Tuesday, April 10, 2007

I wish I can fly first-class only

I wrote this while I was dying of fatigue and boredom at JKF:

Here I am, at 5:30 am in JFK airport. There is still no internet here and I am typing this into WordPad first before uploading it to blogger later. By the time I reach Chicago, it should be 8:53 am local time there. That means it would have been 37 hours later from when I left KLIA. And by the time I reach my hotel, I would be dead, some 40 hours later. But die I could not, because I have a 1 pm appointment scheduled with apartment hunters to go scavenge for my future apartment. When will this long torturous journey end damnit??

I flew on MAS from KL to Heathrow and it was a fully booked flight. Which means, no free upgrades and being sandwiched for 13 hours. I've never bee upgraded for free (or with charge) before in my life. I've heard of it many times, but me, I have no such luck. So I figured maybe I would have it better with Virgin en route to JFK. Somehow, people like to go where I'm going, when I'm going. So, that’s another packed flight. The seats on V are much smaller compared to MAS (much like NWA or UA), and it’s a little cramped although it’s a 2-4-2 seating compared to the 3-5-3 of MAS. Also, the flight attendants are ALWAYS rushing on V and they tend to bump into me while I was desperately nodding off. The only upside is that V has a huge personal screen and it has a humongous library of movies.

When I reached JFK, I was really ready to stretch and enjoy some form of communication (i.e. my phone and msn!) besides with flight attendants and the person beside me. While on MAS, an Aussie dude was making conversation with me but it took so much effort as I was tired and trying to finish the first season of Grey's Anatomy (which I did), so eventually he gave up. So anyway, in JFK I thought I should get to whichever terminal that I would be flying from and stay there. *Long sentences and incoherence ahead*. That thought got me to walk really far, go on the AirTrain, get off the AirTrain, go up the elevator, then walk across the street, got some complicated instructions from a disgruntled guard, went down the elevator, walked around corner (this is outside in the cold, I only had a sweatshirt, sweatpants and slippers on), up the ramp, across the street, up a ramp again, crossed yet another street, only to be told to go back across the street, walk straight ahead and turn left. En route, my luggage, which weighs more than I do, fell 10 million times, the tiny little trolley got stuck 5 million times and the entire thing tipped over 2 million times. My hands were practically numb, toes were blue and I probably looked like some horror movie "thing". And this is not where the torture ends. Read on.

So this Terminal 3. If you are ever in JFK and is waiting for 10 hours in the wee hours of the morning and your flight should be in Terminal 3, DO NOT GO THERE TILL YOU ARE READY TO CHECK IN. There is practically nothing there but a row of chairs. No wireless internet, no cafe, no shops, no nothing. Nada. It took some effort to find the restroom and I had to go downstairs to salvage some food from the vending machine to not starve to death. I think I spent a good 3 hours on the phone, before venturing to find the restroom. When I was freshening up (yeah, still as fresh a stale fish after), some nice Chinese lady came in and tried to talk to me about some religion? Cult? I don't know. I didn't understand her that well with her and I doubt she understood me well too. After I was done, I tried to go downstairs to where I got a piece of pathetic bun initially to get some water from the water fountain or the vending machines. They closed off the area!!! Those bastards won't let me in and there was no fountain or vending machine upstairs. So I sat dehydrated for many many hours until a nice guy, who was polishing the floor heard me complaining over the phone (I also asked him earlier if there were any fountains on the floor) that I was dying of thirst, brought me over a whole bottle of water! I am forever indebted, but I did have my earlier doubts about him poisoning me and stealing my luggage. I'm still alive, so this makes me feel guilty for doubting a kind act.

Now, its 5:50 am, I have finally checked-in, got a piece of sandwich and a hot chocolate from Starbucks. My first meal in 10 hours. I thought when I have checked-in I would have wireless access. I was/am wrong. I'm still typing from WordPad. Someone kill me now. And people wondered why I didn't want to leave. Would you like to go through this torture? Are you masochistic? Huh? I hope it gets better from here.

Ps - I think this is the longest entry I've ever typed. And its really cold here. Why??!!!!!!!!!!!!1111one

I thought I was going to edit it but now I'm lazy.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

super detailed entry this time!!! haha... pity you though that you would hav ta look like a "ju-on"... better luck next time if you still wana fly...

Anonymous said...

im glad to hear ure well and alive, ranting ;)

im sorry to hear abt ur travel journey. i hope the future days will be brighter for u.

love u, always.

Anonymous said...

Quote:
"*Long sentences and incoherence ahead*"


Indeed. LOL... Glad u ahd a fun and fulfilling flight... or the lack of it HOHO