Journey into the Unknown
Hello Peeps!
After a rollercoaster few months in Asia I have finally managed to hop across the pond know as the pacific ocean to the promised land, South America and have been here in Colombia for almost three weeks now.
From Philippines to Colombia it took me a mega three days and five flights and also one incident of landing at my destination airport BEFORE I had even taken off.. Hmm confusing yeah, took me a while to work it out as well...
Lying on a beach in the south of Philippines, I fly to the north to Manila first and from there, I book two separate tickets. One gets me to Los Angeles, which I book through EVA airlines, nice and cheep at 500USD. There is a connection in Taipei Taiwan, then onto LA. The other flight takes me from LA to Bogota, via Miami, and this one cost me 410USD. Flying halfway across the globe, I think it is a good deal.
Anyway, the flights were as follows, and this blog is not so much entertainment for you, more like a record for me so BLAAAAAAAHHH....
Boracay ->> Manila with Cebu Pacific, Friday 7th March, 1hr10min 07:30-08:45, 190miles There I was on a beach in the Phils enjoying the sun sea sand. For this first flight, I get up at 5am, hop on a motorbike and head to the island airport. After a boat from Boracay Island onto the main island where the airport is, I hop into another motorbike, thinking the airport is far. The motorbike goes round the corner and drops me off at the little airport, which is right next to the docks, nice. Flight takes off on time and I think everything is gonna work out fine and land in Manila with a hungry stomach and lots of time to spare...
Manila ->> Taipei Taiwan with EVA, 12:45pm Friday 7th March, 4hrs, 720miles Get to Manila with plenty of time to kill, first I go to the Phils equivalent of McDonalds which is called Jollibee - good stuff -, jump on a shuttle bus to take me to the OTHER airport, the international one as I landed in the domestic airport. Everything still going to plan, check in with EVA, average Chinese airline which actually gives some decent food and drinks.
...........
Taipei, Taiwan ->> Los Angeles USA with EVA , 17:00 Friday 7th March, 11 hrs 25min, 7,800miles Land in Taipei on time and still, happy that all is going well. My big bag is going straight to LA so I just hang around the airport using the free internet access which is all over the place, but I forget what time it is and when my name is announced on the speakers I run to the gate to get my ass on the plane.
Ok now comes the technical part. I take the plane at
17:00hours on FRIDAY , the flight takes
11hours . When I land in Mr Bush-s back yard in Los Angeles the US of bloody A, the time is FRIDAY 12
30 in the afternoon!!!?? what the hell is going on.... So I land about 5 hours before I take off, I loose 16 hour of my life. Once I bother to read my guide, I realise US of bloody A is 16 hours behind AND ALSO, I crossed the international date line which runs over the pacific...
The time lost is not a problem, the problem is that I
thought I would be landing in USA on Saturday afternoon, so I booked my onward flights for Saturday night at 20:00, so I spend a day and a half waiting for my flight...
Luckily for me, the place of birth on my passport says elbiSTAN - a "STAN", "where is ELBISSSSTAAAN the immigration officer asks me". I get pulled out of the queue and get a nice long interview by a BIG FAT immigration dude and it takes me 2 hours to get through immigration...
Los Angeles ->> Miami with American Airlines, 20:30pm Saturday 8th March, 5hrs, 2,400Miles Sleep in the airport, I am not interested in seeing LA for some reason, but the airport is so cold from the aircon I freeze my nipples off overnight...
Saturday comes, I get on a plane and adios LA. NOTE; Spending a whole day and a half eating, drinking and living in an airport is expensive.
Miami ->> Bogota, Colombia, with American Airlines 11:00 Sunday 9th March, 3hrs 30min, 1,600miles This is where the journey goes pear shaped. There are delays taking off in LA and I end up landing in MIAMI 45 minutes before my next flight.
Sprinting through a mile of airport halls, I make it to the check in 25 minutes before take off, but check in is closed and I have to pay another 60dollars to get on the next flight.
To cut a long story short I land in BOGOTA after 13,000miles (bearing in mind the earth has a circumference of about 25,000 miles) 3 or 4 dAYS OR whatever safe and sound, but its raining and cold compared to the beach in Asia and me in my shorts and t-shirt, I stand out like a saw thumb...
Seņor El Dude from Colombia, over and out.
Philippines' Flag
Map of Philippines