... or: my extended stay in Japan
My trip to the US last December almost faltered at the airport due to the missing ESTA registration. This trip, my entrance to the US was no problem at all. With my printed ESTA form handy I walked right through immigration. Well, almost. The immigration officer took a bit longer to process my papers… so he could tell me he’s married to a Filipina from Iloilo and that he just came back from a trip to Cebu and Boracay. Mabuhay!
The bug during this trip was in the planes. Delayed departure from Manila to Detroit due to maintenance work on the plane. After the second announcement of yet another delay we changed our flights. We had to uncheck our luggage, check it again and jogged back to the gate to leave Manila with a 5 hour delay. We got to Buffalo later than planned but still within reasonable schedule.
Our return flights were even more bugged. Leaving Buffalo for Detroit on different flights, Glenn and I hoped for a short rendez-vous before heading to our respective departure gates. We ended up enjoying a 5-hour date since both of our connecting flights were delayed. Mine due to electrical problems on the plane, his due to a planned air-control officers’ strike in Germany. Time to sit at the Delta Lounge, sip a Baileys on ice and watch the financial world collapse (on TV, of course).
We boarded at around the same time. While I watched Glenn’s plane take off, I sat in the plane for another 2 hours before departure. Lights and aircons went on and off… repair work being done. When we finally took off it was so late according to my acclimatized US East coast timing that I napped for 8 hours straight!
A short stopover in Japan and another four hour flight and I’d be home! Or so I thought. Wrong! Again, I sat another 2 hours in the plane. This time, the cargo door wouldn’t close! The pilot’s announcement that “we are in the discovery stage” of what’s wrong didn’t sound promising. Not after 2 hours! I could see the guys work on the flat open cargo door. Sure enough, minutes later the announcement for disembarkation came through. Back to the gate. Soon after the announcement “we are currently negotiating with Japanese immigration authorities and quarantine…” That meant we’d be leaving the airport and spend the night (by now 4 am Manila time) in Nagoya.
Flight canceled. Meal voucher, hotel voucher, baggage claim. I dragged all my three bags, including the odd shaped fencing bag (the latest addition to our interesting workout equipment) to the hotel. I saw the sun rise over Nagoya and took a picture while most Filipinos were still arguing with the gate crew refusing to pick up their luggage. What’s the point? To my surprise I was neither mad nor frustrated. I saved my energy to be quick picking up my stuff and head for the hotel.
Exactly 12 hours after my (delayed) scheduled flight from Nagoya I was on the plane and headed home. The pilot welcomed all of us back onboard. With a smirk in his voice he said: “If all of the four cargo doors close we will be on our way to Manila shortly”!
It did close. Finally! Mabuhay!
My trip to the US last December almost faltered at the airport due to the missing ESTA registration. This trip, my entrance to the US was no problem at all. With my printed ESTA form handy I walked right through immigration. Well, almost. The immigration officer took a bit longer to process my papers… so he could tell me he’s married to a Filipina from Iloilo and that he just came back from a trip to Cebu and Boracay. Mabuhay!
The bug during this trip was in the planes. Delayed departure from Manila to Detroit due to maintenance work on the plane. After the second announcement of yet another delay we changed our flights. We had to uncheck our luggage, check it again and jogged back to the gate to leave Manila with a 5 hour delay. We got to Buffalo later than planned but still within reasonable schedule.
Our return flights were even more bugged. Leaving Buffalo for Detroit on different flights, Glenn and I hoped for a short rendez-vous before heading to our respective departure gates. We ended up enjoying a 5-hour date since both of our connecting flights were delayed. Mine due to electrical problems on the plane, his due to a planned air-control officers’ strike in Germany. Time to sit at the Delta Lounge, sip a Baileys on ice and watch the financial world collapse (on TV, of course).
We boarded at around the same time. While I watched Glenn’s plane take off, I sat in the plane for another 2 hours before departure. Lights and aircons went on and off… repair work being done. When we finally took off it was so late according to my acclimatized US East coast timing that I napped for 8 hours straight!
A short stopover in Japan and another four hour flight and I’d be home! Or so I thought. Wrong! Again, I sat another 2 hours in the plane. This time, the cargo door wouldn’t close! The pilot’s announcement that “we are in the discovery stage” of what’s wrong didn’t sound promising. Not after 2 hours! I could see the guys work on the flat open cargo door. Sure enough, minutes later the announcement for disembarkation came through. Back to the gate. Soon after the announcement “we are currently negotiating with Japanese immigration authorities and quarantine…” That meant we’d be leaving the airport and spend the night (by now 4 am Manila time) in Nagoya.
Flight canceled. Meal voucher, hotel voucher, baggage claim. I dragged all my three bags, including the odd shaped fencing bag (the latest addition to our interesting workout equipment) to the hotel. I saw the sun rise over Nagoya and took a picture while most Filipinos were still arguing with the gate crew refusing to pick up their luggage. What’s the point? To my surprise I was neither mad nor frustrated. I saved my energy to be quick picking up my stuff and head for the hotel.
Exactly 12 hours after my (delayed) scheduled flight from Nagoya I was on the plane and headed home. The pilot welcomed all of us back onboard. With a smirk in his voice he said: “If all of the four cargo doors close we will be on our way to Manila shortly”!
It did close. Finally! Mabuhay!
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