Budget family tour in Hong Kong - part 1 - preliminaries

Finally our family was able to go on a trip to the magical world of Disneyland – where else but in neighboring Hong Kong?

Apart from Disneyland, we were also able to go to Macau and around the most scenic places in Hong Kong during the three days and two nights that we were, as they say, “out of the country.”

When

The original date of our trip was November 2008. However, because of unforeseen circumstances (read: birth certificate fiascos) we had to reschedule it on March 16-18, 2009. The original booking costs only PhP 20,000, but since we had to rebook it, our roundtrip airfare via Cebu Pacific reached PhP 38,000.

Anyway, I was able to pay my Citibank credit card for the airfare by the time we flew, so I have enough credit on my card to book for a place to stay, buy Disneyland tickets, and charge food and shopping bills.

Getting round trip tickets

Airfares are getting cheaper and cheaper, and Cebu Pacific’s mantra that “Every Juan can fly” really is true. Be sure to check their website often because they have great offers on both domestic and international flights every now and then.

Aside from the fare promos, they offer an additional P 200 off if you don’t have check in baggage. So travel light and be rewarded!

Note on Passports

Be sure that you have passports by the time you intend to fly because you would have to pay rebooking fees if you don’t have the necessary travel documents. Learn from my experience.

The first step to getting that passport is an NSO birth certificate. Once you have the birth certificate, head off to the nearest DFA office for your passport. If you have time, you can get yours in 14 working days for only PhP 500, but if you’re in a hurry you can get the passport in 7 working days for Php 750.

If you live in Central Luzon, you might want to go to the DFA Consular Office in Clark, Pampanga. However, the waiting time for the issuance of the machine-readable passports there is 9 days for the expedited and about 16 days for the regular version. And they cannot guarantee that your passport will be there after the said waiting periods. They will advise you to wait for another 3-5 days before picking up your passport because there will be certain delays.

If you’re getting your passport in DFA-Manila, be sure to be in line by 4 AM (no kidding!). For my son’s passport we were in line by about 4.30 AM and already there were more than a hundred people ahead of us.

Download the passport application form at the DFA website before going there so less hassle for you. I suggest that you have your picture taken in DFA-accredited photo centers to be sure that you have the right photo.

You can learn more about passport requirements from the DFA website at www.dfa.gov.ph.

Booking a hotel

I came across the site tripadvisor (www.tripadvisor.com) and I trusted the reviews on where to stay in Hong Kong. We opted to stay in a hostel instead of a hotel because we figured we’d only be sleeping there, so no need for the bells and whistles. Luckily, I came across Dragon Hostel (www.dragonhostel.com) which has a good rate and great location.

Read about my review of Dragon Hostel here (http://www.tripadvisor.com/members-reviews/ddg858)

Buying Disneyland tickets

Because the bakasyonistas are excited already, and to avoid the hassle of lining up to buy on site, we bought our Disneyland tickets online (http://park.hongkongdisneyland.com/hkdl/en_US/home/home?name=HomePage) Adult tickets cost HKD 350 each, while children aged 2-11 are charged HKD 250 each. I paid HKD 1300 for the tickets. In pesos, this amounted to PhP 8,417.36.

Drafting the itinerary

I spent a lot of time online trying to make sure that we have the best possible itinerary. When we got there, however, I realized I only had directions to go to Dragon Hostel and the Turbo Jet that will take us to Macau.

There’s no need to worry, thought, because the Hong Kong public transport system is very efficient. You just need an MTR card to take you to your destination.

We purposely did not enlist in any guided tour because we wanted to be flexible with our plans. While our first and second days were surely dedicated to Disneyland andMacau, the third day was a free day, where we put in as much Hong Kong sights as we can.

It would be better if you can bring with you a cap or a small umbrella because it’s hot walking around the park. Be sure to bring with you comfortable walking shoes because you’re in for three days of “hiking” if you really want to maximize your trip.

Going out of the country

At the Naia 3 airport, be sure to bring with you enough pesos to cover for the travel tax which is PhP 1620 per person (about Php 1010 for children 11 and below) and the departure tax of P 750 per person (no discount for children here).

So, for taxes alone, we had to pay around PhP 9,000. Good thing there are ATMs in the airport, or else we would have missed our plane – or exchanged our US dollars back to pesos just to pay the taxes.