DainandVicky

We received Vicky's greencard in the mail on Friday 6-11-10, found out we were expecting on Saturday 6-12-10. Some weekend!

Don't buy the ticket until the visa is in the hand. Period.
They will tell you it says that on her paperwork if you try to use that for a reason to try to get it rushed or expedited.
At any moment they can find an issue and hold/ delay it, missing signature on a form, wrong spelling on a name on a form, etc.
Ours was over 10 days (13 I think?) interview to visa delivery, without any problems or holds.

I didn't need a money changer until the next day, and we went to one of the greenbelt malls for a good rate. The hotel was pre-paid through Agoda.com and only needed a copy of my credit card. Vicky cooked some Adobo and brought it and some Coke to the hotel for us, we arranged for her to be able to enter the room before I got there.
I didn't rely on ATMs or want to necessarily pay a lot of ATM fees (or the terrible exchange rates from the ATMs), so I bought a money belt before I left the states and brought several hundred in cash in the money belt. Every hotel we stayed in had a room safe, so I just left it in the room safe and took a little money with me when we went out. Most everything else (plane tickets, hotel rooms) were pre-payed.

It's pretty clear when you're at the airport where you will wait for departing passengers, and it is outside. In the waiting areas it's seperated into a few areas by first letter of last or surname. He's going to see it easily when he leaves the plane. It was pretty simple, and when I got off, there was Vicky waiting for me with her sister and cousin to ride with us to the hotel.