Pre-leaving update


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North America » United States » Oregon » Salem
May 17th 2009
Published: May 17th 2009
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Hello everyone, and thanks for checking in. It is T-3 days until I depart for the Philippines, following a route that has Janelle and I leaving from PDX at 2:23 pm on Tuesday, the 19th. From PDX, and after a 10.5 hour flight, our next stop is Tokyo, Japan. After a 2.5 hour layover at Narita, we begin the 5 hour flight to Manila. I'm hoping to check in from Narita with some great stories and photos.




Currently, I'm taking a break from packing; paying bills that will be due while I'm gone; making copies of my passport, driver's license, and debit card; charging camera batteries; and making sure I have all my technology accounted for.

As I was calling my bank to ensure that my debit card would not be frozen at its first extra-United States use, a funny thing happened. We all know that many call-centers have been outsourced in the recent past. Apparently, my bank's is no exception. Normally, I do pretty well with accents, but this one got me. I pretty much had to guess at the meanings of all his questions.

The call went something like this:

Tank you fo caaing Chase Banking. You card is going out of country?
Yes.
You 524 Wes Waasington?
(hesitantly) Yes?
Okay. Tank you. You las fo debit?
Um......5?5?5?5?
Leving?
....
You leving?
May 19
Ah, okay. An you going?
Uhh, ......
Going? You going?
Oh, the Philippines--through Japan, sorry.
Okay. An you coming?

I was beginning to catch on at this point.

On the 6th of June.
Okay.....Okay, you card not be froze now.
Uh, okay. Thank you very much.
Do you desire any ather ting?
No, thank you. I'm good. Thanks for your help.

It ended up well.

Signing out-- Tyler


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17th May 2009

Dude, in this case, US Bank FTW. Every time I've called their 24/7 customer service, I get a yokal. Na'mean?
17th May 2009

Too funny!
I had something similar happen once, only the guy at the other end of the phone couldn't understand me anymore than I could understand him....so he transferred me back to his "manager" back in the U.S.!
17th May 2009

I have the hardest time when i am booking a plane res. I am not sure where I'll end up going!
18th May 2009

How funny. lol
19th May 2009

I avoid calling at all costs. Second language accents are the worst. I hope you got a good deal on tickets. Kayak "dot" com usually has the best deals.

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