babblings...words...random thoughts: Flying to Melbourne

My trip to Melbourne was about 24 hours long.

I left my place at Singapore at past 7am of August 1. I realized that finding an empty cab at that time on a working day is not easy. After about 30 minutes of waiting, I decided to place an advance booking for a cab. And after 7 minutes, voila! A cab arrived. I should have done that early on.

I flew from Singapore to Manila via PR 502. The 3-hr flight was fine. I was assigned a bulk seat which means wider legroom. We landed at sunny Manila right on time: 215pm.

My mom and aunt were already at the airport waiting for me when I got out of the terminal, ready with the stuff that my sister and I requested them to bring. This actually is the primary reason why I opted to transit in Manila: padala and pasalubong.

After repacking, which means taking out the Manila-bound pasalubong and taking in the Melbourne-bound stuff, we had an early dinner at the Terminal 2 canteen. Afterwhich, I went back into the terminal to check-in for my second leg. The 7-hour trip to Melbourne.

By that time, I was already exhausted. Exhausted from carrying heavy luggages. My check-in baggage was overweight by 3 kg so I took out all my books from the suitcase and transferred them to my backpack which means, me carrying a 3+kg worth of books and 7kg worth of handcarried luggage. Ang sakit sa balikat!

While waiting at the boarding gate, an old lady sat beside me. I was reading my book but opted to close it and chat with her instead. She was from Cavite and is now going back to Melbourne after a three-month long holiday. She had an Australian husband whom she met in 1974. I was smiling and tearing up while listening to her very nice love story.

Her husband met her brother first at a bar, when the latter was crying upon hearing of the news that their mother passed away. The two were seamen. Her husband consoled her brother and the two eventually became friends. After some time, her husband asked her brother if he had anyone to recommend, because her husband wanted to meet a Filipina. There were four people whom he recommended, and she was the fourth. But it was her whom he noticed. After a year of exchanged mails, the husband came to the Philippines to meet her in person, asking her to marry her. She said she felt scared because that was the first time she met him in person, but she agreed after a few months. And after a few years of being married, that decision to marry the guy was reaffirmed when she asked him one time why he married her and his response was "Because you are God's gift to me." They were married for more than 30 years if I remembered it right, before the husband passed away in 2006.

We were not seated together in the plane so we didnt have another chance to chat. But that short moment made me realize more that the magic of love stories can be seen by how God orchestrates two individuals to meet each other but the decision to leap into the unknown and make things work largely depends on the free will that was given to us.

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We flew onboard an old A340 aircraft. The flight itself was pleasant with no turbulence and an efficient team of cabin crew. But again, I was assigned to an aisle seat near the lavatory so I couldnt sleep well with the constant queue of people beside me and the constant flushing. I think I was lucky if I was able to sleep for 3 hours.

My audio system was also not working but I was not complaining because I was given an iPad instead. So for the duration of the flight, HIMYM and Horrible Bosses kept me company.