At Church today, the priest (who is Filipino) announced that the Apo Hiking Society was in attendance. As expected, they had to stay a long while after mass to have pictures taken by fans. They're going to have a concert here on April 24. I actually kinda like several of their songs.
Info:
APO Hiking Society
Cathay Pacific Flight
So I boarded the plane just in time after my ordeal in NAIA. Being the air travel noob that I am, I thought I could sit just anywhere. It's a good thing a was going over my ticket at the time and I realized that I had a seat number. Fortunately, I was able to transfer to my designated seat before any real embarrassment could occur. I was seated in the aisle so I wouldn't get any good views. No one was seated beside me though so I guess that's good. I was a bit worried as it took some work to get my bag to fit into the side compartments. No problem in the bigger middle compartments though. The cabin crew was a mix of races/cultures. I spotted, as expected, some Chinese/Hong Kong folks. In addition there was a Pinay, probably an Indian and Caucasian. The pilot meanwhile had a distinct British accent. The steward serving my aisle was probably from Hong Kong and English wasn't his first language. I don't consider that a bad thing though as long as I could understand him. For some reason, one thing I was looking forward to was the airline food. Especially the Hong Kong to Vancouver flight which will take around 11 hours. However, I wasn't so into the food here. It was some kind of sandwich with some fruits on the side. Service was decent, the crew was courteous with "your welcome" after every "thank you".
Although I was recovering from my baggage mishap, my mood was going back to depressed as I had some short views of the ground as the plane took off. Good thing I was able to compose myself. I also distracted myself looking at the in-flight displays of our current location, elevation, time remaining, etc. I was able to take some short naps during the 2 hour flight. Not once did I think of using the washroom.
Finally Hong Kong came into view. As the plane landed, I could see that the runway was just beside the Sea. Seemed to be a rough landing though as I remember 2 or 3 thuds. After a few minutes, the plane came to a stop. I let most of the other passengers out before I started getting my bag. I stepped off the plane and realized that for the first time in 20 years, I find myself in another country.
Hong Kong International Airport
So I find myself in what seems to be the immigration area. The airport doesn't seem so busy being that it's Christmas day. I see lots of seats, where some people are even sleeping. I spot a Starbucks and a Watsons which remind me of home. I also see this long hallway that doesn't seem to end. This is one big ass airport.
So I start off just walking around aimlessly. My flight schedule isn't even on the screen yet since it's too early. So I just sit down and waste a few minutes. I see a couple taking pictures. Now I'm hesitant to take pictures because of how things are in the Philippines (Security guards stop you from taking pictures). And my friend Mike's story about how a soldier nearly confiscated his camera in an airport in China. So I ask at the Airport authority desk and they say it's allowed but not in the immigration area. I guess they're pretty lax today. I decided to get some of my money changed to Hong Kong dollars in case I wanted to eat or something.
I finally muster the courage to walk down the long hallway. I also do it because the Air Canada counter wasn't in that area. I hear some people actually take a bus or something to get around the place. I also see these small vehicles zipping about. One also had Santa Clause on it.
Anyway, I found Air Canada's counter. It's closed. So I look around and wonder what I could do to kill time (I have about 6 hours to kill by the way). I see restaurants on the upper levels but have no idea how to get there. I'm checking out all the elevators and escalators but none seem to lead to that place. So I just sit down again and kill more time doing nothing. I probably dozed off a few times.
Oh yeah, I spotted German Pool great "The Kaiser" Ralf Souquet. A little over a month ago, he made it into the finals of the 2006 WPA World Pool Championships (9 ball) that were held in Manila, Philippines. Although he lost in the finals to hometown hero Ronnie Alcano, he won the respect of the Filipino fans who even chanted his name after his emotional post match speech. He was seated with someone, presumably waiting for his flight. I was headed to the washroom at the time, and I thought I'd muster the courage to get his autograph when I come back out. Unfortunately, he was gone when I came back and I never saw him again.
Finally, Air Canada's counter opened. The lady at the counter handed me the boarding pass and I noticed that she also gave the one for Vancouver-Winnipeg. After this, I sit down somewhere else and doze off a few more times. Exciting stuff. It was nice observing people though. This was my first time in an international setting. And it was quite refreshing to hear a few Tagalog words every now and then.
I also decide to call up my wife Meanmean. It was nighttime in Winnipeg and still approaching Christmas. I didn't have a lot of coins so we wouldn't be able to talk long. I update her that I'm in Hong Kong. I also ask her how I can contact her from Vancouver. I won't divulge any more info since I don't feel like putting mush on my blog :)
Finally my 6 hours were nearly up. I decide to go to the boarding area. So I go through the usual inspections. Up the escalator, and... damn. So that's how you get to those restaurants. There's also a bunch of shops. Oh well. Someday I'll come back here and take advantage of all this. Gotta get ready for an 11 hour flight now.
