Touchdown!

Well it was a long long flight.  All the layovers I probably wasn't in any airport for more than an hour.  The flights were even longer.  The last 4 hours from Guam to the Philippines seemed like 6.  Lets look at what I've done from the start.

You always need to start off with a coffee when you arrive at the CLT airport at 430 am.  I don't know why I resisted coffee for so long, only started drinking it maybe 2 years ago.  Since then I've graduated to 31 oz Ice Coffees.

Ohh hey the Sun finally starts to shine as we are on our way to Houston.  Standard picture out the airplane window.  The Houston flight I actually had a window and an isle seat.  Although the plane was smaller then the rest and the seat was nothing special I liked it!

I had breakfast ( 2 eggs 1 piece of Toast and 3 strips of Bacon), and then this was the extent of the United Club in Houston that I saw.  Off to Honolulu

Landed in Honolulu after almost 8 hours!  The airport was nothing special but at least I got to walk outside for a minute and get some fresh air.  Flying in the water was a stunning blue! Since I didn't have a window seat there is no proof in the pictures you'll just have to take my word.  Less than an hour later we boarded again for Guam.

Guam airport,doesn't it look nice!  I sat here for about an hour again before we boarded.  

Finally!!!!!!!!! I arrived at the Makati Shangri-La.  The entrance way is amazing.  Lets back up a second.... We cleared customs with all of our bags- pretty impressive with the short lay overs.  Upon arrival there was someone waiting for us with a car service.  We went to a lounge for about 15 minutes and then needed 2 cars.  The first for the 3 of us, the other for our luggage.  We drove through Manila and got to see what it looked like at night.  Traffic is crazy here, the lanes are more of a suggestion with cars and bikes/moped moving in and out of traffic- but no one seems to get angry its just the natural flow of traffic.  We get there and a Basset Hound is the first thing to greet us, I assume a bomb sniffing or drug sniffing dog.  Security is tight here at all the hotels, private work buildings, and big shops.  There are other dogs as well and they are rotated out it seems.  Finally I get to check in, and sleep.... okay I just get to check in.

Here is my room!  Its not bad.  I start to unpack since I will be here for so long.  The coolest thing about this room is that once you walk in there is a place for your room key.  You insert the key into the slot and the lights turn on, the TV- all to what was last on.  It must be some type of energy saving idea but its a nice feature to come home to every day.  

Like I said about an hour and a half later once the rest of our group arrived we were on the way to where we will be working.  It takes about 15 minutes to get there and we thought we would only be there for 3 hours.  It turned out to be about 5.

2nd Starbucks of the trip upon arrival at work!  Its some type of Green Tea Frap with Red Beans- I don't claim to be the smartest lets get that out of the way now.  I saw Red Beans and thought some type of coffee bean, maybe they know something I don't, I hadn't seen it in the States so I wanted to try it.  It was a bad decision.  They were actual Red Beans- something you would get at dinner.  I didn't drink it all the beans turned out to be to much for me.  I'll stick with iced coffee or something else from now on.

Through all of this let me say I had probably slept 5 hours on and off during the flight to Guam and Manila.  I thought I was tired- but I kept pushing through knowing my work schedule for the most part will mock EST. Once back at the Hotel we all agree it would be better to stay up another 7 hours until 12PM Manila time.

We decide that we will meet for breakfast around 7, I decide to hit the gym.  Its a fairly large gym with just about everything you need.  I get about an hour workout in and then meet up for breakfast.

Breakfast is amazing here.  Its a Breakfast Buffet but bigger then anywhere else I have ever been.  Its also included with my stay.  The picture above is a Orange and Carrot Juice drink I ordered.  They have a juice bar with little shooters, and full drinks.  They have fresh fruit already cut up, a meat station, sushi, Asian style food, indian food, fish heads ( not sure I'll be trying those) They have what appears to be a full bakery and so many other things that I don' remember.  I decided since I just worked out to stay healthy and just pick and choose my meats and try a few juices.  I'll have a cheat day sometime with pictures to compliment.

After breakfast we split again and thought about catching Game 1 of the NBA.  The problem was we were a day early.  I think the plan after work will be to watch the game by the pool- I'll take some pictures.  Then one of my co-workers and I walked across the street to this Mall.  It wasn't open yet though so we just walked around.  Its HOT and HUMID here... I mean HOT and the mall is an indoor- outdoor mall with 3 levels and multiple buildings.  I think it is safe to say it has everything you could think of and more and I'll probably visit it again if for nothing else the experience.  Since the shops were closed we decided to head back to the Hotel and get a couple drinks to help us sleep.  12 PM came along and it was bed time.  I got a good 8 hours and its almost 10 PM here.  Work is about to begin.  Plenty of pictures to come and I'm sure some good stories along with them.