YOKOSO JAPAN!

WELCOME TO JAPAN!

     I saw a familiar face as soon as we reached the end of the jet bridge. Ms. Mari was there with her usual warm smile. She escorted us to the immigration. Haneda airport is really, really, really nice!  After I handed my passport to the immigration officer, I was asked to have my fingers scanned and a photo of me was taken too. We then went to the baggage carousel claim our checked in bags where Ms. Mari was also waiting.  While waiting, 2 representative of Cathay Pacific met us and apologized for the delay.  They then gave us 3000 Japanese Yen for our transportation. 

     At the customs clearance, I was asked to open 1 of my bags. I was able to complete my customs clearance by 9:08pm. We met Ms. Mari with Ms. Hanako  afterwards. We had to rush to the train station as Ms. Mari wanted us to be able to take the 9:20pm train. Running down the escalator with 2 pieces of luggage and resisting the urge to marvel at the beautiful airport, we were the last people to board the train.

     Ms. Mari explained the reason why we had to rush to the train.  It turned out that with this trip, we will be able to reach the Narita train station at 11:08pm. If we will be quick enough, we can still take the hotel shuttle from the train station that will leave at 11:15pm. Ms. Mari was so organized that she even had everything printed and explained to Sir Eric.  Should we be able to take the free shuttle to the airport, we can keep the 3000Y! She wondered how we were able to get Cathay Pacific to transfer us since it turned out that our original ticket with NH was not transferrable.  She was impressed by the fact that we were able to get ourselves transferred and get transportation allowance as well. She lauded my negotiations skills...what more if she learned that I was able to get complimentary call cards as well.

    Ms. Mari and Ms. Hanako left the train after a few stations; she then reminded us that we should be arriving at the Narita train station by 11:08. It was only 9:45pm. We still had a very long way to go.  After the initial thrill of being in a Japanese train and looking at the famous Japanese fashion, fatigue and boredom was starting to set in.  At every station, I keep looking out and wondering if we had missed our stop already.  But I remember Ms. Mari specifically saying that we should be at the station at 11:08.  At 11:06pm, we had passed by multiple stations and I was a bit worried if we really did miss our stop. Sir Eric asked his seatmate and was told that our stop will be the next stop.

     We really did reach the station at 11:08. Talk about Japanese time! It was very cold.  We had imagined having enough time to get winter clothes from our bags when we reach the airport. But we have always been rushing; we did not have the chance to do so. We were told to exit through the South exit. We did as we were told. Sir Jovy had a little problem as when he was about to pass by the control gate, the box of dried mango he was carrying for souvenirs fell back and when he returned to pick it up, the control gate has already closed.  He had to talk to the guards and he was allowed to leave through another exit. 

     We saw two Japanese girls and asked for instructions.  They were kind enough to accompany us to the bus station. The bus station was 5 floors down. So there we were, not properly clothed for the weather, tired from the trip, bringing at least 20 kilograms of bag and walking down flight after flight of stairs! We were too late for the shuttle.  The two Japanese girls even called our hotel and helped us to get a cab. Our 15 minute cab ride cost us 2000Y...that’s around 900 pesos!

     We checked in, assigned a room each and proceeded to our rooms immediately.  My room turned out bigger than I expected. There was even a bathtub in my bathroom. Cold and tired, I needed to defrost, so a hot water bath will be a sure treat. After soaking in the warm bath, I was ready to retire.  I decided to just fix my stuff the next day.  For the time being, all I wanted was to crawl under the duvet.

ask and it shall be given

     Time to refresh my cantolish. 14 months in Macau made me quite an expert in Cantolish-English spoken the Cantonese way, fairly simple…just construct your English sentences in the simplest form possible and alternately punctuate your sentences with “la” and “wor”. Now here in Hong Kong, to hear and to be able to speak it again after 3 years of not doing so is quite a treat, if only I didn’t have to worry about bringing my ass to Japan before the day ends.

     The girl who met us upon our arrival assisted us to the transfer desk. She explained that since we missed our flight to Haneda, she will be having us transferred to another flight that would depart roughly 1 hour and 40 minutes later than our original flight. We asked if we could be transferred to a flight to Narita since this is our ultimate destination, we were told that the next flight to Narita will depart a little before midnight and will reach Narita at around 5:00am the next day. Not a good option because our class will start at 9:00am.

