The Road to 40 Day 98/365: Back to PH Weekend

We’re heading back to the PH for the weekend to visit Che in the final stretches of her PH stint.

We had a pretty long night, with Vino sleeping at around 12am. I expected a difficult time waking him up, but when he did, he was good to go.

After dropping him off at school, I was walking to the bus stop going home. I realized that I was supposed to get second-hand uniforms. I had to run back to school to get them.

It was difficult to get good-quality shirts, but I had to make the best out of what they had because we had none. I’m hoping the supplier will have some for me in the next couple of weeks.

I tried to wash the stains off at home, but it proved difficult. I guess it’s why it was donated in the first place.

I packed some last-minute things and headed off to pick up Vino. We took a cab going home so we could have a bit more time to do stuff at home.

We didn’t really need to bring anything as we had stuff back in Manila. I packed some of Vino’s old things to give to my cousin, and I convinced Vino to sell off the Switch since he doesn’t really use it much.

We went out at around 5pm for our 7:30pm flight.

Growing up, my family and I didn’t really travel much. If we did, it’s mostly to the provinces by land. The first time I flew out of the country was back in 2009, when I was working already.

For Vino though, travel has become a norm. It’s one of the things that Che tries to do for the family from time to time where she takes a break from work so we can enjoy the time together away from everything.

That said, Vino has become used to the airport processes. Before, he would be uneasy when he passes through SG immigration by himself. This time around, he confidently walked to the kiosk, took off his glasses unprompted, and did what was needed to be done.

By the time we went in, he smelled ramen and asked to eat it while waiting for our boarding time.

It took a while for us to board as the line was really long. I didn’t want to rush because there was no need for it, really.

As we went on the plane, Vino asked if we were having dinner in the plane. I was pleasantly surprised that he was looking forward to eat in the plane because he doesn’t usually have anything when we ride for fear of vomiting because of eating in a moving vehicle.

Once we’re settled on our seats, he put Thunderbolts on while I put on this Korean movie Hitman 2. I think I watched the first movie as well.

Next thing I know, the movie has already played for 25minutes. I fell asleep. I looked over to Vino and he was fast asleep as well.

His food arrived earlier, as is the case for kids. But he was so sleepy he didn’t have the energy to even answer me. I let him sleep for the duration of the flight.

We landed at around 11:30, and we didn’t have checked-in baggages, so we were optimistic we’d be home by 12am.

Holy freakin’ airball.

Grab was a nightmare. No one was taking our call, as well as hundreds of other passengers. I tried the Super Taxi thing but they had a long queue already and a process I don’t really understand.

Green SM answered my call and he was about 13mins away. I was ok with it. About 10mins into waiting, dude was just moving away from my pin and asked me to cancel the ride as he was heading back to their garage. He also told me that they aren’t allowed to pick up at the airport.

I told Vino we should just get the airport taxi so that we didn’t have to wait. The ladies then told me that it’s Php1800 to take us to a place that’s less than 10kms away. I told them that’s robbery.

I then decided to just cross the street to Belmont and get a ride from there. Vino was a soldier through this ordeal.

After three more cancellations, we finally got one to take us home. The guy explained that Grab drivers don’t want the hassle of going to the airport because there’s a lot of checkpoints inside to inspect if they are legitimate Grab drivers.

As Grab drivers, they have this permit that certifies their status. However, he alleges that a lot of them right now only hold papers saying their permits are in process and the government is not releasing their permits.

The inspectors don’t accept the “in process” paper and will deem you as driving Grab without a permit. If caught, the fine will be Php120,000 for small cars and Php200,000 for big cars.

It’s frustrating as hell because it looked like they have a good thing going under new management at the airport. But behold, they can apparently find a way to F it up somehow with red tape and unnecessarily stringent inspections.

It wasn’t a problem for us anymore when we crossed the bridge, but I imagine it’s not a good first impression for tourists who come to our country.

We got back to the hotel at 1:30am. Vino, who didn’t eat in the plane, asked for pancit canton. Che was with her team for a super late night farewell in a bar. She said she was aiming to go home at 1am, but I told her the fun part hasn’t happened yet if she did.

She came home around 3:30am, at which point Vino was still awake. I told him not to wait for Che anymore, but I think he really wanted to keep himself up. He sneaked up on Che and surprised her when she came to the room.

We finished the firsrt Captain America movie and he asked for the next one of the Infinity Saga, but I told him he needs to get some sleep already. He took off his glasses and prayed. He was fast asleep by the time Che came out of the bathroom.

For Che, she has been sleepy since they were on the way to the bar. It’s not a tita-friendly timing, after all. So she was half asleep already while trying to share what happened.

I fell asleep shortly after, as always. I guess we all were just expressing how happy we were sleeping in the same bed again after a week apart.

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