Ron booked a charter flight to Manila because we were never sure when the airport would open and allow commercial flights to leave the island. We went through a lot of government requirements to prepare paperwork to leave the island. If we waited longer, the dates on our quarantine, including a quick check up by the doctor at the health department would expire and we'd have to go through the process again.
We had boarding tickets issued on-line to leave on Monday, June 8. When we got up and checked email, the flight had been cancelled and a notice posted on Facebook by Ronald said the airport would continue to be shut down due to 19 new cases of the virus reported the week before.
The flight did not leave at 6 a.m. due to something not checking out on the small plane. They had to bring another flight in from Cebu (the next closest island) and it arrived at 9:15 and we left shortly after that. It is what we would call a "puddle jumper." It had only two seats behind the pilot and co-pilot. It was very old. The pilot was very young. In fact, he probably is still a student pilot because he had to take our picture when we landed (which is required for his proof of flying someone). He did not know which hangar to go into and said it was his first trip to Manila. The plane was slow at about 135 miles per hour. He didn't have radar and he did not have automatic pilot. In fact, Ron (who has about 6,000 flying hours) said the plane didn't even have minimum instrumentation. One radio went out while we were in the air. He dodged cloud build ups so it was not very bouncy. I can assure you, most women would not have gotten in that aircraft and if I had not flown so much with Ron in a single-engine, I would not have flown in it either. This time, I really had little choice.
We got to Manila airport about 1 p.m. We were not allowed into the terminal because of the Coronavirus. They let you in only 3 hours before your flight. There was one waiting room for passengers waiting for their flights but when we arrived, it was not full even though they blocked off every other seat. We got seats but had to wait until 8:30 p.m. The room keep filling up and by the time we were moved inside the terminal, there were approximately 500 people waiting outside in the heat. If we had not gotten there when we did, we would have had hours to wait without a seat. Someone came in every hour or so with trays of sandwiches, muffins and drinks to sell but nothing was open even in the airport. Once we were in line to go into the terminal, things went smoothly.
We left Manila about 12 p.m. to fly to Seoul, South Korea. Their time was one hour ahead of Philippine's time so the flight was 4 hours. The flight was full and no seats were blocked off. We arrived about 5 a.m. and after being processed at the airport, we went to the hotel inside the airport, still in a secure area. We got a room until 12 and got four good hours of sleep and a shower. I could not believe how good I felt. We checked into our flight to Los Angeles and got some chicken in the mall for breakfast. Almost everything was open in this airport and it is a super nice airport. They proudly say it is a virus-free airport but with so many passengers coming and going, I don't know how they can be so sure.
Ron asked for a wheelchair because his back was hurting and he didn't think he could manage the long walk in the airports. Actually, the one to our flight there was not very long but when we arrived in Los Angeles, there was a lot of walking. They had a wheelchair waiting for him when we landed in L.A. I had to walk at a fast pace, pushing the cart with our bags but I made it O.K. That flight was 10 hours. We had an empty seat between us but its not enough room to lie down so we got very little rest.
We had a couple of hours to wait in Los Angeles for the flight to Houston. We got the last two seats on the direct flight (which saved us landing in Las Vegas) but I had a child behind me that kicked and banged on the back of my seat the entire way. That flight was 5 hours.
One of the elders from the Westside church of Christ in Alvin, TX met us at the baggage area and brought us to the RV. We arrived here about 7 p.m. last night. We got to bed by 9:30 and slept until about 5:00 a.m. We have done a lot today but feel really lousy today. I feel like I've been sick for a week. That's the way jetlag affects the body. It will take a few days (making sure we only sleep at night) to reset our bodies to the time zone. It is a gruesome few days.
We will rest here for at least a week before we begin to travel back east. I will continue to post as our summer unfolds back in the U.S.A.
Thank you for your prayers and concerns for us. We really appreciate it.
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