Narrative

July 17th, 2026

According to Asia Relocation, we needed to acquire a stamp in one of Arlyn's passports. This was required for us to submit paperwork to waive all customs and duty charges that we would be charged when our cargo container arrives from Southern California. This stamp must be no more than 60 days old. This means that once we arrive into the Philippines, the paperwork must be submitted within 60 days.

In addition, the arrival stamp must be acquired when arriving from the United States. When I asked if Guam would be sufficient for this requirement, Asia Relocation verified that Guam would definitely satisfy that requirement. Since travel to Guam is significantly cheaper than flying to the United States, it looked like Guam would be the logical choice.

I purchase the airline tickets from the Philippine Airlines website to fly to Guam.

Flight Number	Departure Date/Time	Departure Airport	Arrival Date/Time	Arrival Airport	Class	Duration
PAL PR2868	September 6, 2026 15:25 AM	Cebu-Mactan International Airport (CEB) Terminal 1	September 6, 2026 16:45 PM	Ninoy Aquino International (MNL) Terminal 2	Economy Saver	1h 20m
Layover						5h 45m
PAL PR110	September 6, 2026 22:30 PM	Ninoy Aquino International (MNL) Terminal 1	September 7, 2026 04:20 AM	A.B. Won Pat International (GUM)	Economy Saver	3h 50m
Total						10h 55m

In addition to making the PAL reservations, I also made reservations for our lodging at the Guam Plaza Resort located at Tumon, Guam. No deposit or payment was required at this time. This included room (with a king-size bed) and daily breakfast buffet.

Payee	Item	Cost	Form of Payment
Philippine Airlines	Airfare	$858.78	Credit
Total		$858.78

September 4th, 2026 (Friday)

I prepared our Philippine eTravel QR codes that are needed for our departure from the Philippines. This is required and must be done 72 hours prior to departing from the Philippines. There is no charge for doing this.

Since our tickets did not include the Philippine Travel Tax, I went ahead and prepaid the travel tax. This payment is made to TIEZA.

TIEZA is the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority, a government-owned corporation in the Philippines attached to the Department of Tourism. It builds tourism infrastructure, manages cultural and historical assets, and handles the collection of the Philippine travel tax. It was formerly known as the Philippine Tourism Authority before being reorganized under the Tourism Act of 2009. It collects travel taxes from departing passengers to fund tourism programs and infrastructure.

Payee	Item	Cost	Form of Payment
TIEZA	Philippine Travel Tax	₱3,240.00	Debit Card
Total		₱3,240.00

September 6th, 2026 (Sunday)

We took care of our condo departure activities (trash, air con, etc.) and headed down to the lobby of the condo at around 12:45 PM. It was a quick taxi ride to the Cebu-Mactan International Airport Terminal 1.

We picked up a porter at the taxi unloading area. He assisted us with unloading the luggage from the taxi, carting it into the airport and getting us into the correct PAL line.

We got all checked in with PAL and entered into the security checkpoint. Again, no issues.

We found our gate and got settled in. I picked up some drinks to keep us hydrated. After a gate change, we boarded our flight to Manila. It was on time.

Upon landing in Manila, we deboarded. We landed in Terminal 2. Our next flight was to take off from Terminal 1, so we had to find a way over there. We did not need to pickup our luggage in Manila as it was being passed on to our connecting flight automatically. So we headed over to a 'transfer desk.' They reviewed our boarding passes for Manila-Guam and told us to wait in a room until our bus arrived. After about five minutes, we were told the bus was ready and we were good to board. We took a 10-minute bus ride to Terminal 1 loading area. That meant we needed to pass through security again. We did the security check.

Immigration was next. Arlyn and I visited with the BI agent. As expected, we had to go pay for an Exit Clearance. This cost ₱2,670.00. Upon paying the fee, we returned to the BI agent who reviewed the paperwork, put some stamps in our passports and allowed us to leave the country.

We headed into the international terminal and found a place to grab some dinner.

At around 9:45 PM, we started boarding our flight to Guam. We pulled away from the gate and took off about 10 minutes late. We did eat on the plane on the way to Guam.

Payee	Item	Cost	Form of Payment
Taxi to Airport	Taxi	₱250.00	Cash
Porter	Luggage Handling	₱100.00	Cash
Terminal North Wing	Drinks	₱370.00	Debit
Bureau of Immigration	Exit Clearance	₱2,670.00	Cash
Departure Area NAIA Terminal 1	Dinner	₱680.00	Cash
Total		₱4,070.00

September 7th, 2026 (Labor Day)

Our flight from Manila, Philippine Airlines PR110, landed at the Guam Antonio B Won Pat International airport at 4:41 AM. This is four minutes later than the planned arrival time.

