My 2016 Travel Expo Experience

If you still do not know, or have not seen the news yet, today will be the last day of the Travel Expo held by Philippine Travel Agencies Association. It started last Friday, Feb 5 at the SMX convention center in Pasay City.

I have been hearing about this Expo for years now but my curiosity was not that high for me to go to previous ones. Beside, may piso fare naman noon diba and it's easy to just book online.

Yesterday, Saturday, was my first time to go. I was right not to let my son go with us because of the length of time we had to wait and the bulk of travellers that wanted to buy tickets under promo fare. You see, we arrived there at 6:45 a.m., there were already few people in line, some I presume to have slept there, because of the thermos they had with them and blankets.

We just dropped off my SIL to fall in line at once, lest there will be a bulk of people who will come early also like us. We parked at the basement of the SMX, which probably took us only about 10 mins, when we got to our SIL, there was already a long line behind our slot. See?!? It was only 10 minutes that transpired.

We left again our SIL to buy her hot choco and my coffee, as I can not really function very well without it. Talk about caffeine addiction, huh?

Anyways, when we got back to our slot, here is what greeted us:

See the bulk of people at the back? And it was only what, 7:30 am. Me, my hubby and my SIL talked for awhile, my hubby even asked an older couple behind us whether they will be buying in bulk. They said yes, about 10 tickets as their children will be coming home and they wanted to go to a local destination.  They said that they were already in the expo the night before but there were really a lot of people. They just went back to their car. At the parking lot, out of curiosity, they asked another family whose car was parked beside theirs if they were able to buy tickets. The other family said yes at P600 each ticket for a local destination.

Exciting! We are set to go to Cebu this May to attend another SIL's wedding. My hubby's side of the family including his cousins want to attend as well. So all in all, we will be buying 14 tickets to Cebu. That would cost us only P8,400. Woohooo! Ang saya sana pag ganon, kaso I'm sure hindi.

It's not that I am being a nega, but it was the 2nd day. And from how the older couple told the story that there were already a lot of people on the first day, I am pretty sure, that almost all promo fares have been exhausted. We just have to wait and see. So we waited for 10:00 am by watching The Martian on my SIL's smart phone. 

And the doors opened. We rushed to the entrance, and went directly to all the assigned booths of Cebu Pacific. They have at least 20 booths, or agents that will entertain you. But you know what, when we were still in line, there were like 70 people ahead of us. Bakit pag pasok namin, parang hundreds na ang nasa loob? Ummm.... it's a mystery that I can not solve. Alam na......

This is what it looks like inside the hall of SMX:

And here is the reason why people are flocking SMX every travel expo and why the long lines on all Cebupac's booths:

What's our verdict? As I said those who were there the first day, got hold already of the promo fares to the point that nothing was left on the second day. Probably meron, but not on those dates that you preferred. Our travel to Cebu in on May, but travel dates covered by the promo fare is from July 1 - Dec. 31, 2016 only. Even if I try to book with Airasia, which by the way has also a long line, but not as long as Cebupac, Airasia's travel period under promo is from Feb. 6 - April 30, 2016 only.

So we bought our tickets under regular rate for Cebu, then we asked the agent to quote fares for Japan on our preferred dates. This was actually our agenda why we braved early morning drive and the bulk of people in the expo. But again sad to say, and the agent actually already warned us, that promo fare for Japan will be impossible to get. Naubos daw on the first day. Sayang 2499 lang sana one way. The available fare that the agent can see only is the P16,000 per head. Hay naku! 

The agent said, there might another one on July. Might is the word. If ever there will be another one, naku I will really file a leave on the first day, kasi always Friday yan e.  Baka nga I will suggest to hubby na Thursday night pa lang to camp out na in front of SMX. Lolz! Bakit ba? The sacrifice is worth it, makakuha ka ba naman ng super cheap na airfare to Japan.

Till next time, better luck to us.