I've been wanting to go to Davao ever since I had my first taste of Mangosteen. It's love at first taste I tell you. Thanks to Tiger Airways' seat sale, my dream of visiting Davao during Kadayawan Festival came true!
Getting There
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| Kadayawan, here we come! |
I woke up at 2 AM to get ready for our 5:30 AM flight. Oh the things I do for travel! It's my first time to fly via SEAir* and it's been a while since my last domestic flight so I wanted to get to the airport early. We arrived at
Manila Domestic Airport (aka
NAIA Terminal 4) around 3:30 AM. After checking in our toiletries and paying for the terminal fee**, we proceeded to the departure area. I still find it funny whenever they ask sandals and flip-flops to be removed and placed on the scanner. I guess not much has changed with the domestic airport but this time, their WiFi was actually working! Yay!
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| It's more fun in the Philippines! |
The flight was delayed for a few minutes but we didn't mind because our plane was so cute! It has "It's more fun in the Philippines" printed across its body. I even overheard one REALLY loud passenger say that our flight was only the second flight ever of Tiger Airways via SEAir. I don't know if that's true but it's pretty cool.
In fairness, we still arrived in Davao on time. We were greeted by flowers and TV reporters upon arrival at
Davao Internaional Airport. Or rather, our plane was greeted by flowers and TV reporters. Haha I don't know if it's part of the Kadayawan celebration or because it was one of the first flights of our plane. From then on, I had a feeling this trip will be unforgettable. And that actually marked the start of the special treatments we received during our entire stay. ;)
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| Spot the tourists |
While walking towards the baggage claim area, we heard gong-like sounds and it made us sprint towards the lobby where a cultural performance was waiting for us. We were already amused by this and it's not even the main event yet! This was enough to put us in a festive mood and get even more excited for the float parade.
