From 61/44 to 34/28…
At last, after more than a year of not blogging, I have another reason to write. I don’t know how I can make this a hilarious entry but I’ll try for the sake of my old time fans (hehehe…meron ba?).
If you are wondering about the title, these were the current highs and lows (degrees F) at College Station, TX and Iselin, NJ, respectively on my first day here at New Jersey. Grabe, it was really a very tiresome 1,635 mi (about 1 day and 1 hr land trip) trip from TX to NJ. Please bear with me as I share another memorable experience I had yesterday (Feb 21st, 2008). It started on the night before my flight when I had my "last supper" with some friends at College Station. Well, nothing very notable happened here I just want to have a starting point or you could consider the nilagang baka with pork and Ramiele Malubay being regarded as one of the best singers in the AI7 according to Simon. Lakers won by the way against Phoenix with Shaq to blame, hmmm... Anyway, because I don’t want to be left out by the plane for the n-th time, I decided to take a bath before I went to sleep. I woke up at 5:00 in the morning, made some final "inspections," ate a light breakfast and went to the airport to check-in around 7AM (my flight is at 8AM!). I have two 50-lb luggage, a backpack and a body-bag large enough to contain my laptop. I checked-in my luggage and the attendant handed me my 4 boarding passes (one for CLL, one for IAH, one for ATL, and one for EWR). I immediately went to the inspection/boarding area thinking I was already late. With my laptop taken out of the bag and my shoes and belt off, the inspection officer told me that they were not accommodating any passenger from my flight yet. Huh? What the pack? My packs were all laid out. I said, OK, I can’t do anything about that. So I took all my carry-ons and started packing myself again 
I sat in the waiting area and placed my laptop on my lap (of course). Then suddenly, I heard an attendant calling for "ishkmal prenayempayti" and she was looking at me? She repeated the name, looked in my direction and cried "are you ishkmal?" I don’t know what to do then an Indian girl stood right behind me and approached the counter. I told myself, what a relief. Then another announcement came in telling that all passengers from flight 1952 (my flight) to come forward because the flight has been CANCELED! A lot of people went into the counter immediately and I also stood up immediately. Guess what? My laptop fell on the tiled floor immediately (of course). When I reached the counter, they told me that there is still one available seat in the "ground shuttle" going to Houston and I might still be able to catch up with my flight there. I called the shuttle service but to no avail. I went into the counter again and they told me to wait and they’ll try to book me into another flight. "Click, click…let me see…hmmm…click, click, hmmm…Sir, what I can do is I can put you into the 11:15am flight going to IAH and from there you will, click, click…hmmm…you will transfer in a flight going straight to NJ." Then I said, "DO IT!" (just kidding), "sure, that’s GREAT!" Oh, thank goodness.
I can’t make the long story short because I waited in the airport for 4 long hours doing nothing only to discover that the wi-fi is free on the last hour! At last we reached IAH (terminal A) at 12:30pm but my next flight going to NJ is at 1pm (boarding is 12:15) in terminal E. The bus took us in each terminal, A first then B then C,D and E. I literally sprinted inside the airport to reach terminal E-17 which is located at the very end (it’s weird ‘coz E-25 even came first). Luckily, I reached E-17 at 1:05pm and was able to get in the plane because the flight was also delayed. But I think delay really loves me because inside the plane we still waited for almost an hour before we took off due to some delays. At last, we finally took off passed 2pm and I was so hungry. Fortunately, they served real food during the flight (cheese burger and salad). They even have a movie feature presentation "Dan in Real Life" starring one of my favorite comedian Steve Carell. It is a good movie, watch it Anyways, we arrived at Newark, NJ around 6:00pm. I immediately went to the baggage claim area to claim my baggage (of course). I waited and waited but my baggage never showed up. I waited until 7:30pm but I didn’t find my bags. I went in to the baggage claim office to report my missing bags but they told me to go back to the carousel because the bags from Houston were still coming out. So I went back and waited. I waited until the last bags from the 2nd flight from Houston came out. I still didn’t find my bags and it was almost 9pm. I just filed a report that my bags were missing then I called the shuttle that I reserved to pick me up at the airport. It wasn’t that cold outside at that time but the driver told me that there will be a lot of snow on the following day. I paid $60 (including gratuity) for the trip that only took 25 mins carrying nothing. When I reached the guest house/apartment where I suppose to stay, it was already 9:30pm and luckily there was still someone awake. When I went inside there was nothing, no chairs or tables. And the guy showed me a room were I can sleep for the night, which of course have nothing and I also have nothing with me because my baggage were missing. I was so hungry during that time but the guy told me that I can get any food inside the ref and this time it has something. Guess what? Because the guys living the apartment were mostly Indians, the food are only Indian foods (of course). No meat nor chicken nor hot-dogs nor bacon. All Indian, all vegetarian! So, I fried their eggs instead, not Indian eggs (of course). After my not-so-satisfying meal, I prepared my invisible bed. I vacuumed the carpet (surprisingly there’s a vacuum) and lay there using my coat as my blanket. Fortunately, I have with me my tiny Batman pillow and my small (still wet) towel that I used to aide in my sleep. I didn’t sleep well (of course), it was very cold. Freezing cold! At around 9:00 in the morning the following day, my phone rang. It was my baggage at last. I went immediately outside to see that the place was covered all over with snow. It was very beautiful for someone who only witnessed it for the first time. I was mesmerized. Come on, Texas = no snow. When I came back to my senses, the driver was still looking for the apartment. Well, our apartment is actually located behind the apartments facing the road so it was difficult to spot. So, I went to the front to claim my bags. The driver just unloaded my bags and left me behind. I realized that it was so hard to walk in the snow (around 1.5 feet deep) carrying two 50-lb luggage. Right now, I’m confused if I’m still going to love snow anymore. On the other hand, our training was postponed for a week because of the bad weather. I thank you…bow!
- Ka Puroy
