Christian here, typing away from a room at the Nichols Airport Hotel in Manila, Philippines.
We wanted to give a quick update on our status (currently: Alive and well) and the events of our travel so far. It has been eventful in the right ways, and uneventful in the wrong ways…we have had very little trouble so far (the biggest for myself (Christian) being the heartache of leaving the love of my life for a whole two weeks).
Maui, Hawaii
We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare. We were traveling with six boxes filled with children’s clothes and a used sowing machine each. These boxes weren’t too heavy, but they were large and too awkward to be hauled around the airport so we grabbed a porter and had him transport/check the boxes.
We made it through security fairly painlessly, although it was rough and unfriendly as always. I would say I removed and replaced my shoes, belt, laptop (from the bag), cell phone, wallet, etc. no less than seven times throughout yesterday’s twenty-four hour period.
By the time we got to the gate, we had a roughly 20-30 minutes wait, so we set up camp against a wall with outlets and charged our laptops desperately so as to have some juice for the plane ride (our motives were, of course, drastically different. I was searching battery power for some last minute programming, the rest of the laptops would be dedicated to serving up movies and other entertainment.
We boarded the plane, took our seats (window: Scott, middle: Joao, aisle: Christian) and took off.
Honolulu, Hawaii
Our first flight under our belts, the life had not yet drained from our faces. We were confident, and ready for anything as we treaded through the gates and on to baggage claim. We had two hours to make it over to the inter-island terminal, and were opting to walk.
As we picked up our boxes (not yet checked to go all the way through), we became increasingly aware of a serious problem that had arisen. The rains on Maui that had begun as we were boarding had somehow soaked the cardboard of the boxes as they were being loaded on to the plane. They were not completely destroyed (if they had been, all would have been lost), but something had to be done, quick. Joao jumped to action and started to tape the boxes up, this was no good, though, and it became obvious that further action would need to be taken. Joao took initiative once again and journeyed across, the large baggage claim room to ask the nice lost and found official if they had any supplies that could help.
It turns out they did! They supplied us with 6 large plastic bags to wrap the boxes in (these would serve as a way to deflect the rain, as well as backup system to hold in the contents.
We bagged and taped them, loaded them up, and proudly paraded our newly-wrapped packages up to the inter-island terminal, we were on our way once again, problem solved.
Tokyo, Japan
Touching down here was ladened with fatigue, and the prospect of continuing on to another four hour flight after the prior eight-hour hell-ride was somewhat maddening.
Nevertheless, I will admit, I was quite excited to be entering (even for just four hours) the super cool country of Japan. When you live in Hawaii, Japanese culture and food are prevalent EVERYWHERE, and many a schoolchild dreams of visiting this mysterious and culture-rich country.
As we descended the stairs entering into the airport, and waited to board the magnetically driven airport-tram, we were serenaded with traditional Japanese music. This was a very cool thing to hear after living for much too long with badly encoded western pop songs being rammed into our ears from every wall-mounted speaker around.
The shops and resteraunts were amazing. They were so distinctly Japanese, I enjoyed just walking around and looking at EVERYTHING. I bought a hand-roll (or Maki for those of us who make ordering sushi a nearly daily activity) with Tuna and Cucumber, and a ham and cheese sandwich (this lacked in taste, I thought) and leaned against the wall to enjoy (and yes, charge my laptop).
As we went through the security in Tokyo I was stricken by the palpably less-stressful process. The security officers were polite, patient, and didn’t rush you through. Was there a line? Yes…but I think they may have gotten through even faster because they weren’t dealing with the screaming and rudeness one is subjected to at any American airport.
As we boarded the plane to Tokyo, I began to feel the first hit of my body’s reaction to time-change. My eyelids began to droop, and my motor skills were suffering. I noticed a similar pattern with Joao and Scott. I slumped in my seat, and we all prepared myself for another fatigue-inducing flight, and fell asleep.
Manila, Philippines
Here we were, my least favorite place in the Philippines.
But at least we were here.
The eyes of the other parties in our group were staring lifelessly ahead as we trooped over to baggage claim. We still had to pick up those damn boxes and get to the hotel.
The moment we stepped out of the terminal, I was greeted with familiar smells who took me back to years prior. Sights and sounds began to signal my brain to slip into old survival habits and techniques. We made it to the hotel and loaded the boxes into our rooms.
The room was fairly bare (TV, bed, bedside table, and bathroom) and two towels were provided per room for our comfort.
We all went to sleep.
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