Departure

It was raining when the van picked me up from my boarding house, glad that my cousins with nieces were there to support mum from the emotional stress my departure was causing. We stopped by at Jollibee infront the domestic airport to have lunch, though I would have wanted to eat at Mc Donalds but there was none. Afterwards, we proceeded to Terminal 1 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Off I went inside to check in, my luggage was good enough for the allowed kilograms but I had a long negotiation with the person at the check-in counter over my hand-carried luggage. It appeared that I had two hand-carries because of the backpack I used for my laptop and other electronic gadgets. Despite all the explanations, I was not allowed, so I got out and remove some of the things from the bag. The downside of this, I added to the emotional stress of mum because it was like another send-off. On second check-in, I was not allowed. Fortunately, one of the two volunteers I was travelling with has no hand-carried luggage and so I was saved.

Hong Kong International Airport was not new to me since I have passed through here several times, (guess it’s one of the frequently taken routes because it’s cheaper). We waited for our flight to Johannesburg for 4 hours, bracing ourselves for the 13-hour flight! The plane was full, but surprisingly only few Africans were on board and so were the Filipinos who have to join ship in South Africa. One of them was just wearing an islander slippers  The plane was quite small and therefore no enough leg room to stretch my legs. Reality sunk in, I have seen the distinct color of people as I was getting out of the plane at Johannesburg International Airport, I have to convince myself that I have travelled this far to fight poverty and disadvantaged through my service as a VSO volunteer, without discounting my other reasons for accepting a post in Africa. Johannesburg International Airport was impressive, it was huge and the shops were nice. We stayed inside for a couple of hours to wait for the flight that would take us to our final destination.