Blogging in Honolulu

That should sound sweet. Ho-no-lu-lu. But it doesn’t. Too bad. I’m here for the required “technical stop” for almost one hour. One hour!

They should just have allowed us to sleep. Or perhaps, outside the aircraft to smell the fresh air that Hawaii has to offer. But no, due to heightened security, no one was allowed to leave the plane. No one was allowed to leave our seats as well. Hah!

It has been a very stressful night.

It was agreed upon that we would meet at the airport at 6:30 pm. I was there with my friend J at 6:20. I was advised to wait, so wait I did. And wait, wait, wait.

Finally, about 7:15, I was told to have my baggage x-rayed. So I went to the X-ray are and had my baggage x-rayed. An airport employee then escorted me back to the airline counters. By now, I am no longer supposed to touch any of my checked-in baggage. I have 3. My usual 2 Samsonites and a small traveller’s bag containing chocolates (tons of Ferrero) from the office, chocolates for the Manila people from my former roomie M, P’s stuff for his dad and some other stuff.

By 7:30, my boss and his friends arrived. They went straight to the First Class/Business Class checking in. By now, I have let more than 10 people in my line to go ahead of me because I was waiting for them. My boss then motioned for me to join them in their queue.

Bottomline: I have problems with my tickets (as I figured the moment I got them). On departure and arrival, both said “OPEN”. I didn’t mind about my Manila departure being open, but my flight tonight should assure me that I am in. But it said, it was open.

It turns out that the flight is complete full. No, erase that. Over-sold. Which means that there will be a waiting list. And obviously, I was going to be in that list. The problem with waiting lists is the fact that they can kick you whenever they want to, whenever someone with a higher stature (i.e. Mabuhay Miles Elite or Mabuhay Miles Premiere Elite) wants to get in the flight.

I was not really keeping my hopes up. It didn’t help that between me and my boss, we had a total of 10 pieces of checked in luggage, 3 for me and 7 for him. In fairness, his 7 included 2 artist’s portfolio. But then again, that was five.

So we decided to just leave the chocolates behind since it would be costly for us to pay for excess baggage.

That was probably the longest stay I have had in front of an airport counter. No kidding. It was excruciatingly stressful. In the meantime, the plane has started boarding passengers. Okay, so I won’t make it. Big deal! Yeah, big deal. I’ve got almost everything planned already. Hate it when that doesn’t happen. Sure, I can be left oif from this flight but for sure, I’d be in tomorrow’s flight. How’s that for peace of mind?

“What? What do you mean I am not confirmed in tomorrow’s flight if I get bumped off tonight? What the flying f*ck?”

Expletives not actually said. I was just so frustrated.

It turns out that the problem lies on my ticket. My freaking tickets. Which arrived in my office at 3:00 pm. Less than six hours before my flight! The type of ticket that was given me was not “allowed” to be confirmed in events such as this. It’s like the bottom feeder tickets. Damn.

How pathetic was that!

Anyway, thank God for my angels. My name was called. My friend J was still there. I left him the bag of chocolates, I hope he doesn’t eat em all. Hahaha. Kidding! Thanks for staying with me.

So off to boarding.

There were only less than ten people in the line when I reached my gate. Tough luck, everyone was in the plane already. In the middle of the tube, there was this mean-looking rude guy (there’s a reason I am tagging him as the mean-looking rude guy). He had a weighing scale (uh oh) and he was asking a couple to leave more than half of their hand-carried baggage since they were over weight. I pitied the couple so I must have stared a little longer. The mean-looking rude guy then singled me out.

“Hey you!”

He was calling me. He ordered me to put my carry on luggage on top of the sacle. It recorded 26.5. By now, I was already furious, yet fearful. Furious because he let hundreds go before me (they were all still in the tube) and I know for a fact that these people did not have just 20 lbs in their hand-carried bags. Fearful because he might ask me to weigh my messenger bag.

Gathering all my wits, I told him that I had nothing there but this laptop. I showed him the laptop case. Thank God he did not see the rest of my bag’s contents. It was 18.5 when the guy at the economy queue asked me to weigh it.

So he relented. He said. “Over yung handcarry niyo sir Next time, bawasan niyo ng 6.5 pounds.” Okay, mental note.

I said, “Okay po” and he let me go. My problem was over. The couple’s problem was still there. I pity the person who would be nosy enough to stare at them on his way to the tube.

So I finally went to my seat. 34G. Aisle seat.

I attempted to put my luggage on the overhead bin when I realized that my contact lens stuff was at the back pocket of the bag. I brought the luggage down, and on its way to my chair came a loud thud.

“Aray, array, araaaaaay!” a middle-aged woman screamed. The corner of my 26.5 lb bag hit her head. I had no idea what I was gonna do. I apologized profusely. Others came to her rescue, asking her what happened. She pointed at me.

I felt as if I had raped her and the people within a few rows had dagger looks directed at me. Just my luck. I wanted to disappear!

I settled on my seat. I realize later she was seated behind me. 35H. I could feel her stares slicking my back. Stop it!

Then she asked for the flight attendant. She wanted ice. This was not good. She told the FA what happened and now her head, or at least part of her had was starting to swell. My goodness. When will this end?

Anyway, I decided to sleep but I couldn’t. I decided to watch what was being screened. It was ‘The Island’ starring Scarlet Johanson and Ewan McGregor. I’ve never seen the movie before so it was a pleasant surprise watching it. Some futuristic look gave me an idea what Los Angeles would be like in the next century. Not that I’d still be here. Oh well, I’m going nowhere.

That was the past five and a half hours in capsule.

And I am reporting live from Honolulu!