I am here. I have had a CRAZY time getting here but I made it. This will be a long post and they won't all be this long but a lot happened.
The day started on Friday 9/7 in Phoenix and right now it is 9/9 or 9/10 depending on how you look at it since it is after midnight on Monday. I lost a whole day. Saturday was bypassed and I got into the Philippines at 6 am on Sunday.
My Godparents gave me a ride to the airport and I had to keep laughing because they kept commenting on how much I packed. I guess I need to learn how to pack light. But 6 weeks and being a girl made me want to have options ha ha. They came with me into the airport to make sure I got off ok. I go through security and no issues.
I sit down to make phone calls and I can't find my phone. I start to go through all of my stuff and even asked someone to call my phone to see if I could hear it..... no sound. So I start to get a bit flustered. I don't know people's phone numbers since I have them all in my phone. My mom is on the road travelling and I couldn't think of anyone else that would have my Godparents cell numbers. So I call my brother collect to see if he had it.. no luck. I keep calling my cell phone thinking that it would be in their car and hope it was so they would hear it ring. I get ahold of my mom but she had bad reception... While talking to her, I hear my name being paged over the intercom for "lost item". I was so happy, I go to get my phone at the gate. The lady tells me my Godparents were outside of security waiting for me so I go out to meet them. I had close to 3 hours to spare so why not... We say our good buys again and off they go.
I get back in line to go through security and can't find my organizer that had my boarding pass, passport and drivers license. It is no where. I start getting a bit frantic and realize that I must have left it at the payphone by the gate. I couldn't go through security... Long story short.... the lady at the ticket counter downstairs went the back way to the terminal and found police officers with my organizer and she brought it to me. I was in tears... I hadn't even left Phoenix yet and all this has happened... grrrr.
I finally get on the plane and now the flight is delayed. We were delayed about 40 minutes so when we were close to Los Angeles, there was a chance we were not going to make our connection. I would have had 30 minutes to get to another terminal and catch my flight to Tokyo. Well that didn't work out and there were about 8 other passengers that were supposed to be on the same flight. The airline crew was nice enough to ask others to stay seated so we could rush off the plane once the door was open. I was thankful for that. Well right before they opened the door the Captain gets on the intercom saying we now need to go to the rebook counter.. So yes, we missed our flight.
There wasn't another flight until 10:30 Friday night and at this point it is noon. So I figured, I wasn't going to leave the airport and chance anymore "issues". Others got a hotel room and re-booked on the same flight. I was walking to the other terminal for the international flights and started to see all of these camera flashes. I couldn't see what all the commotion was about so I kept walking. Well I almost got ran over when they come barreling through the exit door that I happened to be walking past so I stopped and let them go. More camera flashing and I hear Hey Liza.. I then realize that I was looking at Liza Manelli (sp?)
I had to go get my luggage so at least I didn't loose that. I made some calls to let others know I was going to be delayed, but I couldn't call anyone at work because they were already in PI. It turns out that my Mom was already in CA driving to AZ to stay at my house. Now, she lives in NM so it was a fluke that we were both in CA at the same time. It also turns out that she was 30-40 minutes from LAX so she decided to come spend time with me at the airport while I wait. That was nice and it made the waiting time much better. We had dinner and caught up and it was nice. THANKS MOM!!!.
I also found out that the flight had to be delayed because the Manila airport didn't open until 5:30 am and we would have gotten in too early so they delayed the flight until 1:00 am aughhhh.. I was exhausted by this point.. Long day to say the least. I had upgraded my previous flight so I could get more leg room and changed to a low calorie meal so I could try and stay on my diet. We all that went away since I was no longer on Delta. I got changed to Philippine Airlines. The flight was direct though so I wouldn't have to go anywhere and the flight time would be shorter. I saved some time but got in 6 hours later than I would have. I was so tired. I slept maybe 4-5 hours. I looked pathetic but didn't care. I had my neighbor take this pictured because of how bad I looked. I had to laugh and knew you all would get a kick out of it. I was freezing.. 3 blankets and a great scarf that I got as a present before my trip. This was right after I woke up.
So I get to PI and let me tell you that there is no place like I have ever experienced with this type of humidity. It is like a wall I walked off the plane and BAMMMMM instant moisturizer ha ha.
I had no ride because they were expecting me the night before. I was supposed to meet one of the other coworkers in Tokyo since we were on the same flight but that didn't happen. So I got my luggage and got my first stamp in my passport. I was tempted to ask if I could take a picture of them stamping it but didn't want to cause any attention to myself ha ha.
I have to say that EVERYONE is sooo nice here and so helpful. There was a driver from another Hotel and he took it upon himself to help me. He called my hotel, arranged for a driver to come get me and stayed with me to they go there. He was sooo nice. It turns out I was a totally different airport than where I was originally landing.. I had no clue. I was so thankful that he helped. He also refused a tip. That seems to be how they are out here. I insisted anyway though. I would have been lost without him.
They driver crazy over here. Everyone does. Lanes don't matter, what is a turn signal lol.. Thankfully I was warned of this ahead of time otherwise I would have been like????? WTH. I got to the hotel and again, everyone is so nice and helpful. Everyone is calling me Ma'am.. I am not used to that but that seems to be their way. So respectful. Things are so different here but I know that there is so much to experience.
I met some of the ADP'ers for breakfast and then went and crashed for a few hours.I had a hard time falling asleep. I think I was on a adrenaline rush and then just thinking of all the work things to do tomorrow. Luckily some of the girls were going to go to the grocery store and so I tagged along after my nap. I was in a major fog and not quite awake.. We went to the Greenbelt Mall. This place is huge.. I think it is 5/6 malls all connected to make one large one. They had all the upscale stores like Luis Vitton all the way down to really inexpensive items. The money thing is still too new and I have to get used to that...
After we left the mall, we went our separate ways. One of the guys Robert, who I actually know from the Phoenix is having his Bday today/tomorrow so we took him out for dinner. My first meal in the Philippines was Italian ha ha. I thought that was funny.
I go back to hotel and realize that massages out here are CHEAP.. $5-$15 for an hours depending on where you go. My feet were all swollen from the flight still so I took advantage of that. I am now in my room trying to stay up until 5 am so I can get my sleep schedule on track for the upcoming week. I thought I was going to be on the same schedule as the east coast in US, but that seems to have changed. That will be the following week. Seems we will be on a swing shift this week.
So trying to stay awake and figured I would update the blog. Sorry it is so long. I wanted to blog this for me too since I have a terrible memory and will forget a lot of things.
Hope you are all doing well and I will keep writing more updates soon.
xoxox.
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