Moved Temporarily

So I'm here in Hawaii now. For school. For several months. And from where I'm sitting right now, those several months are looking bleak. I've got no internet well wireless anyway. I've got to wait to use my landlady's dial up when she's not using it. This is supposed to be the USA for crying out loud. Why can't I get wireless? Sayang lang yung dinalang kong laptop if I can't use it whenever I want to. Hmp!

I know I should quit my whining. It's not the end of the world even if it feels that way to me. Sob.

On to other subjects now.

My trip here was generally uneventful. Some observations, ang daming pa palang mababait sa mundo. First was the check in guy at Mactan PAL. He put a business class tag on my luggage so that it would be unloaded first after I told him that I have to catch a connecting flight at NAIA pa. So when I went to the Centennial baggage claim area, my luggage was the fifth one to come out. :)

At NAIA., things took a slight downturn. First of all, NAIA was, is and will always be a nightmare. It's magulo and dark and dingy. And even if its JAL, their system leaves a lot to be desired. Tapos kulang pa yung sinukli sa travel tax ko. They took 9 pesos. Grrr.... Di na ako nagcomplain although I know I should have. Tapos, muntik na di naibigay yung second boarding pass ko ng JAL check in girl. I would have gotten into trouble at Narita if I wasn't warned beforehand to expect 2 boarding passes.

Is it my imagination or have airline seats become more cramped these days? Or was it because I was seated right next to a lady who had a lot of things and I had to take a large step over her bags and stuff if I wanted to get out of my window seat to get to the lavatory.

After traveling on budget airlines overseas for quite sometime, it was a pleasant surprise to go back to regular airlines and get some of the small perks back. Like my own little pillow and a blankie, and a hot meal. Even if I do hate airplane food.

So I was able to sleep through most of the Phil-Narita leg of my trip. Cramped though it was, I had my favorite airplane sleeping position to tide me over. Slumped against the window and with a pillow to make things more comfortable.

At Narita, I turned on my cell and was surprised to get a Vodaphone signal on my Sony Ericsson K610i. Too bad I was too broke to make any use of it. :D It would have been fun to text my Nihon based friends.

The Narita-Honolulu leg went a lot better. Mostly because I had 3 seats to myself. Weeh!!! Nakatulog ko nga naghigda. :D Hehehe. JAL, served traditional Japanese food that reminded me of dorm food back when I was on AOTS. So as usual I did not finish mine. :D Ang dessert ra ang lami.

US Immigration went a lot better than expected. A lot better since I expected the worse. I was afraid to be grilled and sent back home after being viewed with utmost suspicion.

Reality proved my paranoid worries wrong. The Immigration officer was quite friendly and joked about my name. Then US Customs waved me through after asking the prerequisite questions. Ok kalayu. :D I did not have to open my mess of a bag.

I waited 3 hours outside the airport, because the one who was supposed to pick me up thought I was coming in at night. It was a good thing a Pinoy guy at the airport lent me his cellphone and had me call my landlady. I was lucky that I managed to catch her before she left for another thing.

And so now here I am. Wishing I was with friends and family. Soon though. Because it's a tempory move after all.