When we arrived at the airport, the check in lines were not open yet, so we unloaded the bus and camped out in the lobby of the airport until they were ready to check us in. I ended up falling asleep on the tile floor using my daypack as a pillow for about a half hour or so. I woke up to the squad lining up for check in, so I followed suit.
As we checked in our bags, we made our way to the security check point. We all made it through with no problems, except for the occasional pocket knife or fork that some one forgot was still in their day pack.
We had about an hour in the terminal before we boarded, so we left our bags at the gate with a few people and dispersed. Some people shopped, some grabbed breakfast. I got a bagel and cream cheese [first one I've had on the Race!] and then set up camp at the gate. I ended up falling asleep again on the floor with my pillow. Apparently Seth and Karen stopped by to say their good-byes before catching their own flight, but I was fast asleep [Sorry I missed you!]
It was finally time to board the plane. We all piled on and found places for our carry-ons. I'm pretty sure I either slept or watched Friends for most of the plane ride, but I'm not quite sure. Oh well, that's what I get for being so far behind on my blogs…. Ha!
When we touched down in Miami, we had about two hours to get through customs and immigration and then back through security to get to the gate for our next flight to LA. I got through customs with little problem. My new team mate, Cathy, and I were the first ones through customs so we buddy-ed up and headed to security. There was quite a line at security and as we waited, we saw some more of our squad mates filing into line.
Once we were through security, we headed to find our gate. We easily located it and had about an hour before boarding, so we headed to grab a bite to eat. We ended up getting pizza from a Sbarro-like restaurant. I also got cucumber and tomato salad. I have been really missing my veggies on the Race! We headed back towards the gate and were on the lookout for a Starbucks for Cathy. We passed a woman with a Starbucks cup and asked her where she got it. Turns out, the Starbucks was right next to our gate. We both got drinks just in time for boarding. I was adventurous and got a Pumpkin Spice Chai Latte [which, by the way, is legit so you should try it… I almost went with gingerbread chai latte…]
Everyone managed to get through customs, immigration, and security with enough time to grab some food before boarding. First stop down, no one lost. 🙂
On the flight to LA, I sat next to Cheyanne. We jammed together to the radio stations on the plane, hunting for the Christmas music, which changed stations almost every other song, but were also happy with some other good songs we could find. I spent most of the flight catching up on blogs in between the jam sessions and a few more episodes of Friends.
When we got to LA, we had to claim our bags and carry them to the check-in area for our next flight. A few of the members of the squad agreed to stay with all the bags while the rest of us spent a few hours on American soil outside of the airport. Erin's friend picked the girls of Team Tumbler up at the airport and drove us to Santa Monica Pier, where we went to REI and walked around for a bit before heading back to the airport. We wanted to get In 'n Out burgers before going back to the airport, but we were cutting it close on time and we were given specific instructions that even if one person was late, this would never happen a gain.
[As the laboratory squad, we were given the opportunity to leave the airport during this extended layover. Typically teams are not allowed to leave the airport, but if we could prove to do it successfully, i.e. not a single person was late for the time we were told to return, there was a chance that this type of thing could happen again in the future.]
Erin's friend ended up driving to In 'n Out for us and picking up burgers, fries, and shakes after dropping us off to make the time deadline. When she returned, we said our goodbyes and thank yous and took our food into the lobby. We had a nice little picnic in the middle of the check in lobby with our food as a team. It was my first time ever having In 'n Out burger, and I have to say it was pretty delicious. When we were finished eating and checked in, we headed to security. This was the worst security check for me for the day. It took forever, the guy wanted a bag check on almost every bag [thankfully not mine] and it took forever for another TSA person to come and do the bag check.
On the other side of security, we found our gate and took over a charging station to charge all our electronics. [see the awesome ensemble below] It wasn't too long before our flight was boarding. We all shared stories of family visiting, food we got, or what we did during our few free hours. Once on the plane, I was determined not to sleep too soon as to try to get adjusted to the new time zone as soon as possible. It was a huge plane, twelve across, and we all had person TVs with movies, games, music, and TVshows. I listened to music, played a few games, and watched a movie during the trip.
I ended up falling asleep soon after our first meal was served. I'm not sure how long I actually slept, but I felt surprisingly rested. I stayed up for most of the rest of the flight, dozing in and out every now and then. I was in a window seat, so I tried not to leave my seat too much as to not disturb my seatmates, LaShondra and Mary B.
We were served breakfast soon before landing in Hong Kong. Our plane landed around 6am local time. We didn’t have to go far to our next gate, and most of the stores weren't even open yet. I just hung out at the gate until it was time to board. It was another large plane ride to Manila. It was only about an hour and a half flight, which seemed like nothing after that 17+ hour flight to Hong Kong.
We landed in Manila, claimed our bags, went through customs and immigration and we greeted by the Department of Tourism with necklaces and free goody bags some containing water bottles, umbrellas, sim cards. We met our first contact at the airport, Jeff Long who helped us organize all our other contacts. He got all the teams headed in the right direction to the ministries and then came to talk with us: the two teams that were flying to Mindanao for ministry.
He drove us to the departures area and helped us get ready for our flights. Our bags were technically too heavy, but we ended up not having to pay anything extra. Praise the Lord! We went through security, found our gate, and then dispersed to get lunch for ourselves. I wasn't too hungry so I just got a water and snack from the stand near the gate and then manned the bags while everyone else got food.
We had to take a short shuttle bus to the plane and then walked right on. It was another short flight to the island of Mindanao from Manila. Our plane landed in Cagayan de Oro. We met our second contact there after claiming our bags. William was previously a World Racer who is now permanently in the Philippines. He loaded up our bags into his pick up and loaded us up into the van. We left as soon as possible, hoping to make it "home" before the typhoon hit, Typhoon Pablo. We stopped at a restaurant for dinner and we had a delicious meal of chicken, rice, and vegetables.
We hit the road again as quickly as possible after dinner. I slept almost the entire way to where we were to stay. We arrived at Mount Moriah Camp around 10pm. We crashed in one of the camp dorms and were all asleep within minutes. William told us we could take the next day to relax and adjust to the time zone, especially since the typhoon would make ministry near impossible.
So finally, after 52 hours and 17 minutes we were ALMOST at our ministry. But first, we had a day to relax and recuperate from such a long travel day.
