So much travel
April 9, 2024, Navotas, Philippines, after 20+ hours of travel.
What a wild 24 or so hours this has been. I had vastly underestimated the amount of energy it would take just to get to Manila. To say Kendall and I are exhausted is not an exaggeration.
The travel experience has been a long one to say the least. While waiting to board the airplane in Billings I introduced myself to the United Airlines app, checking out all the cool things I could look up with it like seating charts, airport maps, and the different amenities onboard the various planes we would be using. While looking up our seating arrangements I noticed that Kendall and I weren't actually sitting next to each other for the second and third flights!
Kendall went and talked to the United Airlines concierge and, after some back and forth, he was not only able to get us seats together for the San Francisco to Manila flight, but got us upgraded seats in the exit row with TONS OF LEGROOM. Kendall and I agreed that the upgrade fee would be worth it if we wouldn't have cramped legs for a 15 hour flight, but the concierge was having trouble doing the upgrade. She then told Kendall, "I've been trying to get IT here to fix this thing for weeks, and if they can't do it then I'm just going to upgrade your seats for free". Wow...
The flight to Denver was short and uneventful, and we ended up having plenty of time to walk around the Denver airport. Time enough to even get out everyone's favorite travel buddy: Sharky! After some witty repartee between Sharky and Kendall we agreed that since we weren't terribly hungry we would just eat between flights in San Fran. We had time, so why not?...
You may have noticed those ominous "..." above. We, sadly, did not notice them at the time because we weren't reading about these events in a blog post. Consider yourself lucky, dear reader.
The flight was bumpy coming out of Denver, and because of construction work in San Fran the flight was delayed from even taking off from Denver until we had a time-slot for landing in San Fran. Also, because United Airlines is a caring, compassionate, and very organized company, a bunch of people were told that they would have to check their carry-on bags. Possibly. Depending on... reasons.
With Kendall and I being some of the last people on the plane we faced the very real possibility that I'd have to check my backpack after boarding. For context, this would have been a very bad turn of events because my backpack was full of my camera gear, audio gear, batteries, drone, cables, laptop, just about everything. I'd spent literal months of planning how I'd pack it, the gear I'd take in it, which backpack to purchase, which gear to purchase specifically so it would fit into the backpack, and all for the sake of not having to check my equipment and have the grubby hands of the TSA rifle through it all in some airport's back room only to put everything back INCORRECTLY and/or lose the bag and make me scramble across an unfamiliar airport just to find my gear at journey's end. You know, EXACTLY what United Airlines did to me when I went to Tennessee on a job 5 years ago.
As I went to my seat on the Boeing 737 in Denver with backpack in hand I very nearly had to hand it over at the back of the plane to be checked. All the overhead bins looked as full as could be. And then, as if by miracle, some random lady who "was really good at Tetris", and an overworked flight attendant, were able to find a spot for my backpack several rows up from my seat in the back.
Hallelujah
Kendall, however, did have to check his bag because I took the last bit of real overhead room and he was behind me. Sorry, Kendall...
The plane was delayed leaving Denver, and then after a bumpy takeoff and landing (during which the non-english speaking young woman in my row very nearly had two separate panic attacks) we were told after landing in San Fran that we were again going to have to wait to get to our gate and get off the plane. Kendall and I looked at each other and knew the prospect of eating dinner would be very, very slim. We ended up speed walking/sprinting to get to our gate just to be sure we would get there in time. Less so because we worried about missing the flight and more so because we might have to check my backpack suddenly.
Also, we weren't totally sure Kendall's checked carry on bag would make it to Manila because the people on the flight from Denver to San Fran were oddly unaware that things like seating assignments were a thing, and that sitting in the seat that was on your boarding pass was important.
Flight attendants kept taking people’s carry on bags and then giving them tickets so they could reclaim them at their destination, and oddly they also kept trying to give me one, saying that I had checked a carry on. Later, I was even asked over the PA to come to the front of the plane (which was more than a little stressful) only to find out it was just because they were still trying to tell me I had checked a carry on, not because something tragic had happened to my family like I assumed was the only reason one would be asked to go to the front of the plane by the pilot. Well, that or eject me forcefully from the aircraft.
