We have officially arrived!! We are in the Philippines!! Huzzah!! It only took ONE (hallelujah, it was nonstop) 14 hour flight, a 2 hour drive, a 1 hour shuttle ride and one large headache to get us here. Oh and stuff. So. Much. stuff. (See Exhibit A, below)
3 footlockers, 2 large suitcases, 2 carry on suitcases, 3 backpacks, 1 stroller, and (not pictured here) a Pack and play for Logan. One of the big shocks of this trip was how little trouble it was to deal with all that stuff. Once the big stuff was checked, it really wasn’t too bad to navigate the airport with what remained. In part, because we had a good helper. 🙂
So, we got through security, grabbed some foods, and then Jonathan, Clara, and Jonas did laps on the walking sidewalk with Dad, while Logan and I hung out and watched. We wanted the older two to be worn out for the flight.
Our flight left San Francisco on Thursday the 13th at 11:30 pm and we arrived in Manila at 4:30 am on Saturday, April 15th. So, we never experienced Friday. Sad. To have lost a Friday of all days. I wouldn’t mourn the loss of a Wednesday. But I mourn, ever so slightly, the loss of a Friday. Something that does not make me mourn: Business class. **sigh**
I could get used to that! Especially if we don’t have to pay for it :). Jonathan’s company was kind enough to fly all of us business class. I didn’t even know it was possible to be comfortable on an airplane!! Friends, it is more than possible. Juju fell asleep about 30 seconds after takeoff.
Business class was especially lovely because the flight was a little hard on Logan. He only slept for a few hours. And he just fussed because he was tired. He just isn’t used to sleeping in my arms. Poor guy. And poor people around us 😐 At one point, we put both of the older kids in a single seat so that Logan could lay down on his own. That helped for a little while. It also helped when we allowed him to crawl around for a little bit. I think he was pretty tired of being held.
We flew Philippine Airlines. I was amazed at how warm and friendly all the flight attendants were. Seriously. All of them came and introduced themselves to us at the beginning of the flight. One in particular stands out to me: she came up and said something along the lines of: “Hello, we are so happy you are on this flight….My name is Cherry Pie and I will be helping to take care of you… ” I looked at her name-tag, thinking I had misheard her!! Nope. Her name really was Cherry Pie!! Isn’t that amazing!?
As soon as we got off of the flight a lovely airport worker took us under her wing. She grabbed one of our carry on bags and pulled it all the way through the airport. She took us to the VIP customs line. She got carts to put our stuff on. She pushed one of the carts. She arranged a shuttle for us (it was large enough for everyone and everything). I tell you, I could have kissed her by the end. She made it so much easier. Before we knew it, we were in our shuttle wending our way to our apartment. We only had one hiccup, we left the pack and play at the airport. Fortunately I remembered relatively soon after we left the airport, and with promise to pay extra, the driver took us back to get it. The kids slept pretty much the entire drive.
We got to our apartment around 7 am. And we intermittently slept and hung out…. and slept….
