Around 9:00pm of September 2, Daddy and Achi Mia dropped me off at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1. I hate goodbyes because it makes me cry easily so I just gave them a kiss on the cheek and I hastily lined up at the entrance. The line for the check-in counter was pretty long. I think there were over 50 people ahead of me. I managed to doze off a bit while lining up because I was really so sleepy. I was not able to sleep the night before because I was panic-packing!
After my power nap, it dawned on me that one of my luggage was missing! Omg! I must have left it somewhere so I started to look around the departure area. I found two security guards at a random corner who seemed to be crowding around something...it was my luggage! When I went over to claim my luggage, they told me that my name, which was on the bag tag, has been paged over and over again. I didn't hear my name at all because I was so sleepy. They said that they never dared to touch it because they thought it might be one of those bomb threats! Good thing I was able to remember my missing luggage before checking-in or else my departure would have turned out a big fiasco!
The boarding area at the NAIA Terminal 1 looked horrible! There were too many people and not enough seats. It looked more like a refugee camp rather than a boarding area because some people were already lying down on the floor! It was agonizing to wait for my final boarding. Finally, around 11:45pm, the staff announced that my flight was ready for boarding. I was so excited to sit down (25K, window seat) and get some sleep. Even before the plane took off at 12:20am, I was already in dreamland!
It was my first time to take a Middle Eastern airline and I was very impressed. The seats were comfortable and the leg room was reasonable. Most of the passengers on that flight were Filipinos. In fact, I was seated beside a Filipino seaman.
When I woke up two hours after departure, I found a food tray infront of me. Everyone else had finished eating while I was still fast asleep. I was served with rice, beans with vegetables, beef in spicy sauce, bread with butter and a cupcake. While I was halfway through finishing my meal, I again fell asleep! Thirty minutes later, I was awake again and I continued eating.
Finally, after 8 hours and 25 minutes...we arrived at Dubai International Airport for our six-hour stopover. I was glad that the first leg of the trip was over!
No comments:
Post a Comment