Calling it a bonus day is a polite way for saying my flight was CANCELLED !!! The dreaded words on the departure screen were all to clear. What now ??? Here I am at the airport, tired after working a long day and already gone from my family for three weeks. Well, it was time to use one of the perks given to me as a Business Class traveler – access to the Mahubay lounge. There I found a line of people waiting to get the same thing as me. I needed answers to questions like when is the next flight ? What will you do to put us up for the night ? How do I contact my family to let the know ? and What about my connecting flights ?
No explanation was given for the cancelled flight until the next day. It appears some work was being done at the airport, perhaps as an aftermath to the storm, and it was not going to be completed until several hours after our scheduled departure of 10:40 pm. This would not have caused a problem except for the fact that the Immigration and Customs Office in san Francisco would be closed upon our arrival until 8:00 am the next morning.
I was able to contact my family by using the internet to let everybody know about my delay. As for accommodations for the evening, the airline said it was working on it and would let us know. Not good timing on our part because many of the available hotel rooms in the city were booked with people taking refuge from the lack of power in their homes caused by the Typhoon. It was close to midnight by the time we boarded a bus and found our way to The Boulevard Mansion Hotel. The “Mansion” was an older hotel which had not yet found its way into the 2000’s, as noted by their use of actual keys for the room and an aerial antenna for the tv , but anyplace with a bed and some air-conditioning was appreciated. No here was a unique feature which you would not have found in the States: a representative from the airlines traveled with us on the bus to make sure we checked into the hotel just fine. In addition, he AND the bus driver stayed the night at the same hotel as us so there would be no delays in the morning. I was impressed with that level of service !
The wakeup call came way to quickly, but I managed to drag myself out of bed and get showered. Of course all of my clean clothes were safely stored in my suitcases (which I checked at the airport the night before). No way was I going to retrieve four pieces of luggage and drag them to my temporary shelter for the night. As it was I had enough in my hands with my carry-on bag, my laptop backpack and several shopping bags of goodies.
We made our way to the airport at 8:30 am and went directly to the Mabuhay lounge. There they had my new boarding pass as well as connecting flight information ready for me as I walked in. Again, terrific service which you wouldn’t have found in the states. Our flight was scheduled to depart Manila at 11:00 am and ultimately took off at noon, bound for San Francisco. This time, instead of being in Business Class I was upgraded to First Class. Nice !!!
Some other notes about the flight …
· Remember all of those boxes which I mentioned that people were bringing into the Philippines upon my arrival ? Well I had a few extra bags myself for the trip home and I was shocked at the price of a $300 fee for two extra bags. Wow, good thing I have an allowance for that expense !
· We hit several pockets of turbulence during the flight, one of which ranks up there with the most violent that I’ve experienced. As a matter of fact, dinner had just been served and I had two nearly full glasses of water and soda that sent their contents sloshing into the air until I grabbed them. Good thing it was just my table cloth which was soaked and not my plate or my clothes.
· During one trip to the bathroom I noticed a bottle of mouthwash so I decided to “freshen up” after a meal. I poured a small amount of the liquid into a cup and them began to gargle. Holy crap ! As soon as I put that stuff in my mouth I felt a burning sensation and felt like my mouth was going to collapse upon itself. I couldn’t spit the mouthwash out quickly enough to prevent myself from gasping for air and even then it took almost a minute before the pain stopped. Ok, note to self: next time the label on mouthwash says “concentrated” it isn’t a marketing ploy to make you think its better at killing germs. No, this stuff was actually concentrated and needed to be diluted with water BEFORE putting the stuff in your mouth. Once again another instance of “Silly American”.
· If I consider the time I left the office to head to the airport (6:00 pm on Friday, Manila time), it was more than 42 hours before I made it home. I arrived home early Sunday morning just past midnight, which if converted to Manila time would be 12:30 pm on Sunday. Yikes !!!
This is the last post for Eric's Big Adventure.
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