clumsy trip

I took my things from the place I stayed for a week around 11 PM. I rang the door bell. About hundred meters away, some teeners were shouting, cursing and swearing. In no time they were chasing someone and running towards me. I nervously called kuya to open up the gate faster. But the more I fervently stomped my feet to open up, the more he became disoriented with the keys. I just closed my eyes and waited. At last, the lock clicked open. Fortunately the teeners were running on the other side of the road. The chase stopped. I was relieved. I took my bags and called a taxi going to the terminal of Victory Lines.

Because my sneakers were wet because of the heavy rain in the afternoon while strolling in some scenic spots of Baguio, I ended up using slippers for my early trip back to Manila. Around 12 midnight, the breeze was already too cold soothing in my skin. I put on one more jacket with hood. At 1:15 am, we were already on our way to Manila. To keep me warm, I slipped in my feet to the sleeves of my other jacket.

Since I left my luggage in my friend’s place, I went to her place to repack my things because I had additional things added. Some of my pasalubong could no longer be inserted in my luggage and it surely would be over 20 kgs so I decided to bring it as one of my hand- carry bags. In haste, I left it in her place. Because she would be coming home, I requested her to bring it with her the next day.

I went to the airport 2 hours before my supposedly flight because I haven’t had a ticket yet. I was not sure whether my online booking was still legitimate because there was no confirmation forwarded to me as should be, like my previous on line booking with PAL. I was ushered by the guard in the PAL ticketing office to the ticket express lane to get a ticket. Going to the terminal, I noticed that my cellophane containing the camera’s accessories handed to me hours ago by my supplier was missing. Fortunately, I transferred the unit to my laptop bag a while ago. I suspected somebody from the airport might have taken it thinking it still contained the camera unit. After checking in I returned to the ticketing office and asked the guard if he noticed a cellophane in my cart. Somebody might have taken it by mistake while I was at the counter. The guard did not notice. Two hours after, my friend called me telling that the guard of their condo gave her the package turned over by the taxi driver.

Inside the airport, my phone’s battery was almost drained. I went to the charging station. To break the boredom while waiting for our boarding schedule I chatted to a man who was also charging his phone. I was confident that our plane was delayed because the flight earlier of ours was delayed because of some technical problem, I did not notice the time. We chatted after I took a nap. I was so sleepy because I was not able to sleep well during my trip back to Manila.

Then he asked me the time. I answered; it’s already 4:30.

“Il go ahead, I might be left behind. We will have our boarding at 4:45. Where is the gate 9?” He asked.

Just go straight. The gates are arranged this way (pointing the left as the starting point and to the other side). Then he left.

4:30?????? I checked my time. It was really 4:30. Did not my flight boarding time was 3:30? Was my plane had left already? I immediately took my charging phone. I was not yet finished packing my charger when the intercom filled the terminal. “We are calling the attention of the following passengers: _-___ . I was called first. That was the first time that I was paged.

I hurriedly boarded. Everybody was all settled inside the plane. The shame was not much because my seat was at the front.

After dinner, my sister and Mandy invited me to have a quick drive around the city before they will send me to the bus stop going back home. Since we were driving near the bus terminal, I suggested them to just drop me at the terminal. Mandy did a wrong turn so we ended up to a farther way going to the terminal. There was a heavy traffic along the boulevard straight to the terminal because of a public activity. As a result, I almost not able to catch up the bus. I was catching up my breath when I was seated after running just to board the bus.

Talking about my pasalubong, I totally lost it when the package was lost or dropped or separated somewhere from the checked- in baggage of my friend, assumingly was not properly sealed.