We were tired. Arlyn's back was really hurting from all the sitting at the airport and on the plane. And we did not sleep a wink on the flight. We were grumpy, dirty, sweaty and ready for a good night's rest.

Guam time is two hours ahead of Cebu City time. If it was 4:41 AM in Guam, it is 2:41 AM in Cebu City.

We got off the plane and hiked a great distance through the airport until we reached the immigration area. People were split between two groups; those with US passports and those that do not. We got into the line for those with US passports. There was nobody in front of us, so we were called to an immigration office immediately. I handed him my passport, he took my picture and said 'Welcome back.'

Arlyn was done about the same time with her brief interview. We met up and headed down to the baggage claim area. As I visited the facilities, Arlyn found our luggage. When I got back, we were instructed to either scan a QR code to access a form we needed to fill out for customs or use a kiosk to do the same. There was a man at the kiosk already and he seemed to be having a difficult time with the system. So I scanned the QR code with my phone and got busy with filling out the online forms. The forms were part of the Guam Customs Electronic Declarations Form, or EDF. There were about five pages of forms to fill out. It included questions about our arrival information, passport numbers, names, dates of birth. There were also questions about anything we wanted to declare and where we were staying during our visit. After filling out all the information, I received a QR code in my email. I pulled up the QR code and headed into the line for customs. There were about 20 people in this line, but it moved really fast. After a few minutes, we reach a customs officer and showed him our QR code. He scanned it, punched a few buttons on his computer. He then turned to us and said have a good morning. We left the area and reached the interior of the airport.

We really needed to find an ATM to get some USDs. But there were none to be found. So we took our chances with a taxi that would accept a credit card. We found one. So we loaded our stuff and headed off for the resort. The driver was a Filipino who had been on Guam for 10 years. He said the car we were driving was from Texas. He expained that it was his brother's. Since he was in the military, his brother was allowed to ship one car from Killeen, Texas to Guam. That explained the large number of Texas vehicles we were observing. Fort Hood is an Army base located in Killeen, Texas.

We arrived at the Guam Plaza Resort (Website, Facebook, Google Maps) at around 5:45 AM. We did our check in process with no issues. We received our room card keys, coupons for our prepaid breakfasts and the Wi-Fi instructions. We were told the breakfast buffet would be available at 6:30 AM, in about 15 minutes. So we headed up to our room, Room 3628, dropped off our gear and returned back down to the lobby to have breakfast. After breakfast, we returned to our room, did a quick check to make sure we had everything and proceeded to hit the sack.

We were dog-tired as we did not wake until 1:30 PM. We needed to eat, so I took a quick shower. I felt much better after the shower. At 2:00 PM, we left our room. The dining options were a little limited as it was not lunch time and it was Labor Day. Outside the resort was a TGI Friday's. It was very American and very good. We both had cajun dishes (salad for me, shrimp for Arlyn), something that we apparently missed being in the Philippines. At 3:15, we paid and left.

Across the street, there was an ABC store. This was perfect because we needed to pick up some bottled water and Coke Zero.

After purchasing the water and coke, we returned to our room. We were tired again and found ourselves asleep again.

We slept to about 6:15 PM. We were hungry again and needed to get some dinner. We ate at the resort's restaurant Rootz Hill's Grillhouse. Arlyn had the sea bass while I enjoyed the prawn pasta. After dinner, we found the resort's convenience store. They sold Häagen-Dazs ice cream and various other souvenir items. Arlyn found some shot glasses that look like women dressed in bikinis.

Payee	Item	Cost	Form of Payment
Mark Mendoza	Taxi to Resort	$36.80	Credit
Guam Plaza Resort	Lodging	$1,152.18	Credit
TGI Friday's	Dining	$54.65	Credit
ABC	Water/Drinks	$19.56	Credit
Rootz Hill's Grillhouse	Dining	$95.48	Credit
JP Gift Shop	Ice Cream/Shot Glasses	$14.99	Credit
Total		$1,373.66

September 8, 2026 (Tuesday)

We got up at around 8:00 AM and headed down for our morning breakfast. Arlyn was not feeling very well as she was having some digestive issues. This meant we needed to remain relatively close to a bathroom.

We inquired about renting a car as it was our desire to head over to the other side of the island.

