The Travelling Feet

I couldn’t say that I’m a hardcore traveller but two months after my 5-month hibernating stint, I suddenly had the weirdest thoughts (not the green ones, k? lol). All of a sudden, I got anxious. I was about to go on a trip, my first official solo trip after the backpacking thingy, in 12 hours and my mind wandered to hesitation land. Suddenly, I got afraid to push through with it.

I didn’t even understand why my mind were asking questions like…

Do I still know how to travel?

I know, I know. Those questions were silly. Even the thought of thinking those were silly. But I really asked myself if I can still do this.

How can one forget to travel when it’s supposed to be one of the driving forces that keeps me going?

I guess I really overstayed too much in our house that I developed the habit of being dependent again – dependent to a comfortable life. I’m not complaining but I should know better.

Once a traveller, always a traveller.

Travelling has always been my vitamins.

I’m at my lowest if I don’t travel.

And just as the plane landed at my destination, and when I saw my first red sky, I know I won’t miss packing a toothpaste again. I know I’ll start getting better…

Someone asked me a few weeks ago how many countries I’ve been to during my 5-month backpacking stint in Southeast Asia. My response was just two – Thailand and Cambodia. The person who asked the question couldn’t believe it. She went on a 6-month backpacking trip across Southeast Asia and visited a lot of countries. It seemed that a similar figure was expected of me given that I was only one month short.

However, that didn’t happen. As much as I wanted to spend time to get to know each SEA country, I never got the chance to. My original plan was simple. I was supposed to roam around each country every time my visa stamp runs out.

instead of going to Laos, I headed to Chiang Mai instead

I almost made it to Laos though. I would have enjoyed the thought of visiting the French-inspired architectures in Vientiane or perhaps figure out a way to cross the busy streets of Vietnam. Heck, I didn’t even get the chance to visit Bali, roam around Malacca, and experience the rest of the amazing holidays to Borneo not to mention walking the streets of the highly developed and organized city of Singapore. There were a lot of things I could have seen on those 5 months. But due to the lack of funds, I decided to stay put on 2 countries – Thailand and Cambodia – because of the cheap cost of living.

When I realized that I could not afford to move around as often as I wanted to, I decided to change my goal and focused on living abroad at my own pace. Although living in Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia and Indonesia are not that expensive, I’ve considered Thailand and Cambodia as my comfort zone countries on my backpacking trip. I don’t want to mess up my finances knowing that I only had a few to spend. I was afraid I’d ran out of funds had I pursued my main goal without any decent job to keep me afloat. So I ended up going back and forth those two countries, which I love dearly.

After the turn of events last month, I decided to go home and postpone my dream. I’ve been wanting to do so, to tell you honestly. I was just holding on to the last straw before I finally pulled the plug. There were so many things I learned during those 5 months which I will share with you in the next coming days.

Currently, I’m home now and still trying to figure out the next move I’ll make to satisfy my itchy feet. When I travel again, I need to make sure I visit new places this time, whether here or abroad. I know I can’t easily give up on my dream. I know I’ll get there someday. When that day comes, I know I’ll be prepared.

Today, different airline companies offer cheap airfares to entice would-be passengers to book flights with them. And for a budget traveller like me, I always compare different airfares before I buy my airline tickets online. On the 4th of July, I thought that I got myself a good deal when I decided to buy cheap airfares online from Tiger Airways via their Bangkok to Clark route. But little did I know that I would have the most horrible experience as I became a victim of airline bullying from Tiger Airways and SEAir.

Why I decided to book flights from Bangkok to Clark

Being a cheapskate, I normally wait for promo fares online before I buy airfares to any destination. However, on July 1st, almost 5 months after I started backpacking in Southeast Asia, I learned that my mom was rushed to the hospital due to a stroke. I immediately thought it would be best if I go home but my family thought it would be wise if I stay in Bangkok until further notice.

Then on July 4th, after eating cereals for breakfast and opening my mails at 10 in the morning, I saw my sister’s message letting me know that my mom’s condition has not improved at all. My sister could not afford to go on leave for a long period of time and she might request that I come home.

