Deal or No Deal?

by Toucan Dave
(Reading, PA, U.S.A.)

As early as 1974 I have been going to the Philippines, and during that time never stayed in a hotel as the people are so friendly they will invite you to be their guest and feed you and watch over you.

I'm older now and engaged to a balikbayan, and we plan to honeymoon in any affordable place in the central provinces and stay with friends too. Now in case you don't know what a balikbayan is -- it refers to a native Filipino or expatriate living in other parts of the world, i.e. U.S.A., Canada, Europe, or Scandanavia.

There are so many Filipina women I have in my network of friends and I know how hard they work. Some living abroad are doing and living a better quality of life than you.

I just spoke to a woman (Filipina) that organized a trip from So. Norway with 1 Caucasian friend of her daughter's and her party of 5. Balikbayans love to go home and see their families and live the high standard they now have acquired and stay in these hotels.

She referred me to the Regency and said all the party stayed in a nice room on the beach there for P6,600 for 4 days/3 nights.

Now I am furious, do we gouge foreigners in our hotels because of the color of their skin or national origin? The point is why can't 2 stay for $48.00 a night? Why are these booking agencies charging $168.00 a night for the same?

If I were you, just go there to the Island/province and get a cab to take you around and you will see the rates are cheaper, negotiable, and save yourself thousands.

Most working people have to wait so long for their vacation and if the boss lets you take off all your time at once, why empty your bank account to
some Wall St. broker, or Chinese Broker?

I drive a tractor trailer and work so hard going into Metro NYC/NJ every day, these sites make me puke.

So my friends who can relate to this true testimony; keep turning over rocks, and don't forget there are 100's of nice travel agencies in Manila, right in the airport too (some), that a don't panic attitude is your best resource.

The hype of the "season demand" is b.s. There are
so many available rooms you will find them competing for your business, besides 90% of tourists change their minds about going after they hear it costs approx $600.00-700.00 just to get innoculated, and malaria is a problem as is the food, systemic with hepatitis A/B.

Do your homework my touring friends and have a
good stay.

Gumagalang Sa Iyo, Dave

P.S. I dare the web page owners to e-mail
me on this issue fullflightbirds@yahoo.com