     This trip was sponsored by our client airline in Japan, thus they have the right to know about our whereabouts.   So while waiting for our turn to be checked in on our next flight,  we told the nice lady from Cathay Pacific  that we need to make a phone call to Japan.  Unfortunately, I failed to activate my mobile phone’s roaming, under the assumption that it will be automatically activated. After we were given our new boarding passes, we were each given complimentary prepaid phone cards.  Each card was good for a 10-minute international phone call. We were told that we needed to proceed to the boarding gate area where we could find phone booths. 

     Sir Eric immediately tried to call Japan using the phone booths; he was not successful and had thought the complimentary call card was no good so he went to the information counter to ask for help. After he vacated the phone booth, I tried using my call card and called home.  I was able to talk to my mom and told her not to worry.  After my short call to my mom, I followed Sir Eric to the information desk.  He was not able to talk to our contact person in Haneda, Ms. Mari. Instead he spoke with a colleague of Ms. Mari and was told that if we are to arrive at 9:00pm, there will no longer be a shuttle bus available to transport us to Narita.  We were told to advise the agents at the boarding gate about this. We did as we were told and explained that we needed assistance for our transportation to Narita.  The boarding gate agents committed that their staff in Haneda will take care of us.

    In cases where in a disruption in the flight was caused by the airline, it is ok to ask for the things you need.  But please be reasonable when asking for something:

• ·         You can ask to be transferred to another flight if the airline caused the misconnection, but please don’t ask to be accommodated in business class! You paid for an economy class seat after all. They did not mean to delay your flight.

• ·         You can ask to inform your meeting party that you will be delayed. Some airlines will ask you to write down the message and contact details of your meeting party, and then they will contact them for you.  Other will just let you use a company provided mobile phone. Should this be the case, please be considerate enough to just call the person who needs to know about your situation. Call your meeting party and inform about the delay. Don’t call your boyfriend and ask if he has eaten, or call home to ask if your poodle has been brought for a walk by your sister.

• ·         Some cities don’t have 24-hour transport services, in cases like this, the airline would arrange for your transportation. Please don’t demand for a limousine service. All you need is to get to your final destination; you need not get there in style at the expense of the airline.

     We boarded the flight and were seated away from each other. We were all given aisle seats. Luckily there was no one assigned to the seat next to me.  The next aisle seat was assigned to Japanese.  I was too tired to try to exchange pleasantries.  And at the back of my mind, I was already thinking of asking the flight attendant as to what time they will serve the meals. I was feeling a little cold, maybe due to the fact that I am hungry, so I asked for a blanket.  The aircraft did not have the video on demand kind of entertainment system. What they had was movies played on several channels and once it has already started, you cannot rewind it.  I was able to watch half of an Ashton Kutcher film entitled Killers and half of Despicable Me. 

     Come meal service time, I was asked to choose between a chicken dish and a pork dish.  I chose the mildly spicy ground pork dish.  Butter and bread was available so I ate it first. Cold soba was also served. I noticed wasabi on top of the ramen and a packet of soba sauce.  I immediately removed the wasabi before I placed the soba sauce.  Ate the soba before eating my rice meal.  I think I consumed 4 glasses of orange juice and went to the washroom thrice.

     I was able to sleep for a little while before the announcement was made that our flight was arriving 15 minutes earlier than schedule and that we are already in the final descend.

    Finally! I will be in the Land Of The Rising Sun on my next post!

Ready for take-off

     Now onboard CX905 to Hong Kong, I was assigned a seat by the window; 51K on a 777.  Being an advocate of the 64oz or more daily liquid intake movement, I would have wanted to occupy an aisle seat.  But I kept my seat because 1st, I  know I won’t be needing to pee since I have yet to gulp a decent amount of liquid. ( I learned that the body self regulates, thus when I don’t drink anything, my body holds on to every bit of liquid it currently stores and the onset of bloatedness –if there is such a word, unfolds). 2^nd, I want to sleep, because much of my previous night’s slumbertime was spent to finalize my packing. And 3^rd, it is just a short flight, a full meal service is not to be expected on a flight like this. So it goes without saying that I will not see a lot of flight attendants graciously balancing and offering drinks.

     Me, Sir Eric and Sir Jovy was originally seated together.  But Sir Jovy found an empty aisle seat nearby, so he transferred, leaving an empty seat between me and Sir Eric. As soon as the aircraft was airborne, I noticed on my monitor that we were expected to arrive in Hong Kong at 1410h, too tight for our 1435h connecting flight to Haneda. So I asked Sir Eric to inform the flight attendant of our situation and requested for us to be re-seated before landing to seats near the front so we can dash to the next boarding gate.

