leaving manila

I had my last day in the Manila office on Monday, had a meal with Bryan the Manila IT guy and then got a taxi (eventually) back to the hotel near the airport, the next day I spent the day working from the hotel before grabbing a quick time out (to see the hobbit) and then heading to the airport.
The hotel was just over the road from the hotel but there didn't seem to be a crossing, and I couldn't see a pedestrian entrance, so I got a taxi, which joined a giant queue of traffic, 6 lines wide, down the whole face of the airport to a roundabout, then all the way back again to the taxi entrance., it took 20 minutes to cover the distance from the hotel to the airport! Madness! The meter in the taxi was 'broken' too, when you watched the time counter it was spinning way faster than real time, luckily taxi's here are as cheap as in China but I was still not impressed, transport in Manila sucks, no metro, only buses which are very slow, jeepneys which are slower still and taxi's which usually try to not to use the meter unless you insist, then try to weedle as much money out of you with stupid routes and dodgy meters, and then expect and even ask for a damn tip! 

I got to the airport and wasn't in the mood to argue, I got there 3 hours early incase of problems and went to checkin, I was worried about my bag weight and my two pieces of hand luggage and went to the checkin desk, the woman looked for my chinese visa but I didn't have one as it had expired. I had looked online that there was a 'visa free transit' for 50 countries, UK included, but some places claimed the UK wasn't included, some claimed that it only covered flights to and from those countries and they all referenced a document on the Chinese government website which didn't exist anymore (dead link).  The woman looked worried and took my onward booking email and passport and disappeared for 10 minutes, coming back and checking me onto the flight without comment on my giant bags, phew!

I went in and got a coffee and a muffin for dinner as it was already 7pm and I wouldn't land until 11.30pm, I also had a feeling that this was a budget carrier and any food would not be cheap. Whilst waiting in the coffee shop I heard an announcement, could a passenger please go to the help desk ASAP, and I heard my name, crap.

Worried that my visa had been refused or confused I hurried to the desk, and guessed that since the Philippines was not a visa free transit country they weren't sure exactly what I could do, I got there and they made me wait at the gate for 5 minutes very nervously, if I missed the flight here and couldn't enter China for the transit I would lose my whole flight fee probably and have to buy an incredibly expensive flight from Manila out of my own pocket, ouch!

After the delay they informed me they needed a copy of my onward ticket for the visa request, they took the copy and assured me I was ok, and could indeed get a visa for upto 72 hours without pre-submission. I then had an hour and a half wait in the airport listening to every announcement worrying it would be calling me back to tell me they couldn't do it, and I would have to go away and rebook something else…. I hope I get on the plane OK!

I fly to Shanghai first, arrive at midnight, after security etc it will be gone 1am I guess, and the metro will be closed, so I will stay a night in the airport (hopefully at the hotel there) before getting the 11.50am flight the next day direct to London, if all goes according to plan!