Midnight, EST
Lift off from JFK. Plane was late out of the gate. Rode in a 747 for the first time, sitting directly in the middle of the center row. Seating was cramped, but I slept through most of the flight. When the sun finally appeared and woke me, I saw nothing but cloud cover all the way to Alaska, except for a few Rocky snow caps.
8:30am EST / 4:30am PST
Touchdown in Anchorage, Alaska. First impressions, mountains were close and jagged, very black and large with white snow outlines. The airport was incredibly small compared to JFK. Felt as rural as an international airport can. Plenty of wild salmon for sale in the airport store: smoked, jerked, and steaks to bring home as souvenirs. Jessica made me do laps around the upper observatory deck and I had a bagel with Philadelphia cream cheese for one last taste of home.
10:15am EST / 6:15am PST
Takeoff from Anchorage. Everyone seems much more alert and awake. For the first time in my life I’m a morning person! No wonder Californians are so laid back–getting up early for them is like sleeping in. Breakfast turned out to be a prepackaged corned beef and jack cheese sandwich. Not exactly “breakfast food”. This leg of the flight definitely feels like the longest. After three films, a documentary on coffee and a performance by the Cirque De Soleil, we’re still not there yet. An out-of-control two-year-old decided that yanking my wife’s and another girl’s hair from it’s roots would be a good way to pass the time…
6:15pm EST / 6:15am GMT+8
Landed in Taipai, Taiwan. Far more mountainous than I had imagined. Not the harsh mountains of Alaska, far greener, but certainly more severe than the Adirondacks. The airport smells musty but it’s incredibly clean with highly polished tile floors. Low hung tiled ceiling with long stretches of hallway and an odd array of decorations. We were forced to check our bags again. Managed to get through the check unscathed while the guard armed to the hilt was occupied with the woman ahead of me and her suspect cheese. I couldn’t see any mountains from the airport, just the shadow of tall buildings in the distance. The electronics store boasted products like I’ve not seen before: cameras disguised as clutches and MP3 players that promised a more pleasurable life. (I love Engrish!)
7:25pm EST / 7:25pm GMT+8
The trip from Taiwan to Manilla was decidedly better than the rest. I got a window seat with splendid cloudscapes. I also had a screen built into the seat ahead of me which displayed a video feed from the front and bottom of the place, giving us a pilots view of takeoff and landing. This alone could keep me occupied for hours. There’s even a real time map with a little plane icon that leaves a dotted trail a la Indiana Jones. Alas, this leg of the trip was over before it began (and before I could see who won Iron Chef…)
10:30pm EST / 10:30am GMT+8
Hello, Manilla! This is where things get interesting.
It began when they pulled out one of the teens from customs and wanted to talk with the parents. Even with a letter of permissions, explaining it took far longer than it should’ve. We made it to baggage where we discovered something fishy. Literally. Someone spilled what I will politely call “fish juice” on some of our bags. It was a horrid, repulsive odor that grew fouler by the moment in the 90 degree (Fahrenheit!) heat.
Seeing Ross and Lorna was the bright spot. His infectious enthusiasm brought a smile to everyone’s weary face.
We all piled into taxis and enjoyed a hair raising ride to the Cebu Airport. We discovered immediately that e-tickets are not the same as boarding passes. Standing outside the airport, little did we know that waiting for Tres to get printouts of our tickets was just a sign of things to come. A quick trek through check-in and then we stepped through the doors into what can only be described as a supersized DMV, every seat facing forward, with several ambiguous food places in the back.
8:00am EST / 8:00pm GMT+8
I suppose this airport would have been fine for an hour layover. Grab a donut from Mister Donut and a deli sandwich from the “Dely” in the back. But ours was supposed to be 5 hour layover. I say “supposed” because after our plane was delayed 3 times, it ended up being 9 hours. We were stir crazy. The offered us vouchers for our wait, but the line that mobbed the customer service counter was… how shall I say this? Well, they just really don’t get the idea of a single-file line. Or the concept of if someone’s ahead of you, they go first. Or personal space. Let’s leave it at: I’ve never welcomed a plane ride so much.
11:00am EST / 11:00pm GMT+8
A rough touch down in Bacolod City. We all piled off the airplane and THIS was where the culture shock set it. We got on to a dilapidated bus where we were shuttled to our “baggage area”. The only way I know to describe this area is: cattle auction. We all crowded into a gated area where several Filipino men unloaded our luggage, held it into the air and we called out for it. I felt like I was bidding for my luggage. We met our first gecko here. The armed guards were also a little unsettling for us Americans.
Finally, Ross showed up with the “Victory Coach”, a large truck that sat all fifteen of us and our luggage all fairly comfortably on the back. I’ll be honest, it felt like I was being trucked to a refugee camp. Of course, that’s always the way with culture shock, especially of this scope. The dirt roads, the jungle foliage, the razor wire buildings, the bamboo shacks, all through the lens of midnight in foreign country. It all swirled together to create a surreal experience.
More to come, especially now that the culture shock and jet lag are finally fading…
