Quick tips for surviving a budget airline flight

move heaven and earth to secure a window seat by the emergency exit. in a small, single-aisle plane with reduced seat pitch, this is probably the single best thing you can do for yourself. i did this on both my flight out and my flight back home, and am now happily resigned to a possible lifetime of budget trips. (as jetstar or valuair, i forget which, says -- a good low cost carrier assures you of travelling in both dignity and comfort.)

then, if you're short, as i am, you can have a good laugh at the long-legged people who are stuck, squirming and crammed into the normal seats. this helps you cope with the lack of an inflight entertainment system. and it's one of those rare times when we short people can feel superior to tall people, who perhaps by virtue of their height, probably earn thrice what we do.

i offer two options by which you can achieve this seemingly impossible feat, both of which i did.

• check in at least three hours before boarding time. this way, you get your run of seats. i did this on my flight out -- yes, me, a notoriously lazy and perpetually late person. it worked. i got the exit seat purely by chance.
• book a weekday flight. a weekday flight is not only cheaper on most budget airlines, but they stand the best chance of being wonderfully empty unless it's some sort of major holiday. such was the case on my return flight. i not only got to sleep in, check in relatively late, request my seating preference, but the two seats beside me were empty. ahhh. bliss. thus i slumbered away my three-hour flight stretched out in comfort. (which only short people can do.)

knock yourself out the night before. stay up till 4am packing and repacking. go clubbing. go on a 10k run. go to sentosa and get buffeted by the hordes. make prank calls. do laundry. i don't know, think of some way to wear yourself out. this ensures that you sleep away as much of the flight as humanly possible, thereby negating the so-called minuses of budget airline services. meals? inflight movies? who needs them?

i don't usually resort to this as i am the most hassle-free airline passenger to have on board. i am a sleeping freak. i've slept all the way through 17-hour long-haul flights and 21-hour cross-country bus trips. yung tipong pag gising ko nakatawid na ako ng tatlong bansa. so the three-hour flight from manila to singapore is usually a cinch for me.

incidentally, i did stay up late packing. hanggang 1am lang naman. but that was mostly because of those freaking one-dollar books. hee hee.

bring food or loose change. opt for small, handy snacks and that all-important bottle of water. alternatively, dump all your loose change on the flight attendants. as most moneychangers don't accept coins, they will only go to waste the minute you touch down on home soil. i enjoyed a very nice chocolate chip cookie care of my spare coinage. it was really good -- warm, chewy and full of huge melty chocolate chips. almost too good for a budget airline.

bring a warm jacket and hand cream. no blankets = freezing ass. and no lotion in the lavatory = chapped hands. 'nuf said.

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my chosen budget airline for this trip was jetstar. i have absolutely no complaints. the planes are so new that they positively gleam. the attendants' uniforms are cute and funky. the leather seats are comfy. goodbye philippine airlines. i don't have to put up with you any longer.

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yes, i'm home. nothing says pilipinas to me more than my mom coming out to meet me, listening to a.m. radio in the taxi, and a plate of rice topped with steaming chunks of century tuna, spanish style.