I don't travel well.

[smokey braden]

daniel1948,
i noticed you did not mention little cayman island, but you did say other places.
good to hear that you are looking for different places to dive.
too bad we all do not have ruby slippers.
they help make long trips shorter.
regards,

[daniel1948]

Ruby slippers. I once owned a complete facsimile edition of Sir Richard Burton's translation of the Thousand Nights and a Night. I got it at a used book store. It was a long and enjoyable read. When dreaming of magical travel, carpets come to mind before ruby slippers.

Yes, I was at LCBR with "Caroline's Crew." I think it would have been a year and a half ago. It was very good diving. The weather was so hot I could hardly bear to be outside my air conditioned room while on shore. I was also at Deja Blue II on Grand Cayman this spring for the training week, though in the end I chickened out at the prospect of attempting a 30-meter dive, which would have been the logical thing after my successful, but scary 28 meter dive, and I did not compete. The training, of course, like the competition itself, was in deep water, but one afternoon we dove for fun on the Kittiwake. Entrants in the F3F (Formula-3 Freediving) practiced with the scooters, while the rest of us just had fun diving to the ship. The bottom is only at about 20 meters, so within "beginner" limits.

I like Cayman. Deja Blue III is on my short list right now, and LCBR is definitely a possibility again.

[jbb]

If you decide to go to Asia, route through YVR. There’s no reason to fly down to LAX or SFO because most of the routes to Asia come back up the coast and over the south coast of Alaska. Since you have issues sitting for long periods of time, stay away from Cathay in economy but if you have the miles, business has lay flat seats and first is wonderful.

If you are traveling thru Seattle, SFC or LAX you could look into fights on EVA airlines. I book with them as they are usually the cheapest to Manila from Seattle. I travel economy but they have Economy Plus section that gets you nicer and fewer seat per row and better service. I also like the fact they leave at 1-2am and arrive in Manila at noon so I can get a flight to Cebu the same day. The layover in Tiapei is 2 hours going but 8 hours on the way back.

[bill22]

My apologies if this post seems rather pointless or disjointed. The very fact that I'm posting it shows how torn I am.

A LDS is arranging a trip to the Philippines in March. A week at Puerto Galera followed by a week at Dumaguete. They rave about how fabulous the diving is there. Everything I've read seems to confirm this. I've been diving for about 3 1/2 years, have logged a few more than 100 dives, and I prefer easy diving. I'm certified OW and nitrox. I love looking at the pretty fishes and the corals. I love seeing sharks and turtles and eagle rays, and big schools of colorful fishes. I've dived on Long Caye Wall, Glover's Reef, Belize; Cozumel; The Exumas; Eleuthera; Fiji, among a few others.

Here's my dilemma: As the thread title says, I do not travel well. I cannot read on the plane due to motion sickness, even taking motion-sickness pills. I can sometimes doze a bit, but I cannot sleep decently on the plane. I'm 63 years old, and sitting for long periods of time becomes very uncomfortable. My neck hurts badly on long flights, my knees get sore, my back and my bum hurt. This even though I get up and walk up and down the aisle from time to time. Even in business class, sleeping is awkward and uncomfortable when I manage it briefly.

From Spokane to Manila (where we'll spend the night) is about 24 hours of travel. If I spend the night in Seattle, it's 18 hours from Seattle to Manila, and that's assuming we make our connection in Seoul, where we only have one hour, and the flights are listed as having a rather poor (1.8 out of 5) on-time rating. Miss that connection and who knows when we get there. I'd be traveling with the group, but my experience is that most people sleep or ensconce themselves with a book, so I cannot count on having anyone to talk to. (Sometimes one gets fortunate in the random seat neighbor, but usually not.) Spending a night in Seattle and another in Seoul would make the travel a bit easier, but the long flight is still a hellish 12 hours, and with the scheduled night in Manila it would take three days to get to the dive resort.

Maybe I'm just talking to myself, because nobody can really make the decision but me. But I'm trying to decide if the diving is really worth the hellish, long, multi-day trip. The Caribbean is much easier to get to, with much shorter flights. Fiji was touted as a wonderful place, and it was beautiful. But the diving was no better where we were than the Caribbean, and not nearly as nice as Belize or Cozumel, and the trip was horrid, though not as long as this one would be.

So I waffle between "buck up and endure the travel" to "it's just not worth it." And maybe I shouldn't even post this. But I'm interested to see if anyone has anything to say. Feel free to ignore this post or to tell me it's a stupid post.

Daniel I wish I could offer you more, but really only you can answer that question. The diving is great in the Philippines, better IMHO than the Carribbean... that doesn't mean that the diving in the Carribbean is bad though

You'll have to answer a few questions for yourself that no one can answer but you. How "much" pain will you experience? Does it go beyond "uncomfortable" and leaves you debilitated? How long will you need to recover? Can you break up the flight more? Can you get there early to give yourself more time to recover from the flight? Are you willing to talk to the doctor about alternatives? (don't assume there might not be help available).

Speaking only for myself, I've made six trips to the Philippines and have almost 200 dives there. There must be some reason I keep going back Something else to think about... it's likely to be a "trip of a lifetime" for you. You'll be making memories for sure

[daniel1948]

Thanks, Bill, and everyone else. I posted because I really needed to bounce this off some folks and hear what people had to say, before I could make a decision. Often, when there's a hard decision, just speaking it out loud and listening to the responses helps me to clarify my own deeper feelings. In the end my decision was to go to the Caribbean instead. I think that if I had a travel companion (wife, girlfriend) to share the long hours of travel with, I'd consider Asia again. But for now, it seemed as though my alternatives were between (1) far too long a travel day with uncertain connections, followed by another long travel day involving uncertain conditions (bus & boat) or (2) too many days of travel in order to shorten the individual travel days (making overnight stops in Seattle and Seoul as well as the scheduled one in Manila). After long pondering, I realize that even for the reportedly great diving and cheap massages, neither alternative was acceptable. And since I cannot face the thought of 12 hours in coach class, I'd want to fly business class, and I've decided I don't want to spend that much.

Again, thanks to everyone. Your feedback and ideas have been very helpful.

Dive safe!

[orenbvip]

lots of valium and red wine.

[Nitro91]

long flights are always a good time to catch up on the new and recent movies i havent seen yet, love it

[fisheater]

lots of valium and red wine.

Yes, but not as much as the guy had in front of me on my flight back from Manila. During takeoff, he turned his head and puked onto my shoes. He then passed out for the rest of the flight. (I washed the shoes - Crocs - and moved to another part of the plane.)


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[Nitro91]

well i just had two dives today with a 40 minute boat ride and a RIB about 8 metres long, 20 knot winds so pretty bumpy. took kwells night before and 1 before the boat. was just fine, great cure for seasickness. if i had not taken, i would be hurling for sure.