Upcoming Phils trip update

[Aeson]

I think I may have figured out how to get a "free" round trip ticket... or maybe a very cheap (and shady?) one.

Play games at club.live.com and earn tickets. Can earn 1k per day. Then you can redeem the tickets for airline miles (AA... American or Alaska). Asia Miles (which Cathay Pacific uses) quotes 60k miles for SLC->CEB or LAX->CEB on American (economy/coach)... which strangely doesn't list CEB or MNL as destinations for their own rewards program, but has Cathay Pacific listed as serving the Phillipines (for 75k miles). Cathay Pacific is part of oneworld with American Airlines and others... and you can use miles from one in the other's programs.

60k miles is 96k tickets. That's a lot of anagrams... 4800 to be precise... but it only takes about an hour or two a day to hit the limit. Doesn't pay out as well as a job, but if you like those kinds of word games... might be worth looking into. (Using an anagram solver can help too.) I should have my tickets in about a month.

And for the nefarious among us... There are places you can buy club live accounts with points already. I'm sure Google could point you in the right direction. Usually cost ~$1/k. So you could get a round trip ticket for ~$100. Risky, and probably not actually legal either. (And the accounts themselves would be questionable, as they're probably bot'ed) Just thought I'd mention it cause that's freakin cheap...

[Lancer]

A pal of mine in the Phils used Cathay's mileage deal and it turned out he was on standby the whole trip. If we travel together and that happens, you might not get a seat, and we might lose our tickets if we wait.

For me, I pay my $ and get my ticket. Scammers abound. It would be terrible if you got cheated out of your trip.

If papa passes his test we have two full months left and most of a third before we travel. I really hope you can make it Aeson!

[Aeson]

Hmmm... standby wouldn't be good. Maybe will just use the tickets for a camera and xbox instead.

[Lancer]

That's just Cathay, who knows maybe China Air would be different. Likely we'll take China Air.

What if you lose the money you've saved and can't go? This is gambling you're talking about, yes? I used to work in a casino, eventually everybody loses.

Sorry, I'm a steady application wins the race kinda guy. If there were shortcuts that worked, more likely than not that would be the main road.

If you do it though, well good luck to you.

[Aeson]

Naw. No gambling. This is Microsoft's search engine, Live.com, and they're promoting it/running up their hits with games/prizes. No money involved. Nothing's really free, but all this costs is some spare time, which I have plenty of lately.

Trip money is safe

[Lancer]

Well that's cool!

[Lancer]

From another thread...

"Originally posted by Aeson
Ok. Got my passport in the mail yesterday... but the VISA application requires copies of an itinerary or actual plane tickets... :| "

Remember that papa gets his test on the 21st of this month. When we hear if he passes we'll buy tickets, then you can address the visa. If you can't get a visa in the US, you wrote down the address in Tagbilaran (listed above) to get visa extentions, right?

Read all this thread, that's my advice, every word. It has the wisdom of Zkrib and the experience we've both gained.

You get 21 days automaticly stamped into your passport when you enter the Phils. Before that time is over we go to Tag and get an extention at that address.

The advantage of getting a visa before we go is that you can get 6 months right at the beginning, no worries. The visa we get locally in Tag lasts two months each time.

[Lancer]

Well Pa passed his test. That's the good news. The bad news is that he didn't have all the required paperwork to get to the oath taking which is the end. So we're working to get that stuff quick like, and get it submitted. Then he can take his oath and we're free. Assuming we can get it done by Thanksgiving we'll leave just after.

My pal that brought over Dolores's cousin bought her ticket a couple days before the flight and it didn't increase the cost at all.

[Lancer]

We're trying to get pa's citizenship and passport so we can get the heck outa here in November as we had hoped earlier in this thread. Here's how its going.

Pa passed his citizenship test but lacked some paperwork. We franticly got that stuff together and sent it off yesterday with a letter begging them to get it done. Once its done then pa can take his oath. At his oath he has to turn in his green card which allows him to travel. We then have to go to the post office which can put a US passport in his hands within 2 to 3 weeks if he pays an extra $60.

So, if we get the oath taken this month, a fair sized if, then he can have his passport sometime late next month, in November.

[Lancer]

Zkrib, if we go in November we're staying for 6 months or so, we'll still be there through January and onward, that's the plan.

[Lancer]

Just checked airfares (ASAP Travel) last minute flying out Oct 23, returning a May 20 09. Northwest Air showed an amazing low price of $485 before taxes and fees, so figure around $800 round trip, or a little less maybe. So it seems when Northwest can't fill their seats they slash their prices last minute. That might work out for us next month or when Zkrib flies in Jan.

[Lancer]

49.390

[Aeson]

I'm hoping for 55:1 by April.

Still no word on the swearing in ceremony?

[Lancer]

Dolores is hoping for 50, she's going to get there I think. Alot of OFWs (Overseas Foriegn Workers) remit extra dollars in November and that will likely counter the slide.

No sign of the much anticipated paperwork.

If it comes and the date for the ceremony is late Nov or into Dec we go in January. If the date is any later than that then we send them certified mail saying that we'll be away please reschedule for June, and then we leave. I have to ask Rufus how he thinks that will be recieved, but we are all itching to get outa here.

Edit: 47.1

[Aeson]

No worries... nothing goes straight up. Though what the dollar (in general) is doing lately is pretty close to it. The advance against the Philippine peso looks more sustainable. I still have hope for ~6mo out.

The dollar (in general) is due for a (major) correction soon. Either that or the rest of the world is on fire or something.

http://quotes.ino.com/chart/?s=NYBOT_DX&v=dmax