🇵🇭 Manila to Legazpi Travelogue: The Reckless Grab Driver and the Mentaiko Mission (Nov 21, 2025)

 

🇵🇭 Manila to Legazpi Travelogue: The Reckless Grab Driver and the Mentaiko Mission (Nov 21, 2025)

Friday, November 21, 2025

I arrived safely in Legazpi from Manila yesterday! I was so relieved to land successfully this time, as I once had a tough experience where our flight had to execute a go-around at Legazpi Airport (the old one) due to bad weather and return to Manila.

Looking back on that long travel day, here is the "Real Deal" and some "Useful Information" for travel in the Philippines.

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🍽️ Chaotic Breakfast Hunt & Eurotel Review

First, breakfast. McDonald’s in Makati Central Square was completely packed (dada-komi), so I gave up and headed back to Walter Mart across from the hotel. Since Jollibee was also crowded, I ended up at PANDA, a Chinese fast food spot on the first floor. When you think of Chinese fast food in the Philippines, you expect Chowking, but no luck here.

After breakfast, I checked out of the Eurotel.

📌 Eurotel (Makati) is Not Recommended for Japanese Travelers The cheap price and good location are attractive, but the facilities are below what you might expect. Specifically, getting to my 12th-floor room required changing elevators and walking down a corridor that felt like crossing into a separate building—very stressful. The staff were also not particularly polished. Unless you are on an extremely tight, long-term budget, I definitely cannot recommend it to other Japanese travelers.

💰 Luggage by Land, Payment by GCash!

I sent my heavy luggage (golf bag, suitcase, and duffel bag—3 items total) ahead to the Legazpi branch via the land shipping company, Daily Overland, in Malate. The total cost was around 670 pesos—a great deal!

I paid using GCash. GCash is the Philippine version of PayPay, but its system is based on China's Alipay. In fact, QR code payments are becoming standardized across China, Japan, and Southeast Asia. There are cases where Japanese PayPay users can pay using the GCash app in the Philippines.

💡 The Japan-PH QR Payment Trick & Caveat If you see "Alipay" written below the QR code for a Japanese PayPay store, payment may be possible. However, since the Japanese system doesn't make the ding sound, shops are often confused about whether the transaction is complete (I accidentally confused a local shop back home recently!).

⚠️ A Scare with Grab: Entrusting Your Life

After dropping off my luggage, I called Grab to head to the airport. The driver was fine at first, but as traffic started to build on the expressway toward NAIA T3, he pulled out a second phone, almost rear-ended the car in front, and had to slam on the brakes!

As safety is paramount, I gave him 1 out of 5 stars upon exiting and logged the incident in detail. Please pay close attention to your driver when using Grab.

🐟 The Battle of NAIA T3: Mentaiko Secured!

At the airport, I used the self-check-in kiosk instead of the counter. The barcode I printed wouldn't scan, so I had to enter the reservation number manually to get a flimsy, receipt-like boarding pass.

My biggest concern at security was the frozen Spicy Cod Roe (Karashi Mentaiko) I brought from Japan. It was checked luggage to Manila, but a carry-on with ice packs to Legazpi. I worried it would be treated as a liquid and confiscated, but it passed without any issues! Now I can enjoy mentaiko with white rice in Legazpi. What a relief!

✈️ NAIA T3 Domestic Area's "Rip-off Prices"

Near the boarding gates, I faced the "baptism" of NAIA T3. The domestic side only has small kiosk-style shops, and a single bottle of water costs 50 pesos (vs. 10 pesos at a regular supermarket). Though I was starving since I hadn't eaten lunch, I couldn't bring myself to pay that price.

It makes me truly appreciate the reasonable pricing at Japanese airports. At Mt. Fuji Shizuoka Airport's 7-Eleven, prices are the same as regular stores. While the 7-Eleven in the international gate area charges sales tax, it’s still more reasonable than the exorbitant "special fees" charged at places like Narita Airport.

💡 NAIA T3: The Terminal with a History

Boarding for Daraga (Legazpi) started surprisingly early. My seat was 10F, putting me in Group 5 (the last one). Since it was a domestic flight, we were taken by bus to the tarmac to board the plane.

NAIA T3 was built by Japan's Takenaka Corporation but was famously embroiled in an ownership dispute that caused it to sit finished but unused for over 10 years. As a result, the "state-of-the-art systems" installed back then were already obsolete when the terminal finally opened—a classic "Filipino reality" (Aru-aru) story!

Despite all the chaos, the plane departed on schedule and arrived safely in Legazpi. I’m starting my activities here in Legazpi fully charged today!