This is a common phrase that Kayleigh and I often say to each other when we're in either a helpless, ridiculous or crazy situation (which I might add is quite often). It helps us release the tension and move on to find a solution or way out. As many of you know, we were blessed with a fantastic 2 week vacation during the beginning of February. We traveled to the Philippines and Malaysia for some glorious warmer weather, cheap delicious food and relax time on the beach. We had quite an adventure actually getting to Malaysia so I will tell the story as best as I can remember.
Our flight was leaving Korea at 9:30pm on Monday night. Since it takes about 2 and 1/2 to 3 hours to get to the airport, we left Gongju at 4:00pm thinking we had allowed plenty of time. We arrived at the bus terminal in Seoul with no problems and proceeded to catch an airport bus. We had never gone this particular way to get to the airport so we asked someone from an info desk where to get the bus. She then explained to us that the airport buses were no longer running and that we'd have to take a city bus. We were confused cause we had just ridden on an airport shuttle bus 2 weeks prior taking Bryon back.
She wrote down a number and said we needed to get on bus 9800 or something. So we waited for this bus and after about 20 minutes it arrived. We asked the driver if it was going to Incheon airport and he did what most bus drivers do to us, wave us on and nod even if they have no idea what we are saying. hmm...(mind you, we are carrying our luggage with us, clearly headed to the airport)
So we sat right up front and already I did not have a good feeling about this bus. My next clue was that we only had to pay 2500won instead of 14,000won like last time. There was no way this could be right. After a few minutes, I decided we should ask the bus driver again. He again nodded yes to our question. After a few more minutes, the guy sitting next to me asked if he could move my bag. I looked at him with astonishment and gratefulness. He could speak English. So I asked him very nicely, "Do you know if this bus goes to the airport?" He smiled and said, "no, I don't think so." I asked him if he could please check with the bus driver and after a few agonizing seconds, he got back to me and laughed very politely and said, "no". Well crap.
I explained to him that we needed to get to the airport and he was very kind. He discussed this with the driver and he ended up making a special stop just for us to let us off at another airport bus stop. So we again waited for the airport bus that may or may not be running. They only run every half hour and we were getting a little pressed for time. Luckily we made it to the airport with no further problems, minus me leaving my boarding pass behind while we quickly grabbed a smoothie (found it, Thank the Lord!) and were soon in the air. We left Korea layered up with long johns, sweaters, the works and then had to peel most of it off the moment we landed in the Philippines.
We had gotten some really good deals on our tickets but the downside of that was that we had from midnight to 4:00pm the following day to kill time. During this time, we also had to transfer to another airport that was located 2 hours away from Manila (where we had flown into). So here we were at 1:00am asking for the best, cheapest etc way to get from Manila to Clark Airport. We were laughed at each and every time we asked. I took that as a bad sign. Finally someone helped us by calling a bus terminal and getting the times it was leaving for Clark. We were told there was a 2am and 6am bus and thought we had a very good chance of making the 2am bus. So we hopped in a taxi and headed to the bus terminal. He tried to rip us off but I was prepared to be fiesty. I felt very proud for winning that small victory until he pulled up at the bus stop. It was in the middle of ghettoville, just outside of shadyland. It was 1:30in the morning, we were 2 white girl tourists and I did not have a good feeling.
We went through the padlocked gate via the security guard and started asking if we could buy tickets to Clark for the 2 am bus. No one would give us a straight answer and all they did was continue to ask us over and over again what time our flight left. We were not getting anywhere. Finally we managed to understand that there was no 2am bus and our best shot would be at 6. Since we had no desire to spend the next four hours there, we cabbed it back to the airport. However, they would not let us in where we had exited so we had to go to this lobby and just sit on the ground and wait. After a few miserable hours in the airport, we broke down and decided to just pay the $50 for a taxi that would take us directly there. By the grace of God, we had a very friendly taxi driver named Ronnie and he also had great taste in music so we were riding along at 4in the morning to some great 80s bands. Thank you Ronnie.
When we arrived at Clark airport we were exhausted yet much happier. However, it was only 6am and the airport wasn't even open yet. So after a minute or two, another angel sent by God arrived via minivan. I noticed a hotel shuttle van dropping off a couple people and since we still had until 4:00 to catch our flight, I decided to negotiate with the guy to see if he could get us a room so we could sleep for a few hours. He apologetically told me that they had no rooms available so I asked him "what about the people you just dropped off?" He told me that they had to clean the room and if we were willing to wait a half hour, we could have it. Done! So Noel took us to the hotel and after a few minutes, we crawled into a wonderful king size bed and slept for the next 5 hours. They even gave us a late checkout time so we could take showers, plus took us back to the airport. Let me just say that our attitude improved greatly at this point. :) God was really good to us for the entire trip and we got the rest and relaxation that was much needed. Winter has been long, challenging and somewhat miserable for both of us and this trip was just what we needed to face the second half of our time in Korea. I am truly grateful!
