Spite of bad luck.

The holiday is over.

I have to get use to getting out of bed early again. Except maybe for the cold air and the cold water coming out from our faucet, nothing has changed. Or so I think.

I accompanied my son to the airport yesterday as he is returning to Bacolod after spending the holiday with me. Our trip to the airport was smooth as the traffic flow was rather easy. We arrived at the New terminal 3 at 2:15 in the afternoon and we thought we had ample time coz he said his flight was for 4:40pm yet.

Then, come the shocking horror...

After he took out his ticket he realized that his flight was suppose to be 2:40 and not 4:40 as he initially thought. So we hurriedly looked around where we would get his boarding pass. But the lady at the counter told us we are 5 minutes late from the last boarding call and that she cannot accommodate him anymore. I pleaded and pleaded as I over-heard another staff telling someone that the flight is delayed and will leave at 3:10. But my pleadings fall on deaf ears. The lady won’t budge, instead she told me to just rebook the ticket for the next flight which is at 5:20. But what do you know? The new ticket will cost me 130% more than the round-trip ticket I bought, and this is just one way!

Buying a new ticket is now out of the question. I just rambled on my son how air travel has become horrible. That we get stressed trying to get to the airport on time, that we have to deal with all the security and bureaucratic checks based on the assumption that we are all terrorists and criminals, that we have to argue about our baggage allowance and then delicately negotiate with strangers to escape to the queue for the loo, at a time when trolleys are not being pushed back and forth inside the plane.

I told him I will get him a ticket to Super Ferry instead and added that the boat journey may takes time but more leisurely, thus he will arrive in Bacolod relaxed. And he did believe me! No, he isnt gullible, he just knew when not to argue as he senses I am aleady about to turn into “Kali”.

Going to the nearest Super Ferry ticket outlet wasn’t much trouble, but as expected, there isn’t available ticket left. So I told my son to purchase the ticket directly at the harbour where the shipping line is. He is there right now, at the pier, with ticket in hand awaiting for his 7 pm trip. He will be in Bacolod tommorrow , a Monday, which means he will be absent on the first day of school.

Bad luck. Yeah, yeah, I should have followed those New Year traditons...