Southeast Asia Adventures: The Beginning

In December, traveled to Thailand and Cambodia for two weeks. During this holiday season I was presented with a wide variety of characters. Some nice and some not so much. In the spirit of Christmas, I have complied a naughty and nice list of people in the working in the tourism industry who made my experience pleasant with their superb customer service or lack there of.

NAUGHTY: The Grinch - This woman stopped all of us in the Manila airport to weigh our bags. This was  two inches before crossing the threshold into the security check zone AFTER the check-in area where we would drop any bags we were checking. She had a very loud and abrasive tone for 4:00am. She repeatedly stated in Tagalog that we needed to check our bags. I think she was speaking in the local language on purpose to be difficult but to her surprise I can speak the language back to you. No need to repeat yourself, I heard you the first time.  

NICE: Elosie- When my friend was in the Philippines, she did not have any money for the terminal fee. This was stressful because she was almost late for her flight and the airport had no ATM and did not accept credit card. Eloise took it upon herself to use her personal money to pay for my friends terminal fee. My friend never got the name of this angel that assisted her but I found her when I returned to the airport. Her name is Eloise and she has the sweetest spirit. I returned the money with interest to show our appreciation for her good deed.

The man that checks our confirmation before checking in. His job for that morning was simply to make sure people were checking in at the correct location but in that morning he also became my personal directory. When everybody else could not give me directions or was giving incorrect information, he gave me clear instructions to the atm, the cashier, and the international booth. He could have ignored me and kept with his one task but he went above and beyond the call of duty.      The woman that checked us in. After the grinch made us check our bags, we returned to this woman who helped us find ways to minimize our luggage to avoid paying the excess baggage fee. It didn't work. We had to pay it anyway but she was doing more than some other counter representatives do.  

And this is only beginning. Check back for the Southeast Asia Itinerary and Trip Advisor Reviews

  - The Natural Travelista