Time Check

BS#3 Get to the Point

Title: Time Check

August 12, 2013

Departing guests bound for General Santos City, please check in now to avoid cancellation of your tickets.

Fellow toastmasters and guests, please buckle your seatbelts as I take you for a short yet bumpy plane ride.

“Rina Rose, time to get up!” the sound of my mother’s alarm clock voice resonated in our bedroom early in the morning of July 20th.

I sleepily opened my eyes and glanced at the wall clock.

TIME CHECK: 7:00 AM. (alarm)

 Ohhh mother... it’s still too early. I slept at 1AM.  I already have packed our bags so I don’t need to get up this early. I think I convinced myself so I dozed off again.

“RINA ROSE…” the alarm sounded again!

TIME CHECK: 7:30 AM.  (prep-up)

I got up and prepared myself and the kids. I reminded my mother that we need to leave by 9AM since our flight was at 11AM. She looked confused and said “I thought you told me that our flight is at 1PM”. I said “What? I never told you that. I have the ticket here and it says ETD 11AM”.  My mother tried to insist but since I got hard evidence with me, she had no choice but to agree with me.

TIME CHECK: 9:00 AM. (head towards Rose Pharmacy)

We headed towards Rose Pharmacy near Pueblo Verde Terminal where my husband, who left earlier, was waiting for us.

TIME CHECK: 9:10 AM. (senior citizen)

 We still got plenty of time. The airport is just a 15-minute ride.

After a short while, a vacant taxi cab arrived. We grabbed our bags and walked towards the cab. To our surprise, the “konduktor” let the two senior citizens, who just arrived by the way, get in the cab.

We patienly waited again

TIME CHECK: 9:40 AM. (yellow taxi)

Unluckily, the taxi cabs which passed by were all occuplied. I started to worry. Suddenly, I saw a yellow taxi cab approaching. I thought of the fare difference, but before I could decide, it had passed us by.

We were arleady getting impatient but we were still hopeful.

TIME CHECK: 10:00 AM.  (jeepney rental)

Waiting was not anymore an option. I decided that we go to the terminal and rent a jeepney. We did and it cost us 150 pesos. Well, we got no choice and even got no time to haggle.

TIME CHECK: 10:15 AM.  (marina mall)

The jeepney didn’t have access to the airport area so we had to stop at Marina Mall and rent another jeepney. It cost us another 130 pesos. During the short ride, we made a quick plan that as soon as we arrive, I will immediately go to the check in counter and just leave them to take care of the kids and the bags.

TIME CHECK: 10:20 AM.  (arrival at the airport)

Finally, we arrived at the airport. I swiftly ran towards the departure area then towards the check in area. I looked for the GENSAN signboard but could find it. OMG, maybe the check-in counter had closed.  

What shall I do? What shall I do?

I went to a nearby check in counter. I didn’t mind bypassing those who were in the line just so I could talk to an airline crew to ask if I could still check in because there’s no more GENSAN counter. She looked at my ticket and just told me to go to any available counter.

What? Maybe they don’t allow bypassing.

 So I went to another counter with only two passengers in line. I was wondering where my companios wereso I tried calling my mother and my husband but to no success. I looked at the entrance and saw them giving a signal. TICKET! OMG. They weren’t able to get in because the ticket was with me. I quickly ran towards them, handed the ticket to the guard, and ran back to the check in counter. It was already my turn when I got back. I felt relieved when the crew asked for our IDs after I handed him our ticket. Surely, we still have a plane to ride on. Maybe it’s still boarding time, I thought. Then the crew asked me where the baggage for check in was. Oh-oh, I forgot that I had to check in my mom’s luggage. I had to look around to give a hurry-up signal to my mother.

TIME CHEK: 10:50 AM. (boarding time)

At last, I had the tickets. Boarding time, I thought. My husband asked where we should go and I said to gate no. 8 as what I heard from the crew. So we headed towards gate no. 8. When we arrived at gate no. 8, we couldn’t see GENSAN signboard. We approached one of the crew and she told us it’s at gate no. 5. Without delay, we headed towards gate no. 5. When we arrived there, we asked one of the crews if the passengers for GENSAN had gone aboard, and he said “not yet”. Thank God. What a relief!

TIME CHECK: 11:00 AM.

Possibly, the plane hadn’t arrived yet, I thought. We felt very lucky.

We sat down and took the time to catch our breath. I took a good look at the boarding pass I was holding all along. My eyes couldn’t believe it. I read aloud for my mother and husband to hear. “Boarding time - 12:30 PM. Gate No. 5”. I then called my sister who booked our flight trying to trick her that we were left behind by the plane. To my surprise, she was the one who told my mother that the flight was at 1PM but forgot to mention that it was rescheduled. She assumed that I got the same text message from the airline.  

What a twist of fate. In the end, we were too early for our flight.

Through this experience, I learned a lot of things.

1. Time is really gold. We had to spend too much just to make it in time.

2. It is important that complete information is disclosed to relevant persons.

3. It is necessary to counter check the flight details prior to the actual flight.

4. Keep focused. If we didn’t panic, we could have thought of reading the boarding pass.

To all the passengers, let me inform you that we have just arrived at our destination. You may now unbuckle your seat belts. Thank you for flying with me.

@ Bagged the Best Speaker of the Night =)