Good news: we are back in the beautiful USA, and boy, does it feel good to be home! I've already eaten a ton of turkey sandwiches and taken many much-deserved hot showers (I had actually gotten used to the daily ice showers though). We had quite the trip back home. It started when the Miller's wanted to leave Cebu ridiculously early to get to the airport due to some intense paranoia of missing their flight. So we left for the airport 4 and a half hours before our flight! ...ugh. We enjoyed sitting at the airport for almost 6 hours, because our flight to Manila ended up being pretty delayed--and then we got to listen to people freak out because we had a connecting flight to Hawaii less than 2 hours later. So... we got to Manila with 45 minutes in between flights.....good timing right? WRONG. It turns out for some reason, that the terminal for our next flight was at a separate airport 15 minutes away, AND we had to claim our luggage at the baggage claim and then RECHECK it into the next terminal. Who was the genius who built terminals so far away? It wouldn't be normal if things in the Philippines actually made sense...!!
So..after we got all of our baggage, we ran (and I mean ran...grabbing all the luggage and children we could hold) to find a shuttle. The shuttle that we found let on all of the
local people on first... and then told us we could get on even though we had been waiting there for a good 10 minutes before everyone else. (racist?) The pushiest of us got on the shuttle, leaving 3 from our group behind (thus titled "survival of the fittest"), and I am reluctant to say that I was one of the pushy ones...totally driven by the thought that I had the chance to be in America that day and take my first hot shower in months---and that I wouldn't have that chance if I didn't get on that bus! Of course the driver was slow, even when we explained that we had a flight that took off in a half hour and that we still had to check in luggage. We get to the terminal at 6:30 (Our flight left at 7:00), and everyone shuffled around getting their luggage and children. I am proud to say that Seth and I only brought 1 suitcase together--some girls had 3 or 4 full of stuff! So since I didn't have much to carry, I took off running to find the Hawaiian Airlines counter. When I got there, I got in line behind other people to tell them that 20 more people were on their way. A worker shouts at me, "WE'RE CLOSED. GET OUT OF THERE," when there was clearly no indication that they were closed---I was surprised by this guy's rudeness---but I didn't care and just figured he was an idiot and nothing was going to stop me from getting on this plane. But this lady comes up to me and tells me that they really are closing, and that I need to leave. I tell her the situation, that our flight was delayed, and it was not our fault that we were late. She tells me "Too bad," and that I cannot get on the flight. You know what her excuse was? She said "We cannot check you in because
we have already canceled your meals." What a sorry excuse, lady. I was still the only one from our group there, and I told her very loudly (I was angry at this point) that it was not my fault, and that I was getting on this flight. Seth finally showed up and we continued to argue with her and tell her that 20 people from our group needed to get on this flight. She radioed over her manager after rudely commanding me to move over, and they reluctantly agreed to let us get on after checking our passports, after making rude comments on how late we were. At this point I was ready to punch this lady's face in! ( I really was.)
You'd be surprised how much survival instincts kick in when you're flustered and rushed, I pushed past everyone to be the first one to check in our suitcase. Of course, we are helped by the most unhelpful, unintelligent worker ever. She just stood there for about 5 minutes doing nothing. Then she told me that I had to check in my carry-on, which didn't make sense since it was smaller than most handbags. I was tired of arguing and figured this lazy worker would go faster if I agreed, so I checked it---even though Hawaiian airlines has a history of losing my bag FOUR times....knowing this, I grabbed what I could from my bag and stuffed everything into the pillow that I was carrying. This lady was so slow, that everyone from our group behind us in line had checked in and left by the time we had our boarding passes. Carrying my bulging pillow and a backpack, and Seth carrying his backpack, we took off RUNNING, because we had literally 10 minutes before our plane left. Thank goodness for my running training, because we hauled it through the airport, and I probably knocked a few people down in the process. We pushed through customs, past the slow people in our group, paid the terminal fee, cut in lines, and booked it to the gate. That's where being pushy came in handy. Some guy in security tried to tell me he needed to take away my tweezers, which I had recently stuffed into my pillowcase when the stupid lady made me check my bag. I practically threw it at him. It was actually a funny sight----us carrying all of our stuff and running as fast as we could while knocking over small children and old ladies to get to our plane! Ok, we didn't knock over old ladies....just a few. We made our plane with 2 minutes to spare, sweaty and all! You know that song from Chariots of Fire when they are running the race? I felt like that was our theme song as we crossed the "finish line" onto the plane. The 11 hour ride was super turbulent---and it was our luck that the lady we sat next to was freaking out and screaming the whole time. Oh well--I rather would have dealt with that then spent the night at the airport with the useless and rude people that work there.
Does it get worse?
it DOES believe it or not.
When we get back to the US, we find out that the people that we left to watch our house had done some things that our landlord asked them not to do, and it became a big mess, ending in an EVICTION notice on our door. Lovely. Isn't that the best thing to hear after our trip home? Anyway, after much communication over the past few days with the landlord and owner and a whole bunch of stuff, it was resolved and we are not getting evicted anymore. I just wanted to relay on you what a day it was for us.
Ok, as for the positive things--- it feels so good to be back home, where driving is somewhat orderly and there are things called "lines" behind counters when you want to be helped. I love love love turkey sandwiches and have devoured many since coming back already. I haven't had fruit in months, and love eating apples, oranges, and pineapple every day. I love the hot showers and our comfortable bed again! It feels good to be in our own place and eat food that won't make us sick. This whole trip has made me realize how GRATEFUL I am for the things that I have been blessed with. I also learned how pushy and forceful I can be when my flight back home is on the line, haha. Oh yeah, and we were blessed to have our luggage make it back safely as well. We are so grateful to have gotten back to our awesome home safely---and back to our fatty as well. :)
.JPG)
