Traveling to Manila From Province

[edizon1 4]

Hello. My 3-year old daughter will be having her medical at SLEC this coming Sept 10. She will be accompanied by my mother-in-law with a private car. They are from Isabela (region 2). Anyone here has recently traveled to Manila from province via land? Can you share your experience? Did you encounter any checkpoints along the way while passing from town to town? Do they need to be quarantined after coming from Manila? What was your experience with staying in a hotel? Are they requiring CoVID test? Thank you so much.

[payxibka 10,045]

I would wait until after September 1 or whenever the next scheduled announcement is as everything could change

[flicks1998 1,044]

6 hours ago, edizon1 said:

Hello. My 3-year old daughter will be having her medical at SLEC this coming Sept 10. She will be accompanied by my mother-in-law with a private car. They are from Isabela (region 2). Anyone here has recently traveled to Manila from province via land? Can you share your experience? Did you encounter any checkpoints along the way while passing from town to town? Do they need to be quarantined after coming from Manila? What was your experience with staying in a hotel? Are they requiring CoVID test? Thank you so much.

The government is announcing new lockdown levels every 2 weeks.  The next announcement will be late on August 31st or September 1st.  Wait until then to book a place for the medical.  If Manila increases back to MGCQ or MECQ, SLEC will close.  If GCQ stays past September 1st, then book your place to stay.  

 

Avoid Airbnb places for now.  Many condos are requiring a COVID test which makes it impractical to stay there.  We booked this past week at City Garden Suites which is right around the corner from SLEC.  Just stay there.  They take your temperature upon entering and thats it.  Breakfast is delivered to your room.  Literally a 2 minute walk for the medical.  Rooms are fine for a night or two.

 

You may need to hire a private car to take you from the province to Manila and then drive back to the province.  Grab is running throughout Manila as well as taxis.  

 

Just wait until after September 1st to book.

 

 

[flicks1998 1,044]

6 hours ago, edizon1 said:

Hello. My 3-year old daughter will be having her medical at SLEC this coming Sept 10. She will be accompanied by my mother-in-law with a private car. They are from Isabela (region 2). Anyone here has recently traveled to Manila from province via land? Can you share your experience? Did you encounter any checkpoints along the way while passing from town to town? Do they need to be quarantined after coming from Manila? What was your experience with staying in a hotel? Are they requiring CoVID test? Thank you so much.

I was going to add, from Isabela they were having vans running from that area to Manila (practicing social distancing) so only about half full, but prices are higher.  Also, there may be buses but not sure on that.  Vans definitely were running a few weeks ago.  Your fiance should know where the vans stop when passing through that area and she should go there a few days before and ask.  Also, you may want to consider coming down 2 nights early or arriving in the morning of the day before the medical.  This will provide a buffer for any hiccups along the way. 

[edizon1 4]

7 minutes ago, flicks1998 said:

The government is announcing new lockdown levels every 2 weeks.  The next announcement will be late on August 31st or September 1st.  Wait until then to book a place for the medical.  If Manila increases back to MGCQ or MECQ, SLEC will close.  If GCQ stays past September 1st, then book your place to stay.  

 

Avoid Airbnb places for now.  Many condos are requiring a COVID test which makes it impractical to stay there.  We booked this past week at City Garden Suites which is right around the corner from SLEC.  Just stay there.  They take your temperature upon entering and thats it.  Breakfast is delivered to your room.  Literally a 2 minute walk for the medical.  Rooms are fine for a night or two.

 

You may need to hire a private car to take you from the province to Manila and then drive back to the province.  Grab is running throughout Manila as well as taxis.  

 

Just wait until after September 1st to book.

 

 

Thanks for the heads up. Will be waiting for the announcement for booking for a hotel. Tried checking City Garden Suites, but it's already fully booked for our schedule. Do you have any idea how many days will it take for an IR2 medical to be completed?

 

[edizon1 4]

1 minute ago, flicks1998 said:

I was going to add, from Isabela they were having vans running from that area to Manila (practicing social distancing) so only about half full, but prices are higher.  Also, there may be buses but not sure on that.  Vans definitely were running a few weeks ago.  Your fiance should know where the vans stop when passing through that area and she should go there a few days before and ask.  Also, you may want to consider coming down 2 nights early or arriving in the morning of the day before the medical.  This will provide a buffer for any hiccups along the way. 

Right. They will be using my mother-in-law's private car so they have no problem with social distancing. I'm not sure if how may person is allowed in a SUV type of vehicle. 

[edizon1 4]

6 hours ago, payxibka said:

I would wait until after September 1 or whenever the next scheduled announcement is as everything could change

Thank you. We'll wait for September 1 before making any decision.

[flicks1998 1,044]

1 minute ago, edizon1 said:

Thanks for the heads up. Will be waiting for the announcement for booking for a hotel. Tried checking City Garden Suites, but it's already fully booked for our schedule. Do you have any idea how many days will it take for an IR2 medical to be completed?

