april 16, 2014

i have been looking forward to this day. i've checked my papers over and over again just to make sure that i didn't miss anything. i stayed awake after going home from the office at 1:30 a.m. just to be sure that i won't oversleep and miss my flight at 6:05. 

everything went smoothly. i was at the airport way before my 6 a.m. flight. the plane was on time (which doesn't happen all the time). i was at naia terminal 3 at 7. i had time to have my morning coffee and breakfast. at 8, i was on a cab going to makati and had a little chat about the weather with manong driver. i was at petron mega plaza at 8:30. i went straight up to the 21st floor after convincing manong guard that i have a 9:45 appointment. when i got to the consular office, i was sent down to the ground floor again. (hahaha! feeler lang!) i found my way to the side of the building and fell in line along with the other applicants. 

at 9, the guard asked me to come in the office. my bag was scanned, my cellphone was turned off and my bag was left at the counter. all i had in my hands are the requirements. seconds later, i was called in by a very intimidating officer and asked me questions regarding my application. she gave me a waiver and asked me to wait until she calls on my name. i obliged.

i couldn't help but observe the other applicants at the waiting area. there was a mom and her son occupying the whole bench with all the papers scattered everywhere. the boy was already called on for the interview and her mom rummaged a handful of papers and handed it to the boy. when the visa officer checked his papers, he was told that there were some missing parts and he was asked to wait again. 

there was a very calm old couple. the old lady was wearing pearls and her husband was holding her hands while they were waiting to be interviewed. sweet!

there were two ladies seated next to me. they were speaking in bisaya. and a moment after, they started talking to me. i learned that their applications were already approved and they'll just get their visas.

i was preoccupied observing the other applicants that i didn't notice the time. it was already 10 and my appointment was at 9:45 and i was still waiting at the lounge. i was about to ask the very intimidating front desk officer about it, when she called my name. she motioned me to go to the table of ms.jean, the visa officer, which happened to be very very friendly and bubbly. she eased my system. i thought she was going to ask some very serious questions because when i looked at the other tables with the applicants and the visa officers, they were so SERIOUS. no laughing, not even smiling. but ms. jean was so cool. the only serious question that she asked me was, "why is your email address warrenbeast". i ended up explaining that to her. then we talked about x-men, and we laughed and chatted. she told me that she wanted to send me upstairs but there were still a lot of applicants there, so she'll chat with me for a while. i told her that i have an 11:30 flight back to iloilo. she told me that if she were me, she would call the office and tell them that i'll be absent. so after a while of chatting and checking and stamping my papers, she sent me to the 21st floor. well, she was right, there were a lot of people there. but on my line, there were only 4 adults and 1 toddler ahead of me.

it was already 10:30 and i prayed for everything to go fast so that i'll be able to catch my flight. i was accommodated at 10:45. they took my biometrics. after that, they told me that they will inform me of the result in 3-5 days. i thanked the officer, waived goodbye to the guards and ran to the elevator. when i got to the ground floor, i retrieved my id from the guard and ran outside and hailed a cab.

it was 10:55. i was on the taxi and told manong driver that i have an 11:30 flight to catch. he tsked, tsked, tsked, and told me that it's impossible to get to the airport at that time. i pleaded to him and he said, okay, just add 100 to the total meter and i'll fly you to the airport. deal! well, manong wasn't joking when he told me that he'd fly me to the airport because as soon as the traffic light turned green, he hit the gas pedal and we sped through the other cars. we were at the skyway by 11:05 and manong driver said, you'll gonna make it. i believed him. but we were stuck at the roundabout to the airport and i was like fidgeting already but i didn't make it so obvious because manong driver was already stressed, too. but we got through that and he sped up again to terminal 3. i ran as fast as i could when i got out of the cab. i pleaded to the other passengers at the entrance to let me go ahead because i had a flight to catch. ah...they were angels! after going through the scanner, i ran to the next scanner and looked for my gate. gosh! it was downstairs! i took the escalator and looked for my gate. i asked one of the attendants and he told me that my gate was at the farthest end. i ran again, excusing myself from the other passengers who were waiting for their flights. when i got to gate 133, the attendant told me that the plane was already closed. i insisted that it's not yet 11:30. she said, it's already 11:22 and the plane's door was closed at 11:15. i literally pleaded for her to let me get on the plane, was kneeling on the floor, clutching her arms and i went with her wherever she went, still asking her to let me on the plane. but she just shrugged and told me to buy another ticket. when she said that, i almost cried in front of her, because i didn't have anymore money to buy a new ticket and i could only imagine the rocketing price of tickets at that peak season! 

i was still pleading to the attendant when two men came and asked about the flight to iloilo. they also missed it. the attendant told them the same thing, the plane was already closed. they said that their luggage were already there, if she could just radio the crew on the plane and inform them, for sure, they would open the doors for them. but the attendant was firm. the two men then asked her why didn't they page the passengers who weren't on board yet. the attendant said they did. a couple of minutes later, a group of six people came to the desk as well and asked about the flight that they didn't know they missed. they were just waiting there at the departure area since 6 am. they complained that they didn't hear any paging if the airline really did so. and how was it possible that none of them in the group heard about the paging?! the attendant just said she's sorry and she's just following the policy. at that time, i was already very annoyed and i walked out. i climbed the steep stairs up to the 1st floor and called the office that i will be absent. i felt so helpless because i didn't know where to get the money to buy another ticket. i sat along the hallway and cried. after a while, i stood up and walked around the airport to clear my head. then the group of passengers whom i encountered earlier at gate 133 called me and said they were looking for me and that we will complain at the airline's desk. we went out of the departure area and went to cebu pacific's customer support desk. we laid down our case and the agent told us that she will relay our situation to her manager. we sat on the floor and waited for almost an hour. when the agent finally came back and gave out our new tickets, i felt so relieved. i thank the other 6 passengers and i was like a part of their group when we came back to the departure area. this time, we waited in front of the gate and promised not to miss our flight. 

i dozed off as we waited for flight 5j 447 to iloilo. it was just a nap but i felt so disoriented when i woke up. i looked at my ticket...boarding time, 13:55. i looked at my phone, 14:31. i panicked! i went straight to the monitor and checked. flight 5j 447 to iloilo, check-in closed. i was so disoriented and resigned. i went to the exit and told the guard that i missed my flight. he let me out and i walked along the airport's hallway. when i stopped by the monitor again, flight 5j 447 to iloilo, boarding. i felt even more confused. i thought, maybe the plane was late. i ran back to the departure area. i ran to the exit. the guard tried to stop me but when i told him that the plane was late and i had to catch it, he let me go and cheered me to run faster. which i did. i went to gate 118 but they said my flight was transferred to another gate, so i ran to 117. i scanned to passengers and looked for the 6 people who helped me but i couldn't find them. i asked the man in front of me if it was flight 5j 447 to iloilo. i almost hugged him when he said yes. 

when i was finally seated on the plane, i felt so tired and there was a throbbing pain on my head. i tried to sleep but couldn't. it was a good thing that i was seated on the window side. i just enjoyed the view outside. 

when i got home that evening, i collapsed on my bed and everything went blank. i woke up 14 hours after wearing the same dress. and i stunk! 

i thank my angels for helping me get through april 16. 

and i've had enough of airport bloopers. so if i have an airport curse or whatsoever, i want it to end now.