I finally located an ATM at the Guam Plaza Resort. I have cash.

At around 12:30 PM, we headed out for some lunch. There was a place called Nana's Cafe down by the shoreline. The food was adequate. I only ate half of my lunch. I had the rest packed up for dinner.

While walking back to the resort, we stopped at a larger ABC store for more souvenirs. We also visited a Häagen-Dazs ice cream vendor for some more ice cream. I had the caramel biscuit flavor and it was awesome.

I had dinner waiting for me. Arlyn wanted to get something from the gift shop. At around 6:30 PM, we headed down to the resort's gift shop, JP Gift Shop, and found something for her.

Payee	Item	Cost	Form of Payment
JP Gift Shop	Food	$2.00	Cash
Nana's Cafe	Dining (Lunch)	$52.00	Credit
ABC Stores	Souvenirs	$31.28	Credit
Häagen-Dazs	Snack	$28.90	Cash
JP Gift Shop	Food	$11.75	Credit
Total		$125.93

September 9, 2026 (Wednesday)

We woke to the sound of thunder and heavy rain. The weather took a turn for the worse overnight. We dressed and had breakfast at the buffet.

After breakfast, we rented a car from Nissan Rent A Car located in the lobby of the Guam Plaza Resort. It was a good price. We now have a ride for the next couple of days. It is a 2026 Nissan Kicks. It is a small SUV but it will get the job done.

There was a restaurant located outside of the resort called Little Pika's Cafe. We shared a bulgogi (famous Korean dish made of thinly sliced, marinated meat—most often beef—that is grilled or stir-fried) quesadilla.

We hopped in our rental car and found a Kmart. We were hoping to find some medicinal items that we have been missing while in the Philippines. We were shocked to find that the prices of all of the items were shockingly high. We walk out of there with a package of Oreo Wafer Rolls. We were disappointed.

At around 5:00 PM, we headed over to the Chamorro Villiage in Agana. It was still raining off and on all afternoon and we debated about going. The night market only occurred on Wednesday nights, so we had to go. It was not raining when we got there, so we were about to eat without getting wet. There were some shops around the area, so we picked up a souvenir (a wood carving of a latte) and a strawberry shortcake funnel cake (from Mama Bugs Funnel Cakes). The rain returned and it was time to return to the resort.

Payee	Item	Cost	Form of Payment
Nissan Rent A Car	Car Rental	$84.00	Credit
Little Pika's Cafe	Dining (Lunch)	$20.00	Credit
Kmart	Snack	$1.79	Cash
Korean Shack	Dinner	$23.00	Cash
Charmorro Village Vendor	Souvenir	$18.00	Cash
Mama Bugs Funnel Cakes	Snack	$15.00	Cash
Total		$161.79

September 10, 2026 (Thursday)

The day started out as partly cloudy. There were some blue sky visible and this was a good thing as we were planning to drive around the island and get some good drone shots. After we grabbed breakfast at the hotel's buffet, Arlyn had a brief video call with Nanay and I prepared our Philippine eTravel QR codes that are needed for our return to the Philippines. This is required and must be done 72 hours prior to arriving in the Philippines. There is no charge for doing this.

We hopped in our rental car and set out on our adventure. We first visited a neighborhood where Karen, my second cousin from my mother's side, said we lived in 1964. Karen said she lived on Belmont Avenue. The street we lived on was on Acho Tasi Street. The actual house location was not known. We drove down the streets and shot some footage.

After that, we headed east and towards a place that was recommended, Jeff's Pirates Cove. When we got there, we got out and shot some pictures and video. We then had lunch, splitting a cheeseburger and fries. After lunch, we continued south towards the only areas where I can fly the drone.

For the size of Guam, it has a lot of airports and restricted air space. There is the international airport. In addition, there is Anderson Air Force Base, located on the norther tip, and Naval Base Guam, located in the south. Because of this, the airspace available to fly a drone is extremely limited. There are two areas in the south where drone airspace is unrestricted. This includes the village of Inalåhan in the south east and the village of Malesso' in the south west. We found a great place in Inalåhan to put the drone up. After assembling the parts and performing my preflight checks, we launched with no issue. However, about two minutes into the flight, the rain started. It was not a drizzle or mist. It was a downpour. Arlyn held an umbrella over me and the controls as I quickly circled the drone around and brought it down for the fastest landing I have ever made. We placed the drone in the car and climbed in. The rain did not let up. We decided to continue on around the island, but the rain did not let up. We lost our opportunity to fly the drone.

