hoosier

i don't have a ticket or flight schedule for my fiancee yet, i'm still shopping around for a one-way great deal. well, i'm more concern about the wait time in between flights. her final destination here in the U.S. is florida and there is no direct flight here from manila so i expect 1 or 2 stops.im also concerned especially with the new policies on checked bags.. with northwest airlines, once in the U.S.(POE)if your wait time for your connecting flight is more than 8 hours, you'll have to pay for the 2nd bag because your flight will be converted as domestic flight.

if anyone out here knows any travel agents/agencies in manila that accepts credit card payments from a U.S. bank please share it with us

thanks guys and good luck and have a safe trip to all!

Try http://www.vayama.com/ was best prices I could find and they took my credit card no problem. I looked and for example june 18th $924 Manila to Orlando, 3 hour stop in HK 3 hours in Chicago. So should be no problems as far as baggage limitations.

To add to list Joy's flight is June 12th Cebu to Japan on PAL then AA to Chicago.

Another Hoosier checking in !

Chesterton Indiana

We paid Doc verification approx April 10

Interview May 20

Visa received May 29 !!

well this is real sore subject right now for us, I booked a flight for Joy and The itinerary includes Philippine Airlines from Cebu to Nagoya(Tokyo) then American Airlines to Chicago. I look on Philippine airlines website and the weight limit is 20 Kilos total allowed same as domestic and it is $14 a kilo over 20 kg. I immediately called Philippine airlines nd they confirmed this. Utterly freakin ridiculous her Luggage weighs 5 kilos alone.

This lowest weight limit for international travel in the industry let alone $14 a kilo.. #######.

It sucks as the ticket is non refundable or I would change it in a heartbeat.

Fedex quoted $200 for 20 kilo box from cebu to Chicago (2 days via air)

Manila Forwarder quoted $170 for jumbo balikbayan box (24x18x24) no weight limit. Cebu to Chicago (4 to 6 weeks via ship)

So Joy is going crazy trying to limit her stuff.

I am interested in the Manila Forwarder for shipping from Manila to the U.S. What company did you contact in the Philippines? Do you have a contact name/number? I think that would be a good option for us for the next time we go back (Marlene really likes to shop)

www.manilaforwarder.com

Then click the box for Phil-USA shipment that page will give you all the details

well this is real sore subject right now for us, I booked a flight for Joy and The itinerary includes Philippine Airlines from Cebu to Nagoya(Tokyo) then American Airlines to Chicago. I look on Philippine airlines website and the weight limit is 20 Kilos total allowed same as domestic and it is $14 a kilo over 20 kg. I immediately called Philippine airlines nd they confirmed this. Utterly freakin ridiculous her Luggage weighs 5 kilos alone.

This lowest weight limit for international travel in the industry let alone $14 a kilo.. #######.

It sucks as the ticket is non refundable or I would change it in a heartbeat.

Fedex quoted $200 for 20 kilo box from cebu to Chicago (2 days via air)

Manila Forwarder quoted $170 for jumbo balikbayan box (24x18x24) no weight limit. Cebu to Chicago (4 to 6 weeks via ship)

So Joy is going crazy trying to limit her stuff.

sorry to hear that..

well it's really confusing for us right now cos of course we're girls and we got lotsa stuff..

and we love them so much.. and it's gonna be so hard for us to decide which is in and which is out..

anyways.. just wanna ask, joy is flyin to chicago?? when?? im flyin from manila but to chicago too..

Her flight is scheduled for June 12. Flying out of Cebu City 1 stop 3 hours in Tokyo then on to Chicago.

well this is real sore subject right now for us, I booked a flight for Joy and The itinerary includes Philippine Airlines from Cebu to Nagoya(Tokyo) then American Airlines to Chicago. I look on Philippine airlines website and the weight limit is 20 Kilos total allowed same as domestic and it is $14 a kilo over 20 kg. I immediately called Philippine airlines nd they confirmed this. Utterly freakin ridiculous her Luggage weighs 5 kilos alone.

This lowest weight limit for international travel in the industry let alone $14 a kilo.. #######.

It sucks as the ticket is non refundable or I would change it in a heartbeat.

Fedex quoted $200 for 20 kilo box from cebu to Chicago (2 days via air)

Manila Forwarder quoted $170 for jumbo balikbayan box (24x18x24) no weight limit. Cebu to Chicago (4 to 6 weeks via ship)

So Joy is going crazy trying to limit her stuff.

Joy had her interview today. She said she had a lady consulate who was very pleasant. She said the lady only ask 5 or 6 simple questions. Interview only took like 5 minutes. She got a pink slip only, no white slip. We paid Doc fee early april Delbros said it as sent to NSO April 14.

