My happy experience flying from the Clark Airport (DMIA)

I ended up flying to and from Clark by default, because it was the only flights I could find for the dates I wanted on the Miles Saver Fares (75,000miles to Europe instead of 140,000miles). It turned out to be such a blessing in disguise.

Travel time to Clark from Manila was faster than expected with the newly opened Smart Connect highway that connects Mindanao Avenue to C5. In fact, we got to Clark in less than 2 hours.

Sofia brought me to the airport, and we were able to spend time together doing her favorite things.

We had a McDonald's date

 and we had time to shop for Chocolates and Toys...

We were quite surprised Puregold Duty Free (Clark)
had so many cool toys.

We didn't expect Puregold Duty Free to have such a cool selection of toys.  It really came in handy because I was able to cross out stuff from Sofia’s pasalubong (presents) list.

Sofia had a Php500 budget, but because I was leaving and there was so many cool things, I told her she could buy everything she wanted as long as that already counts as my pasalubong from Europe. Hooray for freed up luggage space!!!

They had an assortment of cool Hasbro U-build games. The games come with lego-like parts that you need to build first before you can start playing. Really good value because it provides double the entertainment for kids!

The classic Connect 4 game with a twist.
It now comes with bumpers and blockers.

We also bought the Monopoly and Mousetrap versions,
but Sofia hasn't opened it yet (we're rationing it to 1 game a week).

Just a side note, I googled Hasbro's U-build games and you can buy them from their website here for US$19.99 with Free Shipping and 50% on your second game. Wheeeee! I didn't realize we got such a good deal. (Sana I bought more... #suckerforasale)

We were also able to buy Bubble Bath.
(another thing on Sofia's Bilin List)

Sofia has memories of buying Matey Bubblebath
from the Unilever Shop in the London office in 2012,
so she wanted me to bring home Bubblebath from London.

1 and 2 - DONE!!! and I haven't even left! 

Even the airport itself is less stressful. Leaving was easy.

Excited to Board.

The plane was new on our way to Dubai, however, on the return flight
the plane was older, but I had 1 row to myself, which works well for me.

My Sweet and Salty Trail Mix came in handy because it took quite
some time before meals were served.

In fact, the Sweet and Salty Trail Mix was so good, I sent the driver to pick up more (for Pasalubong -shhhh!) before he picked me up.

And arriving in Clark was so much better than arriving in Manila, especially after a long holiday. The plane arrived 30 minutes ahead of time. I cleared immigration (where I asked if I needed a form, and I was answered, if you have one ma’am, which I replied I has an old one – which was accepted, but leaving me with the impression that if I didn’t have a form it was okay as well), got my luggage and was on my way home before the estimated arrival time.

Travel time home was two hours again. So all in all, a much better experience that getting stuck in NAIA immigration for hours, and getting stuck in the traffic out of NAIA parking.

Kudos to the Clark Airport efficiency!  I will consider flying out from there again for future holidays. just saying.