Here’s where that “...” comes in, because when we weren't able to stop and get dinner during our jaunt through the San Fran airport we were also forgoing a meal after about 11-12 without one. Kendall was hungry, I was hangry, neither of was a happy camper. However, I did make a vow that on our return trip we would re-find this cool coffee kiosk where the drink was assembled via a robot arm like in some Japanese manufacturing plant.
We made it to the gate in more than enough time, but then it was announced that most carry on bags would have to be checked. Again, for... reasons. Which bags, you might wonder, would have to be checked? Only God knows the answer at this point because the various staff persons of United Airlines certainly didn't have a clear idea. After lugging my backpack most of the way to the back of the plane, a monsterous Boeing 777, I was able to find a spot a few rows back to pack it. But only just barely.
Now, back in Billings the United concierge had told Kendall that while there were three seats in our little exit row on the San Fran to Manila flight the chances were very slim of just one person taking that last remaining seat, so we got the aisle and window seats, leaving the middle seat open. That was fine with us because squeezing our butts into airline seats wasn't so bad as long as we had leg room AND shoulder room. That United concierge was bad at determining probability because, of course, somebody took that seat. That somebody was a dude named Juan, who was traveling to Manila to make some YouTube content with his friends. Juan was a cool guy, and he was kind enough to take the aisle seat so Kendall and I could sit next to each other. But wouldn't you know it, Juan was also around 6 feet tall and broad shouldered like Kendall and I. In spite of the legroom we were going to be cramped, smelly sardines for the next 15 hours.
It was the worst for Kendall. SItting at the window seat made it so that one shoulder was always against an unforgiving wall. We managed to get maybe 2 hours sleep, but it was so very, very uncomfortable. We had 3.2 people's worth of butts and 4 people's worth of shoulders to share between 2.89 seats.
I kept counting down the hours, wondering how a vehicle moving at nearly 600 miles an hour could be taking SO DARNED LONG to get to its destination. But thankfully in the end we made it, in the wee morning hours, to The Philippines. Between the early morning's lack of sunlight, the humidity, and Kendall's shoulder blocking our only tiny window we weren't really able to see much but we all were so very happy to have landed. On a personal note it made me a little sad that I wasn’t seeing it from the air because I knew that way back in 1944/1945 my grandfather piloted his C-47 (I’ll have to ask my dad if that’s the right airplane) into the Philippines as a US airman.
The humidity here has a way of wearing on you and grinding you down slowly. And the signs are almost all in English at the airport and along the main roads. Off of the nice, clearly-marked toll-road between the airport and Navotas, however, things got... well, the only way I could put it is that up until that morning I was very secure in the thought that we in Montana were from one of the last bastions of the Wild West. Now I know that the real Wild West is the roadways of Manila. Where things like right of way are more about personal bravado and daring than signage and painted lines.
It's tough to describe the area, this little portion of Metro Manila called Navotas, which is why I'll depend on my camera to say what my words cannot. What I can say is that Cindy, the nice lady who's in charge of our food, is AMAZING at cooking. We had breakfast and lunch, and Kendall and I are already over the moon with the food. All we had for breakfast was little bread rolls, egg salad, cantaloupe, and fresh (and I mean FRESH) mango. Fresh mango was a first for me, and it was INCREDIBLY delicious. I didn't realize how much of a savory flavor mango has along with the sweetness since it's usually over-sugared when I've had it blended in smoothies and such. Lunch was these giant shrimp from some fisherman that comes to one of the churches and these spring-roll-ish things that I can't remember the name of. Only two meals in and I've already made my son Edgar envious as mango and shrimp are his favorite foods.
It’s been a wild start, and if Kendall and I can withstand the heat and humidity we are going to have some AMAZING stories and images to show off to everyone. It’s only been our first day of travel and our first half-day in the Philippines, but things are going to stay interesting!
-Andrew Seeman
