Monday, September 1, 2008

1st plane trip abroad

my first trip abroad. netherlands. from the malate pensionne, i taxied to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport with more than 30 kilos of luggage. KLM economy class has a 20-kilo limit so I had to squeeze in more than a year of clothes and study materials within the limit. good thing they still have a 12-kilo limit for hand baggages so there. i have not started problematizing the weight of my luggage. my husband ryan had been there to see me off. therefore, i get free porterage as yet.:) all i had to do was pray i would not exceed. excess baggage costs 30 euros per kilo. save for a few dollar bills and what is left of my Philippine money (barely P2000), i only have 200 euros as baon in case of delay of my student stipend. whew.but god is good and i passed thru without excess. at the immigration, the immigration officer wondered why there were quite a number of us students off to netherlands. hmmm... perhaps the netherlands fellowship is quite generous with scholarships this year. my passport holds a Schengen visa... i have only an inkling of what this implies at the moment.:) the whole plane ride took about 12-14 hours. food was good and the dutch steward/stewardess were genuinely nice and attentive. i stood up quite a few times in the plane, trying to check out which part of the world have we passed by. one also has to do this to ease up your legs. contra-binhod.hehe at the backend portion of the plane, i chatted with other passengers while filling a plastic glass with juice. my sinuses felt a bit heavy with mucus or something. must be the altitude. overflowing juice, coffee and water. was even able to grab a chocolate in the counter too.:) i thought i saw the Gobi desert and the Ural mountains. i was in a different plane... level...not quite nirvanic though. back on the seat, i made it to about 3-4 movies: Kung Fu Panda, a Helent Hunt movie, and another two i could'nt remember. and yes, global music also in the radio station while reading "A Year in the World" by Francis Mayes. good one for travelling, thanks to liza m.:) i kept checking the temperature outside and how far are we from Amsterdam. KLM has this cool guide map and electronic data on distance, altitude, time (both in manila and amsterdam), & outside temperature. i relaxed as soon as i saw the outside temperature register at around 20something. i thought, kaya ra ni. mura ra'g aircon.:)

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