Hongkong Family Edition: Planning and Preparation
Hong Kong. Take three.
Our HK Itinerary for 4D3N:
Plane Fare
I don't rely on email alerts, FB pages and Twitter. I patiently checked the websites of Cebupacific and PalExpress. I booked the tickets on December 2012, the trip date was May 2013. Got the MNL-HKG flight at Piso-fare rate while the HKG-MNL flight at a regular rate.
Accommodations
I got one double and two twin rooms at Yiu Fai Guesthouse. Three rooms for the 6 of us. I figured that we could make use of three bathrooms. Especially that all my siblings are girls (Yay to sisterhood!).
The
first time I was in Hongkong, I was 9 or 10 years old, with my family. There were four of us back then. There was no Disneyland,
no MTR and no digicams. My dad filmed our activities using an old
camcorder - then converted/saved/how do
you call it? To Betamax.
The
second time was with my officemates in 2008. The trip was partially subsidized
but we still had to shell out a huge chunk of cash for the trip. 95% of my mid-year
bonus went in this tri (the 5% went to Starbucks splurge and some savings).
2008 HK Disneyland. Pounds and years ago. I wore a jumper for maximum childhood feeling effect. |
The
third time was with my family.
Planning
Set your
target destination.
Where? The destination is important. There are lots of possible destinations
but you have settle where you want to go. Will the place require you periods of
long walking? Gauge if your family members can handle physically challenging
activities.
Set your target
dates.
When? Do you have siblings still studying? Or working overseas? Would summer,
sembreak or the holidays work out for everyone? This will let you know which
seat sales are worth participating in.
Set your
budget.
How much? Who will fund the trip? Is the fund readily available? If there’s a
seat sale tomorrow, can you purchase the tix via credit card and pay this in
full when the bill is due? Will you stay in hotels or guesthouses? DIY or
package trip?
Assign a
person in charge.
I took over here. Being the most travelled (and the eldest too), I volunteered
(or assigned) to be the trip planner for
our HK Family outing. The focal person is responsible for checking budget plane
fares, choosing and booking the accommodations, and fixing the itinerary. Pinoyexchange's Hong Kong thread is extremely detailed and reliable. You can stop reading this post and just read that one. That's fine with me.
Have a family
meeting before leaving. Medyo OA. But I felt it was necessary to brief
everyone about the must-know for the airport, immigration, luggage.
Travel Preps
for family
Travel
Preps – currency exchange, credit card activation. We got HKD in Czarina Foreign Exchange. Call at least three days in advance to reserve HKD. We got them at 1HKD = Php 5.50.
Kelangan may picture yung pera. Basta lang. |
Passport Preparation - make sure you have a valid passport. My mom and sisters had to get passports (another story). Passport backup (scanned
copies in email, photocopies in bags), insert a valid id in the passport (in
case of immigration queries)
Home and Work Arrangements. Vacation leaves, pet care,
maid tasks.
Packing
tips – since most of my family members haven’t travelled overseas, I had to
brief them re Check-in vs. Handcarry.
Itinerary Review - it would be best if everyone knows the basic itinerary in case they get asked in immigration.
Travel
etiquette – Leave No Trace Policy. Bawal magtapon ng basura kung saan saan.
Emergency
contact numbers. Give everyone a map of the Philippine Embassy.
Get
some sleep the night before. Be prepared to deal with cranky people in the
airport.
Our HK Itinerary for 4D3N:
Date/Day
|
Particulars
|
Comments
|
Group
Cost HKD
|
Personal
Exp. HKD
|
PHP
|
Forex Rate
|
5.50
|
||||
Airfare
|
Cebupacific
promofare
|
Piso fare
MNL-HK, regular fare HK-MNL
|
35,298.06
|
||
Accomodation
|
Downpayment
to guesthouse
|
3 double
rooms @ 400/room/night
|
|||
Downpayment
is 1 night
|
1,200.00
|
||||
Day 1 -
Saturday
|
Depart NAIA -
The Peak
|
||||
Depart 5:40
|
Travel tax
|
Php
1,620/pax, for 6 pax
|
9,720.00
|
||
Arrive 7:40
|
Airport
Terminal Fee
|
Php 550/pax,
for 6 pax
|
3,300.00
|
||
Breakfast at
Airport - Seattle's Best
|
1,285.00
|
||||
Octopus Card
|
HKD 150/pax, for 6 pax
|
900.00
|
|||
Peak Tram +
Sky Terrace + Madame Tussaud
|
HKD 205/pax, for 6 pax
|
1,230.00
|
|||
Hongkong
Disneyland Tix
|
HKD 388/pax, for 6 pax
|
2,328.00
|
|||
Ocean Park +
Meal
|
HKD 310/pax, for 6 pax
|
1,860.00
|
|||
Balance
payment to guesthouse
|
2,400.00
|
||||
Photo in Tram
|
100.00
|
||||
Lunch
|
179.00
|
||||
Gongcha
|
47.00
|
||||
Dinner at BK
|
286.00
|
||||
The peak telescope
|
5.00
|
||||
Day 2 -
Sunday
|
Disneyland
Day
|
||||
Breakfast
|
82.00
|
||||
Meal Coupon
|
HKD 178/pax, for 6 pax
|
1,068.00
|
|||
Cotton Candy
|
28.00
|
||||
Day 3 -
Monday
|
Ocean Park
Day
|
||||
Photo
souvenir at the entrance
|
100.00
|
||||
Bus from
Ocean Park to Admirality
|
HKD 10.6/pax, for 6 pax
|
63.60
|
|||
Cafe Coral
|
246.00
|
||||
KFC
|
24.00
|
||||
Octopus card
reload
|
HKD 50/pax, for 6 pax
|
300.00
|
|||
Wellcome
shopping
|
151.30
|
||||
Day 4 -
Tuesday
|
Nanlian
Garden + Free Time + Fly out of HKIA
|
||||
Breakfast
|
150.00
|
||||
Lunch
|
504.50
|
||||
Mc do
Milkshake
|
6.00
|
||||
Mcdo Large
Fries
|
8.00
|
||||
Ovaltine
Drumstick
|
8.00
|
||||
Supermarket
|
163.20
|
||||
Airport
Starbucks
|
36.00
|
||||
Chatime
|
19.00
|
||||
Total,
HKD/PHP
|
12,997.10
|
495.50
|
49,603.06
|
||
Converted to
PHP
|
71,484.05
|
2,725.25
|
49,603.06
|
||
Total PHP, per pax (/6 pax)
|
11,914.01
|
8,267.18
|
|||
GRAND
TOTAL/pax, in PHP
|
20,181.19
|
Plane Fare
I don't rely on email alerts, FB pages and Twitter. I patiently checked the websites of Cebupacific and PalExpress. I booked the tickets on December 2012, the trip date was May 2013. Got the MNL-HKG flight at Piso-fare rate while the HKG-MNL flight at a regular rate.
Accommodations
I got one double and two twin rooms at Yiu Fai Guesthouse. Three rooms for the 6 of us. I figured that we could make use of three bathrooms. Especially that all my siblings are girls (Yay to sisterhood!).
It is gonna be fun but it is not gonna be fun all the time. ;)
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