My mother arrived yesterday from Australia. Since none of my other siblings are free to pick her up, I ended up with the task. Me, who has no car.

I took the MRT to Magallanes and took a cab to the airport. That was crazy. He cab driver dropped me off at the departure area and told me to just take the stairs down to the arrival area. I soon found out that it’s not as simple as “taking the stairs down.” It involved a flight of stairs, a walk down to the pedestrian lane, through the parking lot and paying Php30 to go inside the lounge where I stayed no more than 30 seconds.

Anyway.

Having no car meant that our only alternative is to take the airport taxi. It was a stagerring Php790 from NAIA terminal 1 to Sangandaan. *hyperventilates*

But I suppose they’re a good alternative from unscrupulous taxi drivers who’d either: a) charge you 150% more than what the meter counted (though still so much lower than the airport taxi fees), or; b) rob you. Not all taxi drivers are like that, thankfully.

Their cars are new and well maintained, and their drivers are very courteous. You pay at their station inside the station so he wouldn’t overcharge you. Though you *are* already overcharged. Yes, I’m still bitter about that.