Plane flights and first day

First things first. The plane flight from Houston to Honolulu. Oh my goodness. I am constantly amazed by the difference in experience in business class vs. coach. First off, the seats are bigger. About 50% bigger. And there are all sorts of buttons. One for your chair to lean back, one for your feet to prop up, one for a foot rest attached to the foot prop, one for lumbar support, and those are just the seat itself. It also comes with a tray in the outermost arm rest (I sat by the window, so mine was closest to the window, my partner’s would have been closest to the aisle). Then, in the other arm rest, there is a Verizon phone. I don’t know if it works, but everyone has an individual phone. Then, there is a pilot light by the headrest, oh, and the headrest slides up and down. There is also the regular light from above that comes with normal airline seats. There is the traditional air nozzle that shoots a jet of cold air right at your face. Business class and first class already paid out the nose for their seats so we get free movie and TV. Get this. The seats are too far apart for it to be in the headrest of the person in front of you, so they are in the middle armrest section and they come out and flip towards you. It rests on a ball axis so one can turn it any which way one likes. Back to the whole too far apart thing, the legroom is incredibly large. In the space it took for two business class rows, one could probably fit 3-4 coach rows.

Because I was an unaccompanied minor, I got to board my plane first. This gave all of the flight attendants a chance to find out my name. They also know that Honolulu is merely a stop as I continue on this 24-hour trek halfway across the world. As a result, they are almost too nice. They constantly ask about my well-being, and one asked if I would like to bring some snacks from this plane flight to the next. When I boarded, as I am in business class, I was greeted by a pillow, a blanket and headphones. Oh, yeah, and business and first get hot towels before meals, we were served lunch, which consisted of salad with balsamic dressing (in case you are wondering, from a little canister), little baby shrimp on a piece of lettuce with bell peppers and I think onions, maybe with a dressing too, I couldn’t tell, a roll with butter, and the entrée, a steak (well done but surprisingly tender) with soft carrot slices, mashed potatoes, roasted broccoli, and gravy. Delicious. And for dessert, an ice cream sundae. We were also served a “snack” which consisted of fruit salad with two grapes, two pieces of pineapple and two pieces of cantaloupe. That also came with a similar salad, and a beef burrito with a Hellmann’s Ancho Chile sauce packet, and a little brownie. And you get whatever drink you want, when you want it.

Back to the onboard entertainment, the little individual screen shows surprisingly recent movies. And if they didn’t come out in the past month or so, they are classics such as Monster’s Inc. or Ghostbusters. Again the pilot light near the headrest allows one to read while disturbing your partner very much (I think). If sleeping counts as entertainment, I got at least a couple hours’ worth. It is much easier when you can go nearly horizontal. I believe that there are four bathrooms for the approximately 50-60 people in both first and business class. I never once had to wait to go to the restroom.

The gentleman, Vaughn, next to me was very helpful. He was a Hawaii native who had traveled to San Antonio to see the Spurs-Heat games. He had made the trip several times and guided me through the general 8-hour flight process.

While we were flying over the states, I was opening my window to see the view outside. I even got off a few pictures. The States are quite pretty as one flies over them. One of my favorite views was a view over Arizona, New Mexico, etc. There is a sort of barren beauty to that area. I snapped a picture of what I think was the Grand Canyon. I’m not sure, there was a large plateau. It was probably not the Grand Canyon. Never mind.

Landing. Those islands were quite pretty. The descent, seeing the breaks in the ocean, flying towards the main island, seeing the coast line approach. Man was that a sight to see. Waiting for me in Honolulu was a large native man. He wore a stereotypical Hawaiian shirt and had a heavy build. He took me and the other unaccompanied girl to Gate 8, the Guam flight.

Guam. The Guam 777 was probably the model year older than the one I took from Houston. There was no differentiation between First and Business class. The seats were a normal distance apart, i.e., slightly more leg room, but nothing to brag about. Instead of individual monitors, there are 3 large screens (one for each row). On this flight there was in fact a screaming child behind me. I guess its karma biting me in the behind for that last flight.

The gentleman next to me this time is much more impressive than the one on the last flight. This one, Rick, is a Navy Special Ops guy. Specifically an EOD, aka the guy that blows stuff up. He is stationed in the Pacific and is going to a meeting in Guam, probably on cool top-secret Navy stuff. When he told me his job, I replied saying that he would be useful if the plane crashed in the middle of the ocean. He promptly replied, no, he would be better suited if someone tried to take over the plane.

In general, the to-Guam flight was an average American domestic flight first class. Nothing to sneeze at, but nicer than average.

Upon approaching Guam, Rick pointed out points of interest to me, including the base that he was stationed at, and his house. What I thought was grassland and shrubbery, he informed me that it was thick triple layer forest. He then told me that there were WWII tanks and planes and guns still in the forest as the majority of Guam was untouched by people. Seeing Guam from my plane window has one of the highlights of this day long flight to Manila.

