harrowing hours

i'm finally home.

but before i could get to this point, i had to have a very harrowing couple of hours first. it was almost like a recipe for a disaster but at least, it didn't happen that way!

see, as always, i had not started packing and all i did was what we call basketball packing -- throwing everything you need in a bag at the last minute. then, i had to pack what's left of the things we need to bring home including gifts for our parents and nephew. on top of that, i had to pass by first my cousin's place for the calendars and umbrellas she would give to my grandmothers on my behalf. that was around ten o'clock. but! before i have to do that, i needed to wrap the little gifts i prepared for them. i finished packing and cleaning the house at around 2am.

then, i realized that my sister wasn't home yet and she hadn't packed her things! when she got home and almost finished packing, we realized that our packaging tape wasn't enough to cover the three boxes we need to bring home so she had to run to the nearest convenience store. i was left to print her ticket when unexpectedly, the printer didn't work! it was asking for a new black cartridge. for the last couple of days, we saw that it needed changing already but we never really thought it would give up on us on that particular hour. so went my sister arrived with the tape, she had to go running out again to the nearest computer shop to have her ticket printed. luckily, when she got back with a cab, everything was ready and we proceeded to the airport. this was around 4am. our flight was at 550a. we had to be at the check-in counter in less than 50 minutes.

then, another 'almost' disaster occurred. i heard my sister instruct the cab driver to bring us to the Terminal 3. as i was not really familiar with the way to the new terminal, i let the driver decide where to pass but when we were nearing Terminal 2, i was really having a bad feeling about that. i was deluded into thinking that maybe the driver knows a shortcut through Terminal 2 when he suddenly stopped there. i was really mad because he said that he thought we said Terminal 2 when i specifically heard my sister say Terminal 3. how can one mistake 3 for 2?! and then the driver made excuses that he had just started driving again and that he didn't know that the third terminal was already operational. i was so damned mad because the terminal was already open since early summer. what cab driver wouldn't know that?! argh! the nerve of that driver too, asking for extra php150 for i don't know what! if we weren't just running so late, we would have gotten a new cab when he mentioned that back at the apartment. luckily, we arrived at the airport ten, fifteen minutes before the check-in gates close.

but what did we find out?! the gates were already closed and that there was no place for us on the plane anymore. how can that be when we confirmed our flights and we were booked since early summer? the ladies at the gate told us that for CAB regulations, they were allowed to overbook but what the hell?! it wasn't fair. we bought our tickets so early that we have to have those seats. they said that they were putting us on the 2p flight and will give us free roundtickets for the inconvenience. inconvenience it was for sure, we said and their offer isn't acceptable. what was the use of having the option early on to fly on the earliest flight out when in the end we couldn't get on it and had to wait for the afternoon flight. they reiterated that they'd give us free roundtickets. we were so damn mad that i told the lady that i don't need that ticket because i could easily afford buying it on my own. and to hell with the CAB ruling. we have to get on the plane. okay, they said. they will make a way to get us on that plane. but on the overhead sound system, we heard the boarding call for that flight. still, we kept on waiting and giving nasty glances to those people at the check-in gate. we weren't really sure if we could get on the plane. and imagine, we have three boxes and three bags to check-in. it was all a hassle. finally, and lucky for us, there were passengers willing to trade their seats for the roundtrip tickets the airline was giving away as incentive.

when we got to the plane, we saw that it was really full, mostly from the people who just arrived from their hajj. when i got to my assigned seat, i saw that there was already someone occupying it. another hassle! i had to stand up at the aisle for long minutes until the crew can figure out what happened. it was a surreal moment. i told my sister that it looks like i'm riding a bus and that i might just stand up the whole trip back home! until finally, the attendant approached me and told me that the assigned seat was really mine but the passenger wasn't willing to give up the seat beside his wife. i guess the seat that i was taken to at the back was his.

we delayed the flight for probably 45 minutes and i don't give a damn. i wanted to go home.

the plane took off at past six and we arrived around 8am. flying time was an hour and thirty minutes. it could have been faster except for the fact that the plane was carrying too much cargo as i saw at the baggage carousel. most of the cargo where the bags of those people who just arrived from the hajj. as we were last on the plane, our stuff was brought around with the last cargo car.

yet, i'm finally happy to be home!!!