 

I have heard to plan for two days, but we just did the medical for the K1 this past Monday and they did everything in one day.  We were done by 3pm.  They may be trying to get everything done in one day now as you need to book online and it only allows you to book for one day.  I have a feeling the 2 days were when they were still doing walk-ins. 

 

Look on Agoda after September 1st for hotels.  They have a full refund guarantee up until the day before check-in.  There are a few more hotels in the area and you can even write to the hotel and ask if they are just doing temperature checks.  Most hotels dont require a COVID test, it appears most condos do as there are more locals living in the condos so it would make sense.

[flicks1998 1,044]

2 minutes ago, edizon1 said:

Right. They will be using my mother-in-law's private car so they have no problem with social distancing. I'm not sure if how may person is allowed in a SUV type of vehicle. 

Youll be fine.  Usually the "social distancing" in a vehicle is half the normal passengers, but this is what they are using on buses, UV Express, etc.  I would bring a copy of your medical appointment as if there are any checkpoints, that copy will be your pass to continue to Manila.  As long as Manila stays at GCQ (including areas such as Bulacan, Rizal, etc) then you will have no issues getting there.  Just check CNN Philippines, Philstar, or GMA on the 31st.  Usually its quite late local time when they announce the new lockdown rules. 

[edizon1 4]

1 minute ago, flicks1998 said:

I have heard to plan for two days, but we just did the medical for the K1 this past Monday and they did everything in one day.  We were done by 3pm.  They may be trying to get everything done in one day now as you need to book online and it only allows you to book for one day.  I have a feeling the 2 days were when they were still doing walk-ins. 

 

Look on Agoda after September 1st for hotels.  They have a full refund guarantee up until the day before check-in.  There are a few more hotels in the area and you can even write to the hotel and ask if they are just doing temperature checks.  Most hotels dont require a COVID test, it appears most condos do as there are more locals living in the condos so it would make sense.

I might book them a room in Bayview Park Hotel. Hopefully my daughter's medical will go smoothly to avoid going back and forth in metro manila. 

 

[edizon1 4]

3 minutes ago, flicks1998 said:

Youll be fine.  Usually the "social distancing" in a vehicle is half the normal passengers, but this is what they are using on buses, UV Express, etc.  I would bring a copy of your medical appointment as if there are any checkpoints, that copy will be your pass to continue to Manila.  As long as Manila stays at GCQ (including areas such as Bulacan, Rizal, etc) then you will have no issues getting there.  Just check CNN Philippines, Philstar, or GMA on the 31st.  Usually its quite late local time when they announce the new lockdown rules. 

Thank you for your tips... 

 

[flicks1998 1,044]

1 minute ago, edizon1 said:

I might book them a room in Bayview Park Hotel. Hopefully my daughter's medical will go smoothly to avoid going back and forth in metro manila. 

 

Bayview is a good fall back option.  I just checked Agoda and for Sept 9-11, City Garden has rooms.  Not sure your planned days but they have something then.  

[edizon1 4]

3 minutes ago, flicks1998 said:

Bayview is a good fall back option.  I just checked Agoda and for Sept 9-11, City Garden has rooms.  Not sure your planned days but they have something then.  

Yeah. I see it now. I placed 3 adults and 1 child as the number of guests before that's why City Garden is not appearing in the hotel list. I changed it now to 2 adults. Thanks again. 

[Mylilelar1 8]

On 8/27/2020 at 11:49 PM, flicks1998 said:

I was going to add, from Isabela they were having vans running from that area to Manila (practicing social distancing) so only about half full, but prices are higher.  Also, there may be buses but not sure on that.  Vans definitely were running a few weeks ago.  Your fiance should know where the vans stop when passing through that area and she should go there a few days before and ask.  Also, you may want to consider coming down 2 nights early or arriving in the morning of the day before the medical.  This will provide a buffer for any hiccups along the way. 

I am late to this thread but my wife and I have traveled from Isabela to Manila by private car,bus and plane out of Cauyan City. MUCH,much cheaper by plane and only 37 minutes compared to 15 hours by bus and 10 hours by private car. We always had a backup plan of course if the plane couldn't fly.

[Cody&Razely 134]

MGCQ is a downgrade from GCQ, MGCQ is the current least restriction the PH has a term for since they removed "New Normal" as an options, however none of their "statuses" amount to squat since the whole country is essentially insane with fear mongers and no one there even seems to know or care what the different levels carry with them in terms of implementation.

the statuses are as follows ECQ --> MECQ --> GCQ --> MGCQ (And Removed as an options --> "New Normal") M Stands for "Modified"

The PH Officials do not follow any protocols in that I mean when a region is downgraded they do not relax the actual implementation, they all basically act as though the whole place is still under ECQ minus the lock everyone in their house order.  

Edited September 25, 2020 by Cody&Razely