General Tips

---

The following are some tips that I learned when traveling to the Philippines:

1. Bring dollars and exchange into pesos at the airport. The best rate to get pesos was 42 peso/dollar in the US. When I arrived in Manila the airport had plenty of foreign exchange offices that were offering 47 pesos / dollar.

2. BEWARE of Taxi cab drivers - many are trying to overcharge. In Manila, to get from the international airport to the domestic airport you need to take a cab. It should cost no more than $3 for a white metered cab and maybe $5 for a yellow metered cab. However, I ended up paying $20 even in a "metered" cab. The cab driver hides the rate with some piece of paper or something. Halfway through they show a sign saying that the rate between airports is $20 and that is the cost. Too tired from jet lag I did not want to argue so I paid. Just remember to check that the meter is showing the rate and is not hidden. The second time I took a cab from the airport the same thing happened and the cab driver said "he'll show the rate when we get there". I was emphatic that he show the rate now or I'm getting out. Finally he removed the piece of paper showing the full meter and paid a just fare.

3. Always know what price you are going to pay before receiving any service. At a run down restaurant miles away from a tourist town, a group of us ordered what we thought was a cheap snack. After we got the bill, the price was 3 times what is should have cost but because we did not have a menu or set the price beforehand we got ripped off.

4. Have 700 Pesos for the airport exit tax when you leave.

5. In big cities especially be on guard. There are many people who walk up to you, are very friendly and claim to "want to help you" and might say "Oh I saw you at the hotel". Just politely ignore them by saying that you are in a hurry and unfortunately do not have the time. I don't know what scam they were trying to pull and I did not want to find out.

---