Last Monday morning (Jan. 17) was supposed to be Day 1 of my "Detox Vacation Time". We were supposed to fly out of Manila towards Dumaguete at 7AM. This meant we had to be up by 4AM and be checked-in by 5 AM.
The flight was delayed 30 minutes (I'm guessing because of uncertainty about the weather in the Visayas region, which had been going on for 2-3 days already), but went forward anyway, only to be met with lots of turbulence over Dumaguete. Around 8:30, the pilot announced that we couldn't descend into Dumaguete due to extremely low visibility and that we were being rerouted to Mactan instead. You could just imagine the heavy sigh this got from a full flight.
After 30 minutes or so, most of us expected to already be descending into Mactan, but then the captain announces that due to the bad weather in the area, flights were being cancelled and asked to return to Manila. Who knows this bred depression, anger, and confusion for everyone on that flight? We landed back in Manila a quarter to 9AM, which meant that we had been hovering in the air going nowhere for over 2 hours. It made us dizzy and sick; plane was going up and down and around and around. What a horrible morning.
With 2 kids & a nanny & baggage in tow, we had to move from the Arrivals area in NAIA Terminal 3 back upstairs to the check-in area to rebook our flight. Several passengers were waiting to be rebooked, so it took me about an hour before I finally got to the counter and learned about our options. But while I was waiting in line, I was most worried about Jazz.
His band was one of the performers at the Sinulog last week. He'd been there since Sunday. Our plan was for Jazz to commute by land from Cebu City to Dumaguete, a route that takes commuters to the Li-loan ferry port in Santander (where a lot of my Cebuano relatives live), where a ferry will take you to Dumaguete. Me and the boys were supposed to arrive in our hotel in Dumaguete long befweore Jazz did.
However, because of the mess that happened with our flight, I didn't know yet how things would turn out and how long we needed to wait till we figured out our new plans. So, out of desperation, I texted one of my cousins, Wilfie, and asked if anyone's home at Ginatilan (our hometown, near Santander). He called me and said only his dad was there, everyone else was still in the city because Sinulog had just wrapped up. I asked if Jazz could go to Ginatilan and stay there while waiting for an update from me (I had made Jazz stop at Liloan port for the meantime), so he'd have a safe place where he could rest as he hadn't really slept yet since performing during the Sinulog. All we needed was a place where Jazz could hang out for a while. If worse came to worse, we'd just find an inexpensive place for him somewhere in Santander so he wouldn't be a burden on our relatives.
Wilfie asked if I had contacted Wilson (one of our cousins who lives in Santander and is currently the mayor there) yet. I said no because i felt shy about doing so. Honestly though, I just didn't want to use the "political ties" I had. Wilfie said he'll arrange w/ one of his errand guys to pick up Jazz at the port and bring him to Ginatilan. But, what I didn't know was that, he actually contacted Wilson and told him about our situation. I just found out what Wilson did when Jazz suddenly texted me, saying that Wilson got him booked in the Marine Village Dive Resort in Santander (FYI: Santander's claim to fame is its marine sanctuary, frequented by divers around the world. They have dozens of dive resorts there).
Back at the rebooking counter, I finally learned that we had the option to fly to Cebu via 1 of 4 flights that haven't been cancelled (it made me wonder why they didn't just let us land in Mactan earlier if this was an option in the first place). Because we didn't want to travel from the city to Santander too late at night, we rushed to catch the 12:50PM flight to Cebu out of Manila. By the time we got our seats confirmed and baggage re-checked-in, we had only 30 minutes left to catch the flight (and we still had to go through 3 more checks!). We got to the gate with 15 minutes to spare. Suffice it to say that we were so exhausted with everything that happened that we slept through the entire flight.
We arrived in Mactan around 2:30. I texted Wilfie and Jazz that we finally landed in the right place. Wilfie texted back, saying he'll go pick us up at the airport. I was so shocked and so happy! We were actually ready to keep roughing it till we made it to Santander because, I didn't want to impose on our relatives and have them share in the inconvenience we had then. I was ready to hail a cab, get us to the bus terminal, get on a bus to Santander (which is actually a comfy ride). But once we were in Wilfie's car, he informed us that Wilson had offered to let his driver bring us to Marine Village Dive Resort so that we could just relax on the trip. Oh man, I almost cried with joy!
We arrived in Santander past 9PM. Jazz told me that Wilson's footing the entire bill for our room here, as well as for our meals at the carinderia beside the Liloan ferry port (just a stone's throw away from the resort).