So hopefully we get the visa without much waiting.

I want to thank everyone here for all the help. Without all the great advice here this would of been much more difficult.

I Would take my chances anywhere in Mindanao alone on the street at night versus any US inner city. I think most of warnings are much overblown. Just pay attention around you the same as if you were in any big city in the US.

Especially in Davao, many consider it the cleanest and safest city in PI. The mayor there definately has the right idea. It is tops on my list for a place to build our retirement home. If your budget is not too tight Stay at the Marco Polo It is a true 5 star hotel for 1/4 the price you would pay in the US or Europe for the same quality.

As far as food goes if your worried Stick to things that have been cooked to 150+ degrees, that pretty much kills anything that you have to worry about. Don't bother with beef products in PI the quality is horrible, If you like fish try Lapu Lapu, fresh Tuna or Bangus most of the others are too strong for American palates. For sure try some Lechon, Kinilaw, Adobo, Buko, Halo-halo. The best mango's in the world come from that area in Mindanao.

The main thing is be respectful and have patience service is generally much slower there than we are used to. But the warmth and hospitality of the people are like no where else in the world. If you go in With an open mind and look at it as an adventure you will have a great time.

Joy found a gold wedding ring at St Lukes around 5pm on Thursday. If you lost a ring just message me with what the inscription inside says and we will gladly return it.

You mean get rid of the market so as to stop the demand for the product to be pushed or stop the pushers and hope the demand will go cold turkey? Just want to get it clear where you are prioritizing. I prefer showing the dealers and the cartels that their product is worthless via there being no market for them to sell. In my point of view it will be much simpler and easier to focus on the consumer rather than eliminating one group (or all present groups) of dealers only to see a whole new crop of cartels fill in the void left for demanding customers. Of course, we could deal with it simultaneously as well but there are other wars we've gotten ourselves into.

It's very simple. Legalize sales. Sell through goverment drug stores. Tax the ####### out of it, use the profits on drug education. This takes all the profit for the cartels and violence out of the equation. The war on drugs is a farce, Just a big money drain for government.

This is all about money and control. Those in power know they can use the drug war as an excuse to control a certain element of society. Very much the same way they use the war on terror. They can erode civil liberties, toss out proper search and seizure procedures all in the name of Security.

Ben Frankilin "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety"

www.myfico.com

Capital One does report our account information they just do not report what your limit is only what your high balance is. I added my husband as an authorized user to an account i have a few years ago and that account actually appeared on the credit report we ran last week. They did give him his own card about a week after he arrived in the U.S with a low limit but it did make it much easier and he now has some regular cards with high limits.

Good luck!

For the sake of simplicity... lets say your credit limit is $1000. But your "high balance" is only $200 and your current balance is $150.

That high balance is being reported as your "credit Limit". This is not good because your credit report is indicating that you are using 75% of your credit limit when in actuality you're only using 15%. This is not good for credit rating.

As far as I know, Capital One is the only one that does it this way and I dont know why.

Capitol One used to report this Way. They changed that policy last fall, they now correctly report your high limits. Always try to keep your utilization on your credit cards under 10%. That has a very big effect on your credit rating. Go read the forums at www.myfico.com tons of great info there on how fico scores are determined and how to manage your cards and loans to keep your credit rating at it's maximum. It is not always logical what makes your scores go up and down. So do the research on those forums and you will understand much better.

Target's Bridal Section...

wats in there?? r u tlking about that store in carlsbad?

It's a joke...

Actually it's not a joke ! Target has a nice selection of reasonably priced Wedding dresses by a famous designer. I think it is online only follow this link http://www.target.com/b/ref=sc_fe_l_1_1603...;node=347006011

I moved to Las Vegas in 2006 so I would like to know if anyone knows if this guy is still on the air and what station. I have never heard him so he must not be on a good station. If we can find out his location I will go ask him about the letter and see what he has to say. Lets take a vote and let me know. Just for the record I am a born US citizen and about to marry a Filipina when she gets her on May 16th so I dont like to see things like this. Filipinos are very nice people and I have been there many times and love the country.

His show was nationally syndicated late nights(12am to 3am) on probably over 100+ stations. He retired several years ago and George Noori has been the regular host since. Art sometimes does shows on the weekends. I've listened to Art's shows for like 20 years and I can for sure tell you this is a hoax. He has many times on the air had nice and good things about the Philippines and it's people.

He even was broadcasting from there for a time. His first wife as a Filipina and then he married another Filipina a couple years back.

Some of his show's subject matter may be a bit bizarre, but if you have listened to Art for any amount of time you would of instantly known it was a hoax. In fact he is l 1 of the most open minded people your ever likely to meet.

