15 hours and 40 minutes flight to Philippines

To start of my journey I have to go first to Paris CDG from Brussels. My flight is normally at 3:55 pm to 12:20 am of the next day. I woke up really early just to be able to be at the airport in advance as much as possible.

The Flight

The time of check in for luggage is 11:30 am in the morning and I was there already since pass 10:00 am.

At the time of checking in at the counter the officer was serious but not too serious.

I can even say that she’s kinda look mad (well Europeans mostly are) no smile at all, her face was like steady business like conversation.

However with my experience dealing with European people for a long time its make me feel like normal, but at least the woman did say “Bonjour” and  “s’il vous plaît” which means “Good morning” or “Hello” and “please” in English.

The Stress

As for all the travelers their first uncertainty is the

weight of their baggage, lucky that I didn’t have one. I was pretty relax and at ease.

After the check in next is the immigration control to pass through and in regards for me it was good, nothing special in terms of questions or anything that the officer asked.

I went to the security control and after headed to the Duty Free Shops where I see some great difference between prices from Brussels even though products were supposedly without taxes.

it was really high as I expected, well we’re in Paris so it’s really expected anyway.

Waiting at the lobby of the designated boarding gate, it announced that our flight would be delayed for 20 minutes.

From then on I felt more uneasy cause I still have connecting flight to take and originally. I have 2 hours only to take my next flight but now only 1 hour and 40 minutes.

After 20 minutes of delay, we boarded in and I searched for my assigned seat. my seat is really close to the entrance only in 4th row and surprisingly I situated just beside the small compartment/room for the head of the cabin crew,located below the stairs going to up to the 1st class area.

First Dismay turned to contentment

A light disappointment awaits me, my destined luggage compartment was already taken.

There were no space for my hand carry luggage anymore. I approach one of the flight attendant around and she voluntarily help me without hesitation.

I was happy to know that these flight attendants are kind, approachable and most of all very helpful.

The moment when the plane took off I prepared the television screen in front and open my headset.

Starting to scroll the magazine of Emirates with their featured advance and well updated.

Available list of current movies, music, and games, there are a lot of things to keep yourself busy while on-board instead of waiting for the 6 hours plus flight.

Ambiance in the Air

At the meantime one of the flight attendant came and ready to serve us some drinks, the head of the stewards group announce that they have different nationalities of cabin crews, which is 15 various languages that they can speak.

More of the cabin crew speaks french since we departed from there and the rest that I’ve heard spoke in English, Spanish, Italian, Russian, and a lot more.

A lot of beverages to choose, from my other two seat mates on board is a couple from Australia.

The woman ordered a Jim Bean, while the guy took a Beer as for me just a simple white wine.

They served us a pack of biscuit and that’s all for that moment, later on after about half an hour the diner is about to be served.

The Diner flight

The meal wasn’t bad it’s served with a salad, cheeses, a dessert, butter, water, and the meal itself.

I got to choose between curry chicken or beef and definitely I chose chicken with rice and some veggies.

After the dinner I continued to watch another movie “Death Note” released on 2006 and after a while we’re finally going to land to Dubbed.

Dubai Airport

The flight ended in Dubai, I disembark the plane took the way to my connecting flight. the plane landed around 12:30 am with a delayed time of 30 minutes.

Arriving inside the airport, the place was real enormous. the aisle going to the shops are the field with different people from around the world.

First step for me is to recheck my boarding gate and since I got some spare time I walked around and looked for some souvenirs and stuffs.

I saw a lot of great shops one of it is the jewelry shop field with various kinds of measure of gold carats.

I also saw many Filipino people who are working at the shops there were a lot of them and It really made me happy cause at least I’m not alone.

At the beginning I wanted to buy a cup of coffee to keep me awake from the entire next flight but later let myself search for the way to the A gates which situated actually seem far as I thought.

Getting ready for the Next flight

On my way to gate A 18 it took me more than half an hour to get there, first I took a lift to go underground  from where I was.

Then took a sort of tram (subway train) to another part of the area then another lift to go up then walk for 5 minutes to find my gate, and finally I arrived at the gate.

It wasnt open yet so I waited on the waiting area sitting, and after 30 minutes. I passed through the gate and the officer told me that it wasnt there for boarding area actually the real gate located downstairs.

So I walked again took the escalator to go down and another one and then finally I found the real embarking area.

I thought It was already the place where our plane will be, after all taking lifts and escalators suddenly they let us take another bus and brought us to the plane for about another 20 minutes.

The next chapter

The moment I’m on board I directly found my designated seat and installed my things in the compartment.

Apparently I was the first one who arrived on the seat so I was patiently waiting the rest of the two passengers who will be sitting next to me.

I thought I will be alone in this 3 chaired seats but as I expected the other two came at the last-minute.

We comfortably chat a bit and mind our own seats after.

Instead of watching films this time I wanted to take a good rest before arriving at Cebu cause I’m pretty sure I will have a very busy day with my family.

I open the music player and started to choose my favourite songs Taylor Swift’s and Ed Sheeran’s a whole playlist only from this two artist.

The Breakfast

I slept for hours with the music on til the time I woke up for breakfast. The cabin crews are about to distribute the food.

It was quite disappointing cause they only gave a sandwich (french style) with ham and cheese and water and coffee or tea, and after eating I slept again.

I woke up  for the second time and tried to watch a movie but I thought its better to rest for the whole period of the trip, lunch served as usual the airplane foods again.

The menu was chicken curry with potatoes or fried noodles with shrimps, I have chosen the noodles but the problem was the side dishes where a bit weird they gave us desert, bread, butter, cheese, water and salad (cold noodles salad with veggies) which I didn’t know that salad will be noodles as well so it was odd.

Anyways moving on I ate all my fried noodles and the rest I wasn’t interested at all I just asked for an orange juice, drank my water and I continued to listen my songs to be on the good mood again.

At Cebu Airport

After hours of sleeping without noticing the time we’re almost landing and the cabin crew ask us to get ready and put our seatbelts on. few minutes after we finally arrived at Mactan Cebu International Airport.

disembarking the plane the temperature was a bit hotter than I’ve imagine, it was 34 to 35 degrees far away from what I have experience daily in Brussels.

Walking in the aisle going to the immigration counter I can truly breathe the Filipino’s air that I have missed for a long time.

My feelings were incomparable, kinda nervous, tired, sleepy, happy, excited at the same time after more than 3 years of waiting. I got to see my homeland again and be in the arms of my beloved family.

I’ve officially welcomed myself saying “Welcome to my home The Philippines”

Happy in the arms of my Family

Follow my next adventure in my lovely city Zamboanga

15 hours and 40 minutes flight to Philippines