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.
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.