His radio show discusses topics far from the mainstream, so without question he has made enemies long the way as his shows reveal things many would not like the public to know including many very powerful people.

It's too bad people are still passing this trash email around as Mr. Bell deserves better treatment than this.

Joy would like to have her medical Next Thurs. & Fri , May 8th and 9th. She will be flying from Cebu to Manila. I'm trying to schedule the flights and hotel etc.

What time is the latest that she can go to St. Lukes for her 1st day of the exam? I thought I read somewhere it really not neccesary to get there 6am or anything like that.

How long to SLEC from the airport by taxi ?

Also I recall reading sometimes people not getting results on the second day until like 7pm, Does this mean to be safe I should be booking her return flight for late evening on Friday ?

I'm really trying to avoid having the expense of 2 nights hotel. The flight from Cebu to MNL is like only 1 hour.

Is she has to have a sputum test figure on her being there 3 extra days.

well that would be on the off chance she had scarring on her xray. She has never had TB as far as she knows. If she has to have a sputum test from my understanding another 3 days would be the least of our worries at that point.

Joy would like to have her medical Next Thurs. & Fri , May 8th and 9th. She will be flying from Cebu to Manila. I'm trying to schedule the flights and hotel etc.

What time is the latest that she can go to St. Lukes for her 1st day of the exam? I thought I read somewhere it really not neccesary to get there 6am or anything like that.

How long to SLEC from the airport by taxi ?

Also I recall reading sometimes people not getting results on the second day until like 7pm, Does this mean to be safe I should be booking her return flight for late evening on Friday ?

I'm really trying to avoid having the expense of 2 nights hotel. The flight from Cebu to MNL is like only 1 hour.

I'm a bit confused by the responses here. I had Joy look at her NBI and it says "No record on File" is this what it is supposed to say?

Is she going to need some sort of letter of explanation? Her interview is May 20 so I just want to be clear on this.

In direct reference to the OP 20k Php is a bit on the high side for a *cough* "expedite fee" generally 3 or 4 thousand will get what you need done.

Personally I would call directly to Manila or go talk to the director at that location. I would not even mention about the bribe unless pushed.

Congratz

I'm curious what kind of deals everyone is getting on the 1 way plane tickets on short notice out of Manila also.

Congratz

I love the detailed reports like that, thanks so much for sharing the details !

Congratz

Any word on the Document verification has Delbros been getting them there on time now ?

Joy's interview date is 5/20 7:30AM

It looks like several are scheduled for that day

Well my Fiancee went to renew her passport a few days ago in Cebu City. She got there around noon time to the DFA office.

There was lines of people outside halfway down the block. She said she thought it was at least 1000 people there and they only had 3 windows open taking applications. She was told by a guard if you expect to get processed in the same day you need to line up by 4am and expect to be there all day.

She also was told with the new electronic passports is a backlog and it is taking a minimum of 15 to 20 business days even with paying the expedite fee which totals 750Php.

She went to the agency close by he did all her paperwork and the had her come to the dfa office next day at 4:00pm to give a thumbprint and they put her in special line and she was done in an hour or so. She paid 1300PhP total so an extra 550 to not have to wait in line all day, seemed worth it to me.

He said call him May 2nd they might have it by then.

You should consider that your wife will be able to work when she arrives there. Even the low end jobs in Cali. pay 10 to 15 bucks an hour and your living expenses likely will not go up by much.

Keep your head up, your daughter will at some point realize the BS her mother put into her head just for spite. Just be a good husband and father , show your daughter a good example of what a happy marriage can be like.

Good luck man.

Congratz

There is definately something odd going on with CSC and them updating on the website. My file is now at the embassy in Manila and it still says on the website that my application is Pending. All I got was the NOA2 letter via snail mail on 3/25 and our approval date was 3/20.

I would take my chances anywhere in Mindanao or the Philippines alone on a dark street before I would in some of the inner city areas I've been to in Chicago, Detroit or Gary Indiana even.

Man!! I am really jealous.. been bugging NVC but the automated voice in the phone says we dont have any records from their system. I am dieing to know whats our MNL case number!!!!

Call NVC @ (603) 334-0700, press 1, then 5. Be ready with beneficiary's full name, date of birth and your NOA1 or 2 receipt number. You cannot use the automated system to check K-1 Visas as they do not load these into the automated system. You must speak with a live person.

You're almost there. Best of luck to you. God speed.

Ohhh thank you so much, its not me that calls NVC but my fiance, everytime i tell him to call that # he always get the same answer NO RECORD ON FILE from an automated voice machine. I will tell my fiance to do that, thank you so much.

Godbless you too.

Let Him know call either before 9:00 am or after 10:00 pm to get through to a person. Most other times of day it is difficult to get through.