My flight to the US was on the 23rd but I was already in Manila on the 21st. The mission: To buy office chairs and carpets for the office in the province. So off I went after checking in at the hotel. I went to 4 different stores and malls and finally found the chair I wanted. I needed to get approval from my boss so I had to send photos. I got his approval the same day. My search for carpets? unsuccessful! I spent my second day in Manila looking for stores that custom make carpets but I gave up in the end.  I went back to the store and just decided to buy the chairs. I placed my order and they prepared all the receipts and contacted the suppliers which took at least 2 hours. Of course I had to use my credit card! I waited and waited  for what seems like forever in line. When it was finally my turn, the lady at the counter said: "40 chairs? what are you going to do with 40 chairs?!" I smiled and replied: "I will sell them in the province". Everyone in the area laughed at what I said. Then of course she had to calll the bank to get approval! - Something that I will never understand! It was 6:00pm in the Philippines and my bank is in the US so of course nobody will answer their call! I've waited and waited and waited  again for hours and then they finally said: I'm sorry ma'am we cannot process your transaction, do you have another credit card? You can come again tomorrow if you like." DANG! I am leaving first thing the next day and they want me to come back?!! Oh well, I have never used an international credit card before, it's my first time to use it so at least I know now how it works. Feels like they didn't want my business though...argghh!


The night before my flight, I've decided not to sleep since I had to be at the airport before 3:00 in the morning. My friends drove me to the airport, which was very nive of them.  We kissed goodbye and I went straight to checking in. Going through customs and getting my baggage checked in was very easy since this is my 2nd time traveling abroad. The flight was on time - the plane went off at exactly 6:35am and I fell right asleep as soon as we went off. Two nights with only two hours sleep so who wouldn't. My flight had two stops, first stop: Nagoya, Japan, second stop: Detroit, Michigan. All flights were on time. The entire flight was 22 hours and 52 minutes. It was my first long trip and my first time to cross the International date line. I left on the 23rd and arrived still the 23rd. On the plane, I sat beside two Japanese girls and they spoke little English. They had difficulty communicating with the stewards so I was kind enough to help them with that ;-). I chatted with them and found out they were travelling to the US just for vacation. It was an interesting conversation. When I arrived at Detroit airport, while waiting to board the plane I've chatted with a woman who happens to be from the Philippines too and from Leyte too! Palo, Leyte! What a coincidence! It turned out that we were in the same flight from Manila. She was also bound for Jacksonville but she lives in St. Augustine which is a 45 minutes drive from Jax. We had a great talk and she gave me her number and promised that we'll meet while I am in Jax. So let's see...;-)