Hi British_Boy
My own story is so much similar to yours, I had to laugh out loud once or twice while reading that. But in the end my eyes were shed with tears.
Yeah arrival in Manila...

I had the same problem, but luckily I had contact by cellphone to my girlfriend that I met after about 9 months of regular chat...
I also searched around in the arrival hall, then outside there. After a while I asked someone that I cannot find arrival zone and some guy was showing me the way down the ramp there...
I was so nervous that time, same like you. I had no idea, how people react in the catholic Philippines if a european guy meets his TS girlfriend.
So I walked down the ramp and the mess was unbelievable. Lots of people, lots of noises, everyone wanna sell me his taxi service. Luckily I had her on the phone... So suddenly she was crossing the lane to my side with all the letters on the sidewalk... And I saw her for the first time... First impression was: so pretty but so tiny ( I knew she was a petite one - but she is so petite in real). After the first welcome and say hello, we sat to the taxi and I had her for me the first time. In this moment I really knew, it was the right thing to do - such a funny, pretty, feminine person with that incredible scent (and I was concerned that maybe I won't like her scent

).
I stayed there for 7 weeks, but also the say goodbye on Manila Airport was the hardest moment in my life. We both cried so much.
But we are still together