I don't like using the clout one gets from political ties, but in this case, doing so really saved us. I still can't wrap my head around how extraordinarily this day turned out. I am just so overwhelmed and, moreover, so glad that this entire experience happened in Cebu, in my hometown. If it had happened elsewhere, I would really not know the first thing to do.
Never before has Romans 8:28 rang so true for me as it did on this marvelously miracle-filled day: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
The flight was delayed 30 minutes (I'm guessing because of uncertainty about the weather in the Visayas region, which had been going on for 2-3 days already), but went forward anyway, only to be met with lots of turbulence over Dumaguete. Around 8:30, the pilot announced that we couldn't descend into Dumaguete due to extremely low visibility and that we were being rerouted to Mactan instead. You could just imagine the heavy sigh this got from a full flight.
After 30 minutes or so, most of us expected to already be descending into Mactan, but then the captain announces that due to the bad weather in the area, flights were being cancelled and asked to return to Manila. Who knows this bred depression, anger, and confusion for everyone on that flight? We landed back in Manila a quarter to 9AM, which meant that we had been hovering in the air going nowhere for over 2 hours. It made us dizzy and sick; plane was going up and down and around and around. What a horrible morning.
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| Rebook mess: traveler's hell. |
His band was one of the performers at the Sinulog last week. He'd been there since Sunday. Our plan was for Jazz to commute by land from Cebu City to Dumaguete, a route that takes commuters to the Li-loan ferry port in Santander (where a lot of my Cebuano relatives live), where a ferry will take you to Dumaguete. Me and the boys were supposed to arrive in our hotel in Dumaguete long befweore Jazz did.
However, because of the mess that happened with our flight, I didn't know yet how things would turn out and how long we needed to wait till we figured out our new plans. So, out of desperation, I texted one of my cousins, Wilfie, and asked if anyone's home at Ginatilan (our hometown, near Santander). He called me and said only his dad was there, everyone else was still in the city because Sinulog had just wrapped up. I asked if Jazz could go to Ginatilan and stay there while waiting for an update from me (I had made Jazz stop at Liloan port for the meantime), so he'd have a safe place where he could rest as he hadn't really slept yet since performing during the Sinulog. All we needed was a place where Jazz could hang out for a while. If worse came to worse, we'd just find an inexpensive place for him somewhere in Santander so he wouldn't be a burden on our relatives.
Wilfie asked if I had contacted Wilson (one of our cousins who lives in Santander and is currently the mayor there) yet. I said no because i felt shy about doing so. Honestly though, I just didn't want to use the "political ties" I had. Wilfie said he'll arrange w/ one of his errand guys to pick up Jazz at the port and bring him to Ginatilan. But, what I didn't know was that, he actually contacted Wilson and told him about our situation. I just found out what Wilson did when Jazz suddenly texted me, saying that Wilson got him booked in the Marine Village Dive Resort in Santander (FYI: Santander's claim to fame is its marine sanctuary, frequented by divers around the world. They have dozens of dive resorts there).
Back at the rebooking counter, I finally learned that we had the option to fly to Cebu via 1 of 4 flights that haven't been cancelled (it made me wonder why they didn't just let us land in Mactan earlier if this was an option in the first place). Because we didn't want to travel from the city to Santander too late at night, we rushed to catch the 12:50PM flight to Cebu out of Manila. By the time we got our seats confirmed and baggage re-checked-in, we had only 30 minutes left to catch the flight (and we still had to go through 3 more checks!). We got to the gate with 15 minutes to spare. Suffice it to say that we were so exhausted with everything that happened that we slept through the entire flight.
We arrived in Mactan around 2:30. I texted Wilfie and Jazz that we finally landed in the right place. Wilfie texted back, saying he'll go pick us up at the airport. I was so shocked and so happy! We were actually ready to keep roughing it till we made it to Santander because, I didn't want to impose on our relatives and have them share in the inconvenience we had then. I was ready to hail a cab, get us to the bus terminal, get on a bus to Santander (which is actually a comfy ride). But once we were in Wilfie's car, he informed us that Wilson had offered to let his driver bring us to Marine Village Dive Resort so that we could just relax on the trip. Oh man, I almost cried with joy!
We arrived in Santander past 9PM. Jazz told me that Wilson's footing the entire bill for our room here, as well as for our meals at the carinderia beside the Liloan ferry port (just a stone's throw away from the resort).
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| Wilfie's the guy in the green shirt. Unexpected detour to Cebu City gave us the chance to visit some relatives. Something I didn't think I could, but wanted to, do this week :) |
Never before has Romans 8:28 rang so true for me as it did on this marvelously miracle-filled day: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
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