Philippine Airlines Business Class

Aloha Everyone,

J.J. and I paid $680 per person for a roundtrip ticket from LAX to Manila. The airline has no Premium Economy section which is now our choice of seats. Philippine Airlines (PAL) is the only carrier that offers direct flight from LAX to Manila. By the time our upgrade bid was accepted by PAL, our one-way fare came to $1,389.19 per person.

The in-flight service in Business Class was impeccable. Of the 36 seats, only 10 were occupied.

The space allocated per person is comparable to 4 to 6 in the economy section. The seat actually becomes a flat bed.  

The 15 1/2 hours flight time was made more tolerable by the kind, cheerful and well-trained cabin attendants. J.J. enjoyed a wide variety of meal selections.

PR113 Crew from left to rightL Olyn, Panjie, Jed, Arlene (purser), Mylene

My cheese & fruits for dinner and granola just before we landed were perfect!

The flight was turbulent at times but seeing an ethereal night sky which one of our flight attendant excitedly informed me of "seeing an angle" was a nice welcome. The cloud looks more like a plane.

Aloha -- Cathi

Departure Day!

Aloha Everyone,

J.J. and I had our breakfast and are waiting for our flight at the passenger lounge.

Aura from Guatemala (right) and Claudia from Mexico graciously agreed to hold our flat traveling companions.

Aloha -- Cathi

Awesome Surprise of Jeff's Visit

Aloha Everyone,

Our younger son Jeff was in Las Vegas to coach a women's volleyball team from Hawaii over the President's Day weekend.  

Due to the recent storms in Southern California, his flight was delayed in Las Vegas and it caused him to miss the connecting flight in Los Angeles to Honolulu.

What a fortuitous turn of events. He decided to come and see us and my Mother. Jeff stayed over night and left at 4:00 am for an early morning flight to Honolulu.

Aloha -- Cathi

Rain Quotes

Aloha Everyone,

I love all kinds of weather except extreme heat. So here is a small sample of rain quotes perfect for a day like today.

"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather."

-- John Ruskin

"The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain."

-- Henry Wadsworth

"I'm singing in the rain, just singing in the rain; What a wonderful feeling, I'm happy again."

-- Arthur Freed

" The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind in a primeval wood, and the sound of outer ocean on a beach."

-- Henry Beston

Aloha -- Cathi

Girl Scout Cookie Sales Record

Aloha Everyone,

We are constantly bombarded with stories of dishonesty, cruelty and calamity. Therefore it is truly refreshing to hear about a 6th grader Girl Scout who decided to set her goal in breaking a world record. She exceeded beyond her target by selling over 21,000 boxes of cookies. Her secret, just plain hard work and HONESTY!

Here is a link to her amazing and heart-warming story:

http://insider.foxnews.com/2014/04/07/girl-scout-katie-francis-breaks-record-selling-over-21000-boxes-cookies

Aloha -- Cathi