We continued our drive on the west side of the island, eventually meeting up at Tumon Bay. We headed back to the resort.

After a break, we grabbed dinner at TGI Fridays and visited the Häagen-Dazs one more time.

Payee	Item	Cost	Form of Payment
JP Gift Shop	Snack	$2.25	Cash
Jeff's Pirates Cove	Lunch	$24.35	Credit
TGI Fridays	Dinner	$40.66	Credit
Häagen-Dazs	Snack	$8.75	Cash
JP Gift Shop	Snack	$4.50	Cash
Total		$80.51

September 11, 2026 (Friday)

After having breakfast, we needed to locate a gas station to fill up the rental car before we returned it. I remembered seeing a Mobil station near the Kmart we visited on Wednesday. We went there and filled up. The cost for gas is much more expensive that I remember. It cost $6.229/gallon.

After filling up, we returned to the Guam Plaza Resort where the Nissan Rent A Car office is located. We returned the keys with no issue at all. Orlando, the representative stated the $100.00 deposit should be returned in 2 to 3 days.

For lunch, we found a place that was within walking distance called Beachin' Shrimp (Facebook). We shared an order of the Gambas Al Ajillo. After lunch, the manager stopped by for a brief visit. He was a Filipino named Wilbert Ricalde. We chatted for about 10 minutes. He told us about a place called Love Crepes (Facebook) that was next just a few shops away. On his recommendation, we stopped by Love Crepes. We shared an order of the Nutella Deluxe crepe.

On the way back to the room, we stopped at the resort's front desk and asked about the availability of taxis at 3:30 AM. The receptionist stated that taxis are next to impossible to get at that time without a reservation. She offered to make the reservation for us. I gladly took her up on her offer.

For dinner, we headed back over to Nana's Cafe. The sky was partly cloudy, setting up the evening with a spectacular sunset. I had a pina colada while Arlyn's enjoyed a pineapple shake. We shared an order of chicken wings. The sunset was awesome and the after dinner show was very entertaining.

Since we had a crazy day of travel the next day, we took showers, packed and prepared for bed early. I crashed at 11:00 AM after setting my alarm.

Payee	Item	Cost	Form of Payment
Mobil Triple J SS	Gas	$18.71	Credit
Beachin' Shrimp	Lunch	$20.29	Credit
Love Crepes	Lunch (Desert)	$21.24	Credit
ABC	Souvenirs	$170.96	Credit
Nana's Cafe	Dinner	$44.00	Credit
JP Superstore	Water	$5.75	Cash
Total		$280.95

September 12, 2026 (Saturday)

We have a pretty, rough day ahead of us. Our flight was taking off at the crazy time of 6:00 AM. Here is the itinerary.

Flight Number	Departure Date/Time	Departure Airport	Arrival Date/Time	Arrival Airport	Class	Duration
PAL PR111	September 12, 2026 06:00 AM	A.B. Won Pat International (GUM)	September 12, 2026 07:55 AM	Ninoy Aquino International (MNL) Terminal 1	Economy Saver	3h 55m
Layover						3h 55m
PAL PR2853	September 12, 2026 11:50 AM	Ninoy Aquino International (MNL) Terminal 2	September 12, 2026 13:10 PM	Cebu-Mactan International Airport (CEB) Terminal 1	Economy Saver	1h 20m
Total						9h 10m

I woke up to my alarm at 2:45 AM. Arlyn was already awake. She said she thought she got some sleep. According to her watch, the amount of sleep she actually got was about one hour. We got up, dressed, and completed the packing that we had started the night before. We were out of the room by 3:15 AM.

Upon reaching the hotel lobby, I received the final invoice for the lodging and any incidental charges that occurred (i.e., dinner at Rootz). We were done with our transaction by 3:20 AM.

The night before, I requested to have a reservation made for a taxi to pick us up at the resort at 3:30 AM. And as promised, the taxi arrived at 3:30 AM. We were on our way to the airport.

At 3:50 AM, we had paid the taxi driver and was entering into the airport departure area. There were very few passengers at the Philippine Airlines check in counter. We were able to approach an agent after a few moments.

I explained to the agent that we were unable to perform an online checkin on their website the day before. She was unable to determine the cause for this. I also expained that our Known Traveler Numbers (Wiki, TSA information), or KTNs, would not be accepted on their website and that I would like to have the KTNs added. She was able to successfully add our KTNs to our tickets. Our baggage was under the 23 kgs threshold, which was a relief to me since I did not know if we were overweight or not. Our portable luggage scale went belly-up when the battery power was too low. I did not have replacement batteries. I verified with the agent that we did not need to pick up our luggage in Manila. The agent stated that the luggage would be automatically transferred to our next flight (going to Cebu City.)

