the untold saga of pauses: Stranded

I am writing from a hotel room in Hongkong.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I now belong to the statistics of people who have had the pleasure (mispleasure) of being bumped up to a different flight because the plane you were in did not make it in time for the connecting flight.

The plane from Heathrow, left at 2:45 pm instead of 11:3- due to snow and other issues with the runway.

We arrived in Hongkong this morning, at 9:30am, and obviously missed our 9:05 am flight to cebu.

Cathay Pacific already aranged accommodation for us at the Regal Hotel Airport (the name sounds tacky, but its not that bad...I could compare it to the Renaissance Hotel in Manila..Yummy Asian banquets,LOL) for an overnight stay until our flight tomorrow at 4:00pm.

Sleepless, stressed, hungry (i cant seem to build an appetite when im flying), Adrian and I battled wills to get over the sadness and depression of a flight delayed. The thought of family waiting for you at the airport, (plus the maaaany itineraries you have already arranged for the day), and food waiting to bedevoured (sutukil tradition every pick up-at-the-airport day), (plus the pleasure of meeting my niece Mika) were so near, yet impossibly far.

Adhering to a long term commitment to seeing things at the other spectrum, we decided to maximise our stay in HK.

So what to do?

-shower (to perk us up)

-sleep...

after a sumptious Asian buffet lunch (all meals provided for us by Cathay Pacific in the hotel), Adrian and i slumbered and woke up til 6PM.

-eat

another Asian/Japanese banquet at the hotel's restaurant for dinner

-shop,shop,shop

went to Mongkok (Ladies Night Market) for the night, and waaaahh, i tell you, i know who in my family would love a tour there (hear ye Karla, Ana and Mamsy)...pag save namo daan sa inyong HK dollars,LOL.

bought some gifts to bring to my love ones.

Not bad for being stranded,really. *convincing myself*

***

Adrian and i had the opportunity to fly business class via Cathay Pacific to Hongkong in AUgust 2008. It was because we fly Cathay Pacific everytime, we earned mileage points which accummulated to a roundtrip non refundable plane ticket.

The date of the ticket was August 4,2008, right after our 5th anniversary party, but we were sidetracked with how enjoyable cebu (verytime were there) and being with love ones is, we decided not to use our tickets.

Adrian and i laughed about it today, when we remember that. I asked him "did you regret not using those tickets".

"No regrets honey, no regrets".

Pa cute gyud ni's manoy oi.

***

Tomorrow, Adrian and i are planning to go to the city. Our flight isnt until 4 pm so we have the time to dawdle in the place. But we decided to leave Disneyland off the list. Its reserved for 2012 for a 'bangka' i promised to my family (God willing).

So really, all the stress, and almost teary-eyed me, was all for nothing.

I got to eat the seafood i was craving, i got to see HK, and i had the chance to sleep and relax.

The only thing i feel cheated about, is the fact that im spending less time with my family (1 day and a half less)and that i could not kiss Mika's face sooner.

Bantay lang gyud ugma bah! Pohon,pohon...

Please pray everything goes well tomorrow.

***

Photos from today...