Adventure when you least expect

The transit ad at Cebu Pacific plane 5J 196 says, “Adventure takes you where you least expect.” Even before the plane took off for Cauayan, Isabela, my adventure already started.

At 6AM along C5, a huge concrete mixer truck got stalled at the Katipunan flyover south bound resulting in a kilometer long traffic, unusual for the day and time of day as the students have not even started to arrive.

Passing through it in about 20 minutes, it was a slow crawl all the way to Libis, Eastwood, Ortigas, Pasig easing up a bit after SM Aura. Timing-wise, I projected I will not make it to the 7:55 AM check in time.

Conveniently, Cebu Pacific has a web check in facility. Fortunately, my cellular data worked allowing me to check in. But I still have to secure a boarding pass and pass through security details. (Web check in if done in standard web format vs. mobile allows you to print your own bar coded pass. Check in counters at NAIA 3 have dedicated post for baggage drop off for those who used the web check in facility.)

Arriving at Terminal 3 15 minutes before boarding, I still have to get a boarding pass which I usually secure at the Cebu Pacific self-service check in kiosk. However, I was prompted to see an officer for the pass. Lines for the check in were snaking at several levels. Based on pacing, it will take more than 15 minutes making me miss the boarding. Intuition prompted me to ask a roaming personnel, “I’m flying in minutes, I just need a pass.” “Let me put you on the last call counter.” Thanks to the assisting personnel, it worked though to the irritation of some waiting passengers.

Pressed for time, I was not able to sufficiently thank the personnel as I rushed to the security section looking for the shortest line. With an  adventure racer mindset, I managed a well-paced timing. Looking at my boarding pass, the pre departure gate was located almost to the extreme end of the terminal about 500 meters away. With urgency I arrived at the nick of time.

Expecting the prompter to announce, “all passengers can now fall in line,” I instead heard, “passengers bound for flight 5J 196, your pre departure gate has been diverted to gate 120.” Hurriedly, I picked my back pack and moved again quickly to the designated gate along with the rest of over 50 passengers.

Resourcefulness, techno savvy, end-in-mind, presence of mind, time-based worked for me to overcome the set backs.

Strapped to my seat, I declared success for boarding the plane even with the faced obstacles. The plane took off and landed on time ending my adventure, so I thought.

The return flight had a more interesting anecdote. Flight was cancelled due to inclement weather in Manila. The steps I went through looking for land travel and the 10 hour travel was nothing compared to the 2 hour taxi ride to the airport for my departure where I met the timing requirements in just the nick of time.