily, it wasn’t a long wait ’til we pushed back and headed for the runway. The light was fading so we got some nice views…
That was the last I saw of the Philippines. I did get some nice night shots over India…
There was a wonderful storm too but it was difficult to get any photos, sorry!
Once I got to Dubai, I saw the flowers had arrived for Nica and she loved them!
I had a slightly delayed departure from Dubai, some issue with the electrics but we got going eventually!
We landed safely and Alan was there ready to pick me up from arrivals. Getting through the border control at Heathrow was a bit of an adventure. There was sooo many questions about where I’d been, why, and where I was going . I assume it’s done to protect people from trafficking etc. but it was a bit disconcerting! I know what to expect for next time at least!
I checked in to see Pamsie was waiting at the door for me!
I made it home safe and ready to unpack. I will write further thoughts and feelings about the trip soon as everything is a bit raw at the minute. Thank you for joining us throughout this trip; I will definitely be going back as soon as I can!