I arrived in Guam, and it felt humid. Not humid in a bad way, but rather exotic humid. It felt as though I had arrived somewhere. The people are very friendly; as me and the United employee that was escorting me were going to the next gate, another employee congratulated me on my going to Manila. Everyone seemed to know everyone. When I arrived at the gate, I sat down by a man who wasn’t a native, (although he could have been) who was chatting up a native or two about golf and retirement. He then recognized an English woman who lives in both Manila and Guam and asked her how her breadfruit trees were doing. Another thing I noticed was the terminal in Guam was covered in designer shops. I mean, any designer brand you can name, they had it there.

Another interesting thing that I noticed is the progression of planes. From Houston to Honolulu was the nicest plane, then to Guam was an ok plane, and to Manila is a small, kind of local plane. It is totally understandable, but still, a thing to think about.

This may be because they are United employees, but I think that the Guam to Manila attendants were the nicest. One even went to filling out my customs form for the Philippines. All of them were kind and sympathetic. For example, the lady in front of me hardly touched her meal, and the attendant asked her her opinion on the food and she looked genuinely concerned.

I landed in the Manila. There was a nice East Asian looking woman waiting for me to take me through customs and through immigration, etc. Thanks to bureaucracy, however, the Filipino agents wouldn’t let my dad through to the gate even though I am an unaccompanied minor. The Filipinos divided the waiting areas into last initial. Pretty clever, I thought. As our cab drove through Manila to Makati where my dad and Rebecca were staying, it was pointed out that everywhere, people are busy. Tons of construction, lots of minor jobs such as doorman, etc. My dad pointed out, “Even the help had help”.

We arrived at their apartment, pre-furnished, almost hotel-like. Pretty swank, if you ask me. I have to take off my shoes upon arrival, as the flooring is a beautiful hardwood that is easily damaged. The lights are turned on when in the room, and off immediately when you leave, as electricity is around 4 times more expensive here than in the states. My bed is a nice, firm twin bed with only a sheet on it, as the ACs never turn off (which means that it is always hot). I have to take my malarial pills with food, so we go to a local coffee shop and I get a tuna pandasal. Three buns stuck together with a spiced tuna filling. Pretty good for my first meal in the Philippines. We walk back home in light rain and I sleep for about 8 hours.

My dad wakes me up at 7 to get me accustomed to local time. He leaves for work, after my stepmom fries up some eggs and cooks some homemade Spanish chorizo and green onions to go with it. The chorizo is made by a little old Spanish lady and was sold at the market only open on Saturdays. He leaves around 8, and my stepmom and I wait for a little as most of the stores open at 10. I decide that I am hungry after the light breakfast, and so we walk to Mary Grace. A quaint little Filipino La Madeline’s for example. As you can see, the décor is a little loud and excessive. Rebecca had an ensaymada, a sweet, airy bun with powdered cheese on top.  I had a Filipino breakfast which consisted of garlic rice, two fried eggs, darn good bits of beef, green mango salad, pico de gallo without the jalapenos, and a very tart, bright vinegar sauce. I dumped the rice out, mixed it with the beef and eggs and the salsa, and poured a little of the vinegar sauce on. Probably one of the best $10 dollar meals I have ever put in my mouth.

A thing to note. Filipino currency is the peso. There are about 40 pesos to the dollar. Shopping is weird. I see things like shampoo that cost 115 pesos. It doesn’t immediately register that it costs just under $3. I don’t see $115, I just don’t see $3.

We then walked to the Landmark, a catchall store. Half department, half grocery. Their shopping carts have 4 rotatable wheels. 4! Back in the states, there are only 2. As a result, they are harder to handle but easier to maneuver, as now one can go sideways and diagonally and any which way that one seems to want to go. And the floors are slippery as ice, so navigating between aisles and around people is harder than it looks.

The department store doesn’t stop at clothes or designer perfumes. It has practically every household item known to man. Toiletries, pots and pans, clothes, and the list goes on and on and on and on….. The grocery store is like your average Asian market with Western products sprinkled in like Kraft or dry pasta. The fish counter has more fish than you can count on your fingers, with prawns and shrimp and squid and octopus. Then you get to the meat counter. There is an endless amount of cuts of pork and beef and I think chicken at the end. This includes things like kneecaps and trotters.

Then you get to checkout. There is a cashier and a bagger at every lane. The meat is put in a separate bin even though it is already in two bags. Some lanes are cash only and some are cash and charge. We took our goods and headed towards a cab which took us home.

Driving in the Philippines is nothing like in the States. There are no blinkers and there is no looking to see what other people are doing. You just go. Passengers don’t bother wearing seat belts.