Finally Home

          Had you ever experienced waiting so long for your flight, doing just about anything at the departure area such as play Angry Birds on your laptop or type nonsensically on your cellphone, then suddenly, the airport personnel would inform you that your trip was cancelled? I had. Just my perfect definition of what they call “epic fail”.

          I was with my college friend, Charlene, whom I  just unexpectedly spotted sitting on a chair a couple inches across from mine. At first, I thought my eyes were only blurry. Maybe, she was just another stranger who looked like my leader in our college thesis project. When I called her name, she stood up with such surprise and we tried so hard for our shrieks to be mellowed down. I came over to chat with her. Oh, how I missed our out-of-this-world, crazy talks!

          She had been waiting here longer than I was. She was very much excited to meet her loved ones who had prepared something for her arrival after 11 months of missionary work abroad. Maybe food and tight hugs. Her best friends and boyfriend had been calling and texting her almost every minute. She told them that she would pass by a store to buy some additional food for the simple celebration back in her home.  

          How about me? Of course, I’m excited to go home too. Honestly, I missed home and I missed my dog, Chubby. It was quite a learning experience travelling in Manila. I didn’t plan to meet a lot of my relatives but I luckily had. I had met and cuddled their own huggable puppies too. I had tasted a lot of food that offered something incredibly new to my almost bored palate. I even tasted a cheap halo-halo with a leche flan on top from my tita’s  humble neighborhood. 

          Of course, my feet wearily trudged the streets of Quiapo, Divisoria, and Baclaran, thinking at the back of my mind that with clothes this cheap, how come there were still some who go naked on streets? I had been from Las Piñas to Bulacan with my sweat damping the butt of my shorts and the back of my shirt every time my cousins and I would rush to get into another jeepney, bus, or trike under the unforgiving sun.  I even thought I had been to all SM branches already in our desperation to cool ourselves down. Funny, but I would surely miss such unforgettable and one-of-a-kind experience.  Yet after a month of adventure, Iloilo was still waiting for me, for no matter where life and the wind would lead me, She would always be remembered.

         “The flight going to Iloilo is cancelled”, the crew of NAIA 3 said. “There are no lights in Iloilo Airport right now. It would be dangerous for the plane to land there”, he added. We were told to either rebook our flight or refund our payments for the tickets. 

          As expected, many of the passengers, including us, surrounded the crew, asking for clarity or if contingency measures would be available immediately so we could go home now and embrace our relatives who had been longing for our arrival. Some even shouted at the top of their lungs as they tried to squeeze out a reasonable explanation from the crew. A guy in his 50’s burst out in exasperation because he had a conference to attend. A father was infuriated because his family didn’t anymore have a hotel to stay in. And Charlene, after arriving late on her original flight and after paying 1,500 php to book the next schedule which happened to be my trip, had her shoulders dropped in dismay. She was expecting that she could finally meet her loved ones but here she was, trying to grasp the rationale behind why her trip home couldn’t smoothly push through.

          It was already night-time. We decided to rebook our flight, procuring a 10 am schedule for the next day. Some passengers took the 4 am flight, preferring to spend the night at the airport than cash out for another hotel or for fares that would take them back to the places they stayed in.

          I called my uncle and asked if my friend could come with me at their house since her place was really far from the city. He agreed, so we took a cab on the way to my uncle’s residence where we rested and waited for another day to pass by.  Charlene was thankful because despite the unexpected and unfathomable circumstances, God had found a way for her to stay safe and to bond with a friend she had not met for a long time.

          We heard in the news that the airport’s plant back in Iloilo was hit by a fire due to a short circuit, creating a power outage. This froze the whole operation of the airport, cancelling all the flights going to and from the province.

          I realized that such a crisis could not only hinder the passengers from flying to their respective destinations but it could also put a halt to various important personal and business transactions, resulting to certain losses of investment, may it be money or time.

          Alarmed upon hearing the crippling predicament, the local government instinctively thought of solutions to address such problem. Indeed, what had happened would serve as a great lesson to the province.  The officials should be ready at all times in preparing contingency measures that would prevent the incident to occur again in the future. Indeed, thinking of what might come when a particular dilemma transpires and finding ways to combat it is a critical intervention every organization must not overlook.

          Early morning the next day, Charlene and I prepared ourselves and our baggages for the flight. We thanked my tito and tita for amicably accommodating us. Yesterday had been a rough day but now, the morning was gleaming at us and I knew everything would be okay.

         Obviously, Charlene couldn’t hide her excitement as we entered the plane. It was true that we could definitely reach our destination if our hearts courageously go for it despite the barriers along the way.

        “This is it”, she uttered.  Yes, we may go to different places in the near future but let’s admit it, nothing feels like home.