Hong Kong International Airport info:
Official site
from Wikipedia
Hong Kong:
from Wikipedia
Ralf Souquet info:
Official Site
AzBilliards.com bio
from Wikipedia
So I'm hoping something happens that helps pick up my mood so I could get out of big crybaby mode. Well something did happen that would snap me out of it. But my mood didn't pick up either. It just changed...
So as an intro let's go through my itinerary and baggage allowance. So my flights are Cathay to Hong Kong (from Manila), Air Canada to Vancouver, then Air Canada again to Winnipeg. So normally, Cathay would take care of transferring my 2 balikbayan boxes (check-in baggage) to Air Canada in Hong Kong. I would have to get them in Vancouver for Immigration though.
Now here are the weight limits per airline:
note: I've omitted the size limits
Cathay Pacific
Carry-on
1 item, 7kg (not sure if they followed this)
1 personal item (laptop, briefcase, purse, etc), weights vary
Check-in
2 items, 32kg each
Air Canada
Carry-on
1 item, 10kg
1 personal item, 10kg
Check-in
2 items, 23kg each
So I had my carry-on baggage where I took the lower limit. Then as a personal item, I had my laptop bag (with no laptop) to hold important documents. Now, I had a lot of stuff to put in my check-in baggage/balikbayan boxes, and was sure to go over the Air Canada limit. So I decided to call the Air Canada office to find out by how much I can go over. I found out I could go up to 32kg each box, and just pay a certain amount. I also called Cathay to confirm their limits, and it came out as those listed above. So I assumed that I could check-in my baggage at Cathay with no problems since they have the higher 32kg limit, then I could just pay Air Canada since I'll go over with their limit (but I'm still within their over-baggage limit). Wrong, wrong, wrong...
The lady at the check-in counter tells me that I've gone over Air Canada's 23kg limit (even though I'm boarding a Cathay Pacific flight, and their limit is 32kg), and I have to re-pack a 3rd box, and pay $165 for that excess (this is significantly higher than the excess baggage fee I knew about). So I gave her the reasoning I mentioned above, so she said she'd have to confirm with her supervisor. She comes back, and they still maintain that I have to pack a 3rd box. And on top of that, she said that I can't bring my laptop bag as a personal item, since it doesn't contain a laptop! If only I remembered that I could bring a briefcase, I could have reasoned that my laptop bag was lighter and smaller than a briefcase. But I didn't remember that, so there.
So I moved out of line, then thought for quite a while for what I had to do. This guy approached me (are they called porters?), and offered to find me another box. So I said ok, and off he went. I eventually decided that I'll just leave the excess baggage. So I called up Dad and asked him to come back so I can give him the discarded stuff. So the guy returns with 2 boxes, and I frantically pick out items to discard (I'm pretty much in danger of missing my flight here). Heavy items were first on the list. Unfortunately, most of the heavy items are stuff that Mean's relatives want sent to Canada. So that's probably minus points for me with them. Also a victim of this are my beloved Lord of the Rings Extended DVDs. I also had to get rid of some of my carry-on baggage since I had to get rid of my laptop bag. I also had to occasionally peek out the doors to see if Dad had arrived. So eventually, everything was set. I leave the excess with Dad. Give a generous tip (in my opinion) to the "porter". Thankfully, the lady at the counter didn't give me any more problems. To immigration I go.
Upon arriving at immigration, it's long lines everywhere, so I just pick one. I also spot Senator Mar Roxas or "Mr. Palengke" chatting up a kid in his line. So here I am waiting in line, time is ticking away, and I notice that I, the lucky bastard that I am, have picked the slowest line. I didn't transfer lines anymore since I was almost halfway there. There were also a lot of people cutting in, going straight to the window. I think these are people who were sent away, and just came back with some requirements. I also heard the woman at immigration lecturing someone "In the spirit of Christmas, I'm letting you through, but next time...bla bla". So I was getting anxious, computing in my head how long each person in front of me had to spend at the window for me to make it. I think I came to a number around 5 minutes. Thankfully the pace picked up. I got to the window, then to the security check. Shoes, belts, and metal objects off. I'm pretty much frantically putting all of that back on. I probably had less than 5 minutes left when I left the security area. When I arrived at the boarding area, the passengers were already lined up. So there I made it.
Now, it's really my fault for not inquiring with Air Canada and Cathay Pacific again to know if my plans were valid. Perhaps, there were some problems that would occur during the transfer of the baggage which is why they couldn't accept my baggage at that state. But in my opinion, this is something they should be able to accommodate since it really just makes sense. Maybe I should send a link to this blog entry to both airlines. Yeah, I think I'll do that...
Baggage information for both airlines:
Cathay Pacific
Air Canada
Information on Ninoy Aquino International Airport:
from Wikipedia
Information on Mar Roxas:
Official Site
Philippine Senate Bio
from Wikipedia
