Do I have to swim?

Today’s guest column is from Louis Tamasi. Louis is an active blogger living in the Philippines, in Davao City to be specific. You can read Louis’ personal blog at: Jimmy Buffet Living. Thanks for the interesting column, Louis!

Going back to the USA seems to be a yearly pilgrimage for me. I have tried to get away from doing this but I still have ties in Maryland and now a seasonal job in Alaska. Oh well, at least I can get a Munchies Grill Cheesesteak at least once a year. Every expat I know has their own preferred method of getting back to their us “home” be it NWA, Singapore Airlines or Cathay Pacific… For me I will fly noone else but Korean Air. As you may know, I’m a big guy. Not as big as I used to be but still big enough to be uncomfortable in standard economy class seats. Korean Air is not standard and has (I beleive) the largest economy class seats in the international trade. Be that as it may, their service is incrediable also and their food has won international awards… airline food? won culinary awards? Yes! Amazing isn’t it? and that’s not even 1st class food, that’s the stuff they serve in economy.

Ok, now on to the story. Usually when I wanted to go to the us it just involved going to a Korean Air office in Gaisano mall and after 30 mins I had the ticket in my hands. Things were not going to be so easy now. I went to my normal agent but saw the office was different as soon as I stepped in… oh yeah, no Korean Air posters. Yep, they no longer handled Korean Air ticketing and I was informed I had to go to Manila. Umm… Manila? I don’t think so Miss, but I kept my thoughts to myself and left with a salamat. A quick ride later on the Bunawan Jeepney and I’m at Victoria. There’s an agent next to the immigration office that handles all airlines. Problem the next… their computer system is down. They were happy to take my number and they would call when their system was back up. No, not really, actually their system never came back up. By this point I was wondering how tired my arms would get between here and the west coast of the US. Ok, 3rd try is the charm and went to SM mall… SM is not close for us in El Rio. No matter which road the taxi takes it’s always around 90 pesos per 1 way trip so we don’t go out there often. Desperate times and all that right? On the 3rd level there is a nice agency and their computer was working but Korean Air had not updated their system for ticket availability after March 16th. (Sigh… When swimming the breaststroke one must remember proper breathing). Anyhow, another case of “Give us your number and we will call.” ok… paper… pen… scratch scratch… here you go. Much to my suprise they did call when they said they would the next day. Of course the system had not updated yet so I was left with a decision. Take the only available date of March 6th or wait until the system updated to get a later date. That later date may be late april though and my garage rental is over may 1st… no can’t take the chance. So now I am leaving my beloved wife and Philippines 3 weeks earlier than I expected. Well at least next year I won’t have the garage to deal with and I can leave in May but I am missing my one year wedding anniversary which does make me sad. On a more positive note though… at least I don’t have to swim.