We approached the TSA screening area and passed through with no issues. Our KTNs were recognized and honored. We were now in the terminal and heading to our gate. There were some passengers, but we found some seats.

We boarded our flight from Guam to Manila at around 5:15 AM. While at the gate, a lot more people showed up. Once we got on the plane, we discovered that the seat next to Arlyn was empty. Although the plane was about 97% full, Arlyn got some real estate to lay down and sleep. We took off at 6:00 AM (on time) and we were on our way home. The fed us breakfast while flying, fish in oyster sauce, fruit, rice and a roll.

Once we landed, we quickly taxied to the gate. Since we were in the back of the plane, it took a little while. Once we were off, we headed to the Bureau of Immigration area. Since we were traveling on Arlyn's US passport, we got in line with the other non-Filipino citizens. One agent took the two of us for our interview. Arlyn presented both her Philippine and US passport. I presented my US passport, ACR-I card and Exit Clearance receipt (from September 6th, 2026). The BI agent did review all of the documents and found no issues. We were stamped in and allowed to enter the country.

The main purpose of this whole trip was to get an entry stamp in one of Arlyn's passport. We were successful as Arlyn's reentry stamp was placed in her US passport.

We were a little confused at this point as were found ourselves in the luggage claim area and customs inspection. I found a luggage handling help desk and explained we need to transfer to Terminal 2 for our flight to Cebu City. The agent stated that our luggage would be automatically transferred and we can just leave the area, exit the terminal and board the transfer buses.

We exited the Terminal 1 building and found the transfer buses parked off to the right. We got on and found some seats. It took about 12 minutes to leave the airport, circle around and approach Terminal 2. We left the bus and entered terminal 2. We immediately located and headed towards the security checkpoint, had our boarding passes scanned and found ourselves inside the pre-departure area. We walked to our gate and found some seats.

At around 8:30 AM, we needed some drinks (water, coke) and, according to Arlyn, something 'yummy'. There was a small shop near our gate where they had water, coke and muffins (the muffins satisfying the 'yummy' requirement). It was called The Cozy Kitchen. While eating, we continued to wait. After thinking about it, we figured we should grab something for lunch before we left. So Arlyn returned to the same 'yummy' shop, The Cozy Kitchen, and found a three-cheese panini for me and corned beef and rice for her. It was about 10:42 AM.

We started boarding at around 11:20 AM for our flight from Manila to Cebu City. Again, everything was ontime.

We landed at the appointed time at the Mactan-Cebu International airport. This is where things go a little wonky. As we were in the jet bridge going to the baggage claim area, a Philippine Airlines agent was calling out our names. We approached her and told her who we were. She stated that because our bags were not cleared by customs in Manila, we had to perform a similar inspection now. Since we landed at a terminal that did not have the equipment needed to perform the inspection (we were currently in the domestic terminal), we need to go to the international terminal. We were escorted by some airport personnel to a lower level of the airport to board a bus going to the international terminal. Everybody was very friendly and curteous as we made this detour. Once we got to the international terminal, we stopped at the Bureau of Immigration area. A BI agent reviewed our passports and checked our names off of a list. We took the escalator to the baggage claim area. A porter had already pulled our luggage from the carousel and placed them on a cart. According to him, our bags had already been scanned and cleared by customs. We left the baggage claim area when another agent reviewed our eTravel QR codes that I generated on Thursday. She looked at both of them on my phone. She cleared us and sent us on our way.

As I mentioned, despite being an unusual event for us, everything was handled smoothly and with no issues.

We exited the international terminal and found a porter to transport our bags to a car. The driver loaded our bags and we were on our way back to our condo.

We were home by 2:00 PM.

Payee	Item	Cost	Form of Payment
Keun Sung Lee	Taxi to Airport	$32.00	Credit
The Cozy Kitchen - Manila Airport	Snack	₱390.00	Cash
The Cozy Kitchen - Manila Airport	Lunch	₱510.00	Cash
International Terminal Porter	Baggage Handling	₱100.00	Cash
Hired Driver	Taxi	₱1,000.00	Cash
Globe Communications	Data Roaming	₱1,343.00	Cash
Total		$32.00 ₱3,343.00