Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Terminal III Experience

Just like all the first times in my life. I'm pretty sure that I will never forget my experience travelling alone to a foreign land. Yes this is my first time. SG Baby Yeah! My flight was at 6:25 Am at the NAIA Terminal 3 and like what I always do. I see to it that I have the general know how of how to do things. Making use of all available resources as much as possible. I listed them down on my planner but never got to use them anyways. "Pwede naman magtanung eh."
When they say that you should be at the airport 2 hours before the time of departure is really a grey area but two hours is more than enough time to make sure that you'll be on that flight considering that you're only one of the hundreds if not thousands who are to use that terminal on that hour.
My flight was at 6:25 Am. So the oldies advised me to leave the house at 3:00AM. I live near the airport and to give you an idea how near it is. My taxi fare was about 170 Pesos including the tip. That close. So as expected i was already there before 3:30. My things was all ready for inspection upon entry. But when the airport authorities asked me to open my trolley, I became so unsure all of a sudden. I know what I packed. A couple shirts, pants and undies and the bigger chunk of my luggage came from my sisters bilin list which comprised of a lot of canned goods, several sachets powdered detergent and chicharon. But as soon as they were able to confirm it I was given the go. Though I have to redo everything, I was able to breathe.
The next step was to pay the travel tax but unfortunately for me. I missed this and went straight to fall in line on the check-in counters. But it wasn't such a big deal cause I did it right after. She just held on my boarding pass first so I can settle the tax first. One disadvantage of travelling alone I guess. But the good thing is that I didn't have to fall in line again just to show them my receipt. I just made my way towards the person who assisted me earlier.
Oh and by the way. I was really worried about the weight of my luggage cause of all the tin that I was carrying in it. I was only allowed 15kg for check - in. Luckily, mine was only 12.5kg. Though it may look like I was only pulling a 7kg bag. It felt so much heavier.
Oh, and there are several airport personnel who're distributing immigration forms that needs to be filled up for the immigration of course. So when I got my boarding pass I looked around in search of a person who can direct me to the next step. I saw a security guard who poited me to my bay. I filled out my immigration form and submitted it one of three immigrations officers (who looked like club bouncers) that was inside the booth that day. After answering several questions I moved forward.
The next step was again scanning. After this last step I was almost there when I remembered that I haven't paid the terminal fee yet so again I approached a security guard and told me that I missed that step. That it should have been made before the immigrations people so I made my way back there and settled the Php 750. Again into the scanner and the last step was to wait and prepare for boarding.
For me, I was sitting on the boarding area an hour and a half before the ETD. What can I do? I was early. I'm sure you're guessing that I wasn't able to sleep before my flight and you're correct. I'm not that excited. I was actually holding the sleeping during the flight. I have a terrible fear of heights that even walking on a foot bridge makes my knees shake. What more being in a tube for 3 and a half hours, 35 thousand feet in the air?

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