Extended Stay in LA!

The Unabridged Story of Getting to the Philippines

....if you want the abridged version, visit my series of status updates on facebook instead! :)

Katy and I took different flights to the Philippines because that’s what happens when you get a frequent flyer mile ticket that requires you to visit half of Asia on your way to your destination. When you have too much time on your hands, you start to think about the time you are spending getting to the places you are going. Even non-mathematic people start to calculate the time they are spending in planes and airports. While landing at LAX, my math equation started as a totaling of my time on planes (24 hrs) + time in airports for layovers (10 hrs) = $76 taxes for the frequent flyer mile ticket + $87.96 for the ticket from Manila to Cebu. If I could insert an Indiana Jones travel map, you’d see that I started in Portland, on to LA, on to Bangkok, to Manila, to Cebu. It’s kind of funny to think that I paid more money for my flight from Manila to Cebu than I did for all the airfare to get to the country.

Unfortunately, at the ticket counter, my mathematic equation got more complicated with the added variable of passport validity. So, news to me, many countries now required a minimum of six months to the passport expiration date in order to admit you into their country. The ticket agent called the embassy in Manila and their response was “send her over” and then the unfortunate happened 30 minutes to boarding, the nice ticket agent showed up at the gate and broke the bad news. Manila called back and they changed their minds. He explained that I would need to get an extension on my passport and rebook my ticket with United. Based on my fear of United complications with this frequent flyer airfare (valid apprehensions after my past experience with United and 25 eighth graders on standby), I asked him if there was any way to rebook the ticket through Thai Airways instead (the partner carrier that United had booked me on). He kindly walked me back to the ticket counter and changed my flight to July 22 at 11:20 no additional charges; I had 24 hours to go to the passport office and resolve the issue. This rebooking free of charge was the mother of all the other blessings I was about to experience in the next 24 hours.

At 10:30 pm, a little discouraged that I wasn’t going to be en route, I gathered my two bags and started making phone calls to figure out where I was staying for the night. I started with some calls to friends in LA...no luck. Apparently I don’t have too many friends who live in a close enough proximity to LAX. By 11:30, having not heard from anyone, I proceeded to plan B, hotels…unsuccessfully I might add. “No vacancy”, “no vacancy”, “no vacancy”. Just when I thought I was sleeping on the airport floor, I got a call back from Alanna. She had friends who were willing to pick me up and let me crash at their place for the night. Beth and Dan were a Christmas miracle! Keep in mind, they have a 2 month old baby and they both work in the morning, but they got in their car, pj-clad, to pick up a girl they’ve never met from the airport at 12:45 am. Not only that, Beth’s mother brought out a great rice porridge breakfast the next morning and Dan dropped me off at the Passport Office on his way to work. How blessed was I to be rescued by these kind and generous people who had never met me!?!

When I got to the Passport Office, I end up sitting by the nicest little Mexican lady, Lupe. We start sharing our passport stories. She was too kind; she bought us both coffee and coffee cake and suggested I take a Flyaway Bus from right there in Westwood for $5 to get back to the airport (a much easier solution than wrestling with the bus system of LA). It was literally across the street from the Passport Office! Yahoo for blessing # 2!

Blessing 3 came in one of three menu choices…unless you know the secret code. In-n-Out Burger was an 11 minute walk from the Passport Office. While I was waiting for my passport to be processed, I strolled over to get the finest cheeseburger in all of California. You may not consider In-n-Out a blessing, but a girl who ate there 9 of 10 days on a Cali road trip in 2000 sure does!

Blessing 4 occurred at 4:05 pm. This is the time my name was finally called for my new passport. I made it back to LAX on the Flyaway Bus to board my flight to Bangkok.

In spite of all my obstacles and the added math of 24 extra hrs in Los Angeles + $55 in airfare rebooking penalties (for my Philippine Airlines ticket from Manila to Cebu) + $170 passport renewal fee + a day full of blessings, it all = A girl who is excited to finally be in the Philippines and is extremely encouraged by all sorts of people along the way…even if she does currently have the most unfortunate case of “cankles” you ever did see.

Maybe this was a long story about nothing, but for me it’s a story of provision in the midst of the unexpected. And if nothing else, you’ve learned to renew your passport earlier than you were planning. ;)