I am now back in Manila. I have actually arrived around noon today but I wasn't able to do anything except unpacking and trying to get my room organized the way I like it once more. It's taking a bit longer than I've anticipated since I'm not done yet.
Anyway, I had thought that the trip home would be uneventful. But then again, most of the things that I have thought usually turn out wrong...like this one.
The short trip from Helsinki to Amsterdam was pretty uneventful, except for two parts where the plane was a bit delayed to take off because they needed to melt the ice on the runway and then when it was about time to land. Apparently, there's a storm in Amsterdam that it took a hell of a lot piloting skills for the pilots to land the plan. I felt like I was in a roller coaster ride that time. One time I was up, then feeling that I'm going down, next left then up again, then right then up again, then down...and it went on for a couple of minutes until finally the plane landed safely.
And now the little incident in Amsterdam...
With 5 hours to waiting time before we board a plane from Amsterdam to Manila, my parents and I were doing some window shopping...pretty much just trying to waste time until we checked in. We've decided not to go around Amsterdam itself mainly because we left all our winter clothes in Helsinki and also because of the storm raging outside the airport. It might look okay on the inside but the winds were very strong outside. So we just went around the airport, going through one souvenir shop after another, just to prevent from getting bored while waiting.
About an hour before our boarding, we already headed to the gate. My parents being as they are always wanted to be early so that if something happens, it would be easy to adjust. Well, adjust we did.
When we got there, there were about more than 20 people already waiting at the gate. My dad struck a conversation with some of them while my mom and I dozed off. We then found out that our ETD became 25 minutes late. What was once 2:45pm became 3:10pm and we didn't know the reason why. We initially thought that it was because of the storm but we eventually found out it was something else. I had been expecting it since I have been hearing boarding times being delayed and gates being changed. There were even some flights that were cancelled. So when I heard that the we were delayed, I just told myself to just sleep on it and patiently wait to be boarded...there was nothing else to do anyway. Around 2pm GMT +1 an airport attendant went to our gate to tell us that our gate has changed from E22 to F2...something about the tires of the plane needed changing. So, we gathered our stuff and proceeded to walk all the way to the designated gate which was on the other side of the airport. To me, I didn't mind. Schipol airport was pretty big and we haven't really explored every inch of the place yet. (My parents are retirees already, so the 5 hours isn't really enough to time to explore everything). So, we walked towards F2, me lagging behind my parents making sure they're alright while I looked around on our walk. We got there eventually with my parents finding good seats and we began to wait once more. About 20 minutes later, another airport attendant came and told us that our gate was moved once more because the ground crew could not fix the tires of the plane in that gate. So we moved once more from Gate F2 to E8.
Again, we got there and found a spot to sit and wait once more. At that time, E8 was currently being used for boarding people who were going to Dubai. So, there was a bit of a confusion between the passengers, the ground crew and even the flight attendants and pilots of the plane. Some passengers (who didn't really read the sign) did not know that the current gate was being used for another flight so the ground crew kept repeating to arriving passengers that the flight was going to Dubai and not Manila. The ground crew were patient enough and continuously apologetic to us. The flight attendants and pilots were also confused. Some of them also started to go inside the gate but then found out that that wasn't their flight as well. They have to wait like the rest of us until the boarding was done. And while everybody was starting to become a bit edgy and frustrated because of the situation, I was there smiling because it was like watching that Bio Channel series about Airports. I was actually having the time of my life while everyone was very miserable.
Finally it was our turn at the security check-in. The flight to Dubai was already closed and waiting to fly out, and so we finally were able to get inside the gate and finally wait to board. I already saw the plane being pulled towards our gate when I was through with my check in. But then, they started to pull it away from our gate again and the security check-in suddenly stopped. I then heard that we might need to change gates once more because they still could not fix the tires of the plane. For us who were already through with the checks were ask to sit and relax, while the others who were still outside were asked to move again from Gate E8 to E7...then they changed their minds one final time to go back to E8. The technicians the mechanics outside eventually decided to fix the tires of the plane right by our gate. So, the other guys who were outside, finally made it through their security checks and were with us waiting for our plane to be fixed. For our trouble, the ground crew gave us drinks and chocolates for snacks.
Finally, the plane was fixed so we boarded our plane. Since the plane was delayed already, I'm guessing that they didn't do the usual checks to call on late passengers for boarding because once the people were already seated down, the flight attendants did their usual rounds, the captain already made the announcement that the doors were closed already and that they were waiting for the go signal to start their engines.
We were taxing around 15 minutes later and was on the air.
The rest of the flight was uneventful...but if it was I really didn't bother anymore because I was asleep most of the time only waking up to eat.
So, now I'm safely back in Manila. Back to the traffic. Back to the heat. Back to the undisciplined drivers and commuters...sigh...more or less back to real life.
So, this is the last chapter of the Mitchie Chronicles...until such a time that I would be having another "first" moment in my life...what that might be...we'll just wait and see.
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