The Journey to Chi-town

It was time to leave for the airport and I was still snoozing with my bags still barely packed. I added an extra hour to the usual 3 hour check in requirement for international flights because of that London bombing attempt incident. A few minutes later, I woke up in panic and I was stuffing all the items I think I’ll need into my bag. I got ready in around 15 minutes, zipped Crispin and Basilio close (yes, my two luggages have names) and dumped them into the car.

A day before that our company sent out a memo that there will be no carry-on luggages allowed which means all I could bring with me was my passport and my travel documents in a big brown envelope. That was it. No iPods, no laptops, or other reading materials as they were all checked in.

I still don’t get it. Some time ago some dude placed a bomb in his shoes and now we have to take off our shoes every inspection. Now some dude had a bomb made of gel and liquid and now we can’t bring my Bench Fix hair gel and Gatorade on board? Imagine if that bomber snuck a bomb in his pants… :-/

So I was at the airport late and checked in just in time. I was able to meet up with Lianne but no sign of Gezelle. It was while in the check in line at Northwest when it was announced that we could bring electronics and carry on luggage after all (but still no liquid substances). I quickly stuck my hand into my luggage and grabbed any item I could take with me in my brown envelope. First try, I was able to pull my camera. Yay! I needed that. Next I was able to pull out a can of shaving cream. Hmm… back it went. Third try drew a Digtal Fortress book. Cool! At least now I have more things to entertain myself with.

After checking in, I had to pay the terminal fee. Fee for what? NAIA looks like a mess. The award for the stupidest fee is a toss up between the NAIA terminal fee and the LTO computer fee.

Then came the inspection. I was asked if I had any liquid with me. I wanted to tell her that the human body is made up of approximately 60% water but I know more than to fire jokes at airport security personnel. My inspection lasted for only a minute since I practically brought nothing - it was just a brown envelope in a plastic bag which I grabbed right before I left the house. The poor guy behind me was held up by the security people. He was holding something that was being analyzed and seriously discussed by four inspectors and they were obviously baffled about what to do with what he brought – a block of tofu in a tupperware. Well, in fairness it wasn’t really liquid and it wasn’t gel-like right?

Finally I was at the gates with Lianne who looked like a zombie… just like me. She made fun of the plastic bag I used to carry my envelope with. Well, I didn’t have time to grab the manliest plastic bag I could.

Pogi points = pogi points – 50

zombie

I boarded the plane, set down to my seat and was quickly asleep even before the plane took off. When I woke up we were already at Narita. Wow! That was fast!

At Narita airport, we were finally able to meet up with Gezelle who quickly made fun of my plastic bag as well. I was beginning to think maybe I should have taken the extra minute to look for my camouflage or my black Chicago Bulls plastic bag but noooooo… I had to grab the mint green and baby blue bag with two sissy fishies blowing bubbles.

Lianne and Gezelle’s flight was an hour earlier than mine so I used up the extra time to have lunch first at a nearby McDonald’s. Good thing they accept US dollars. In a heartbeat, I devoured my Beeg Maaku meela and laaaj frinch fraaaays. (you have to read it with a Japanese accent you goober).

I was mostly asleep during the 14 hour trek to Detroit and nothing big really happened. At the US immigration booth, the agent was laughing at me because I was going to Chicago and I was wearing a BoSox shirt. He told me not to get beat up there.

Next came the Detroit luggage carousel as I was looking for Crispin and Basilio. After going around the two carousels I found out that some jerk picked up Basilio and put him on the floor. Hey, if you grab a bag and it ain’t yours, put it back to tee carousel so it can er… uh… carouse its way to its owner (I’m bad at making up words). As for Crispin, it was on the other carousel. More inspections came and I was now even more tempted to fire the “body has 60% water” joke but I had to restrain myself. (No Arn, huwag dito…) After ditching my bags and going through another set of inspections, it was a mad rush to the gate for my connecting flight as I only had 10 minutes to reach the end of the Detroit Airport. I had the strangest feeling of déjà vu since the same thing happened back in Minnesota a few months ago.

Now I was flying FIRST CLASS to Chicago! Wow! All that frequent flying finally paid off. I was sitting in seat 1 – B. I was amazed with all the leg room I had and I was frequently looking back at row 6 behind me (the economy people) while swinging my legs madly. Heheheh (I’m so mean). I had a Pepsi and they gave me a glass of ice… not that dinky plastic cup. They also gave me gourmet mixed nuts which I finished within 20 seconds. They also gave me some pretzels which tasted like sticks with salt… ewww… this was 1st class?!? Oh well…

Wheee... first class...

So there I was back in Chicago. Hello my friend we meet again… I ran to the luggage carousel and quickly retrieved Basilio. Where’s Crispin? I was waiting for more than an hour frantically looking for Crispin until the carousel stopped with still no sign of it. I was frantically running back and forth the carousels looking for Crispin but I still couldn’t find it. I wanted to shout “Crispiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin!” but that would just look too stupid. Besides there were a lot of Filipinos in the crowd who might wonder why Sisa suddenly become so fat. I lined up at the nearby Northwest office and found out that Crispin was still in Detroit and will be arriving in an hour. So there I was sitting at one of the benches - exhausted and drained. An hour later, I was now deciding whether to take a 40 dollar cab ride or a 1.75 dollar train ride. My weary body was begging my brain to go for the cab but the wallet says take the blue line instead. So train train ride it was.

I arrived at the Thompson Center and lugged Crispin and Basilio out to the street for the 4 block journey to my hotel. It was real nice of Tessa to book me in that hotel. What a friend! Just when I was finally starting to feel happy fate just decided to put a halt to that. One of Crispin’s wheel came loose and now won’t turn and now it was like pulling a large sack of rice. 4 blocks later, I was at the hotel exhausted, drained and now sore, when I heard that one sentence that haunted me for a week - “There’s no Arnold here”. I didn’t have a reservation. “but but but my prend kold last wik and booked me to dis pleys.” (nawala na accent ko sa pagod). Turns out Tessa booked me to the wrong hotel more than 10 blocks away.

TV News Reporter: “…police are in Wacker drive here in downtown Chicago investigating on a filed report about a madman threatening a certain ‘Teysa’ while shouting what appears to be profane words in Tagalog near the Club Quarters hotel before fleeing away in a cab. Sources say that he is backed up by two goons named ‘Crispin’ and ‘Basilio’. Police wanted to label him as armed and dangerous but surveillance cameras show us what appears to be a mint green and baby blue plastic bag with two sissy fishies blowing bubbles and eventually declared him as just a big wuss…”