     I said I wanted to sleep but I changed my mind and focused my attention on the inflight entertainment system.  Watching a movie was not an option, the flight’s duration was too short to finish a full-length movie. Being the CSI fan that I am, I decided to just watch 2 episodes.

     Midway into the flight, the crew offered me a cheesy toast and a glass of orange juice; which I finished immediately. It was already past my lunchtime and I only ate a banana before I left home so I was definitely calorie deprived. I also took a cup of coffee.

     Before the final descend, as requested, a male flight attendant escorted us to seats roughly 20 seats forward.  I had high hopes that we could still make it to our connection flight.  I had imagined me, in my 3-inch stiletto-heeled boots, running like crazy with my trolley bag in tow.

     I felt the cold breeze of Hong Kong as we brisk-walked through the jetbridge.  As we reached the end of the bridge, my dream of rushing to the next gate crumbled for there was a girl holding a piece of paper with our names on it.  There were a few details listed, but although not written, I think my brain knew that all the scribbles meant only one thing… MISCONNECTION.

     Forced to stay in Hong Kong longer than expected, I should be pissed in a major way.  But I decided to take things calmly.  I am just halfway through with day 1, I still have 12 more hours to chronicle.

     Want to have an idea on how pushy I can be to get the things I want? I will dedicate a whole post on that!

The airport dwellers should know better

     I have thought that I will be a failure at my mission to travel somewhere at least once a year for 2010. Luckily, I was chosen to be sent to Japan for a week. Free airfare, free hotel accomodation plus allowance, and all I needed to do was be smart enough to absorb the stuff that will be taught and cascade the information to my staff in Manila. Japan, in December...WINTER! I enjoy winter fashion, first because it's something I don't get to experience often, and second, I can hide all my flabby-fatty self under thick winter clothes! 

     My itinerary - Manila - Hongkong-Haneda ( since the training will be held in Narita, I was to take a shuttle to get to Narita) Manila Hongkong was booked on the 11:05am flight of Cathay Pacific. I was in the airport, which also happens to be where my office is as early as 8:00am. Was I that excited? Not really. I just received a notice that I needed to make minor adjustments to the staff roster before I leave. So I had to work before my flight.  I was traveling with 2 companions, Sir Eric who is our training manager and Sir Jovy who is also a supervisor and they were also at the airport that early as they too had a few last minute work to do. I finished around 9:30am. Sir Eric had our allowances and tickets and suggested that we all check-in at the same time. We checked in at around 10:00am. Not very impressive for a group of airport dwellers. All passengers are advised that check-in counters open 3 hours before departure for a reason...so that stress can be avoided. Check in, travel tax payment, airport tax payment, immigration clearance, body check... breezed through it all in 30 minutes, not for the faint-hearted...and definitely not for those who do not have an all access pass to the whole terminal. Arrived the boarding gate only to find out that our turnaround aircraft has just arrived. It doesn't take a genius to know that this flight will be delayed. Had a few minutes to catch our breath at the holding area while waiting for our flight to board. There was no announcement made for the delay. I just estimated that our flight will depart 40 minutes behind schedule. All on board... doors closed...seatbelt fastened....

My inflight experience up next!

 

 

not another blog

Friendster, Facebook, Multiply... I started a blog on all 3 sites. And here i am now starting with yet another one. Does it mean that there are a lot of people who takes time to read my blog? I don't think so.. but I don't care.  I just want to write. I would be a hypocrite if I say that I wouldn't feel good if I learned that someone does take time to read my posts, but I really wouldn't feel bad to find out otherwise.

So why write without giving a damn on who cares to read my posts? Because I want to look back and recall, my thoughts, my feelings, experiences... I am not getting any younger, sometimes my memory fails me.

All I want is an online journal so.

-don't condemn me if i commit grammatical errors. in as much as I try to spell and grammar check, I am no Webster.

-don't expect to see a lot of photos.  I am no techie, I don't own a camera and I have probably outgrown my " i-so-love-myself" phase. Besides, I don't think I am very photogenic. So I might not be fond of posting pictures.

-don't expect my posts to be highly informative.

-don't be pissed if the posts are always about me,me,me... it's my blog after all!