My job requires me to travel and I frequent cities like Manila and Jakarta. In my 8 years, I have missed a flight twice; once becuase I wanted to do my morning prayers first before departing and second because I was lost in Amsterdam's airport (hey their airport is HUGE! and going from one departure hall to another, you have to go through immigration!) and there were a few near misses too.
Last Friday we were in Manila. My colleague and I left for the airport early - in our minds, we'll be able to make it since the office and the airport was not that far. We arrived at the airport 30mins before the scheduled departure time. We jumped out of the car, pulled our luggage and ran as fast as we could to the check in counter! I think we forgot to thank the driver - he was really good though there were situations where I could have had a heart attack. I was prepared to beg the officers if they had refused to take us on. We were very very lucky... SQ counter was still open and we had an immigration officer to take us through to the boarding area!
What caused the delay - traffic! Coming from a very well organized traffic system in Singapore, traffic in Manila just does not make sense. There are bottlenecks everywhere, getting from point A to point B drivers, bikers and pedestrians become a "free for all"affair. Buses, jeepneys, motorcyles, cars weave their ways in and out of traffic to find a route that is the "fastest". Whether it is safe or not, that does not matter. For a passenger like me, being in such a situation not only made me anxious but it also made me nervous - all sorts of what ifs come into mind... lorries, cars do not give way to other cars - making me really nervous. Each time when that happens, I have to close my eyes and pray that all goes well.
After last Fri's incident, I'm proud and thankful that I am Singaporean.. and I can always adopt that kiasu syndrome. In future, I will make sure I leave the office way way way early - 4hrs earlier if need be!
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