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Published: August 8th 2007
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Qantas Flight 418
Somewhere over the rainbow Early Start and Hectic Transfers We are up on time and ready to go by 6am. The bus is a tad late, but not too much, and the ride to the airport is the stipulated 45 minutes. We are amused by the driver’s chit chat on his radio with other drivers and headquarters. They all say good morning, give each other traffic updates, and say all kinds of other things that I simply can’t understand because of his thick Aussie accent and the static. We are especially entertained at how frustrated he gets at cabs that take too long or don’t make efficient moves at the airport curb. “Don’t hurry yourself, friend!” We get through the business class line and security quickly and hit the Qantas Star lounge where they have a nice breakfast buffet that puts Admirals Club to shame. We eat, read the paper, check internet, and then head to our 9am flight to Sydney. In Sydney, we only have an hour to transfer from domestic to international, get through immigration, spend the last Australian dollars we have, and board our flight. Our money is wasted on soy lattes that they won’t let us take on the flight. No
Qantas Flight 418
Flying over Sydney en route to Manila worries, they were awful anyway. We board on time but not without a bit of stress, then settle in for an eight hour trip north.
Eight Hours to Manila This may be one of the only flights ever on which I have not slept. I must be well rested for the first time in years. Qantas is a great airline, I have always enjoyed flying with them. On my first Qantas flight (which I was excited to take because of Rain Man, where Dustin Hoffman mentions that Qantas is the only airline that had never had a crash up to that time) when I was 17, I recall that they kept us well hydrated with orange juice. I felt like I could drink no more OJ after that flight. On this one, they just keep us well fed and well everything. We have lunch, two snacks, and a pre-landing meal. We can also have as many drinks as we want, and Leroy has some cubalibres while I stick to the 187ml bottles of wine (equivalent to one glass of wine in the U.S., but 2.2 servings according to Aussie labels). When they first gave me one with lunch, we
What you can't play with on the plane
No playing with your gremlin. Gremlin, noun, an imaginary gnomelike creature to whom mechanical problems, especially in aircraft, are attributed. both laughed because it was one of the wines we purchased yesterday (Sticks Shiraz Merlot Petit Verdot 2004), but a different year. Lovely! I nursed all the wine I drank, taking almost two hours for a bottle, because I was swirling it and enjoying each swallow. Maybe one day I’ll develop a palate for wine. The flight was smooth. We watched Stranger Than Fiction on the big screen (no OnDemand, that’s only on the 747), which was okay. Then we watched Sideways in full on Leroy’s laptop; I had only seen the second half up to this point, and Leroy had only really started watching it at the part where he comes back to the motel naked after the night with the married waitress. Then, they played Dreamgirls on the big screen and I finally got to finish the movie, picking up exactly where I left off on the other Qantas flight. Good movie! We then landed into Manila, where we passed through customs easily. After the mad dash for the “nothing to declare” line, where people cut in front of each other and a queue was nowhere to be found, were picked up by my cousin Jamie and my
mom outside.
Family, Food, Wine, and Dogs It is great to see Jamie again, after almost two years. My mom is in full Philippines effect, meaning she has her SIM card and cell phone set up, and she is texting and yammering away about plans. My aunts and uncle (Tita Reena, Tita Jenny, Tito Raffy) and my cousin and godson (Xandra, Terran, and the nanny Sarah) are already on a boat on the way to Boracay. They are taking an overnight ferry which takes longer but is a lot cheaper than a plane. The rest of us (Leroy, me, Jamie, my mom, cousins Sam and Barbara Ann (Baba), my brother Linus, his fiancée Sun, and her best friend, Eunhee, from Korea) are going by plane and do not leave until tomorrow. We brave traffic to Parañaque, a neighborhood where I lived at around age four and where Jamie and his wife Vit live now. She is in her first trimester and has been asked by her doctor not to travel to Boracay with us, since getting to the island involves a plane, a bus, a boat, and a tricycle or jeepney. At Jamie’s lovely new household, we wait a
Qantas Flight 418
There's a land that I've heard of... bit before heading to Alabang Town Center to meet Linus, Sun, and Oliver (Xandra’s husband who can’t come to Boracay because he has to work) for dinner. We go to an ultimate buffet where we can get Japanese and traditional Filipino food. I am too full for a buffet, but I can’t turn down all you can eat sushi. I plate up some salmon and tuna sashimi and sushi and go to town, as does Leroy. We don’t eat as much as we could, but we do enjoy the dinner. A group of singers serenade us with guitars, singing Abba songs because they couldn’t sing Leroy’s request of Bebot by Black Eyes Peas. Oliver gets there after we’ve all eaten because the traffic is just ridiculous. This is a real problem in Manila, and one that just seems to get worse every time I visit. Really, the 405 in L.A. would be preferred to the streets here. Really!
After dinner, we go back to Jamie’s house to hang out before Linus has to go the airport to pick up Sun’s best friend who is flying from Korea to hang out with her in the Philippines. We open a bottle
Qantas Flight 418
Our last look at Oz of wine and chit chat in the living room. My mom falls asleep on the couch, but she still has to go to Oliver’s house and pack her things for Boracay. We are to spend the night at Jamie’s and leave for the airport together in the morning, where we will meet Linus’ party and my cousins Sam and Baba. When they all leave for airport and Oli’s, Leroy and I get to the business of sorting through our things and packing. We all aim to take everything as handcarry luggage, so we’re trying to be minimal in packing for the four day and three night stay. I hit bed before Leroy, who is playing Risk, and only hear the scratching of Jamie’s dog at our door, asking to be let in to cuddle with us. Vit takes the dog in, and I fall back asleep easily.
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