Looking for cheap airfares online

Without having any second thoughts, I immediately told my friend, Ed, that I will go home. I told him that the date of my flight will depend on the cheap airfare I would find online. By 10:30 am, I started scanning for cheap airline tickets from Bangkok to the Philippines on the same day. I found one via Cebu Pacific and the flight was scheduled to leave at 11:40 that night. The base fare indicated 4k+ baht. Then I checked Tiger Airways’ airline fares. When I saw their cheap airfares online, I immediately decided I will buy those tickets. The base rate was only 3,400 baht and after taxes, I only needed to pay 4,275 baht. The only catch was the flight was scheduled to leave Bangkok to Clark at 4:40 pm. With Bangkok’s traffic, I had to carefully consider the consequences. But I had to book the cheap airfare. I was afraid that if I delay my trip home, I might regret it.

By 12:30 pm, I finished buying my airline tickets online. I bought a one-way ticket from Bangkok to Clark via Tiger Airways, which will depart 4 hours after I booked the ticket last July 4, 2012.

I also bought a ticket for the first flight from Manila to Cebu, a one-way ticket, via Cebu Pacific. My flight to Cebu was scheduled to depart the NAIA Terminal 3 at 0410H on July 5, 2012. After booking the trip to Cebu, I hoped and prayed that I won’t have any troubles travelling from Clark to Manila after my flight from Bangkok to Clark arrives so that I could make it in time for my early morning flight that next day.

I failed to print a copy of my itineraries since no one was manning the internet café I passed by. Instead, Ed, helped me capture images of my confirmation itineraries just in case I will be asked for my airline ticket.

Leaving Bangkok in a Hurry

The clock was ticking fast. Although I knew I had to hurry up, it seemed I still took my time packing my stuff. I set 2pm as my queue to leave for the airport. I thought of going to the airport via the Airport Rail Link but decided to go by taxi instead. So by 2:10pm, with only cereals inside my tummy, I left Den’s place in Ratchayothin without even saying goodbye to her, the friend who was hosting us during our stay in Bangkok, since she was still at work.

The traffic was crazy from the area where I stayed. The good thing was it was located on the northern district of Bangkok, which is near the Suvarnabhumi Airport.

on my way to the airport
photo credit: Ed

Checking in at the SEAIR counter

I really thought I would not make it in time for the 45 minutes check-in allowance so I let out a huge sigh of relief when I arrived in the airport at 3:15 pm. I immediately looked for the check-in counter of SEAir since I will fly with them. Tiger Airways has tied up with SEAir for their routes in the Philippines.

lining up at SEAir’s check-in counter at the Suvarnabhumi Airport

When the Nightmare Began

When it was my turn to check-in, I handed my camera to show her  my confirmation code. However, the check-in counter staff had a hard time finding my name on their list. She said that my name is not on the list. I told her that I booked the flight at 12 noon that day and I got confirmed for my booking. She then called someone else, Ms. Areerat K., a passenger service lead agent, to ask for assistance. I saw Ms. Areerat talk to someone on the phone and when she hung up, she told me to wait for 5 minutes since the counter at Tiger  Airways would check on my booking. She said it was likely I didn’t show up on their list since I just bought my ticket a few hours ago. The check-in counter staff started accommodating other passengers by this time.

Airline Bullying at its Finest

When 5 minutes passed, I made a follow-up on the status of my online booking. Ms. Areerat called TigerAirways again. She then told me that the SEAir flight was fully booked and I had to wait 45 minutes before boarding time to see if someone will not show up so that I can take their seat. Whatda?!?!?!

After hearing this, I immediately panicked and told her that that can’t be true since I have a confirmed booking. How could my online purchase go through if the flight was already fully booked? I kept calm but continuously bombarded her with questions about what exactly happened. I also asked her if Tiger Airways will refund my ticket as I was about to walk out of there and just book a flight with Cebu Pacific so that I can leave that night. She said she doesn’t know if TigerAir will refund me.

I was about to loose my wits at that time. They were not giving me the right responses and I felt stuck in a limbo. I started worrying about how I’d have to book for a new trip again, not to mention the Cebu Pacific flight I booked for the next day considering that I only borrowed the credit card of a friend to book those flights.

“I have to be on that flight!”

Ms. Areerat asked me to go with her to the Tiger Airways check-in counter to settle my problem. When I went there, Mr. Noppalit C., a passenger service agent, looked like he was taking care of my situation. However, it seemed that he was too busy handling other customer’s concerns. I  kept asking them what will happen and they said I need to wait for a no show from a passenger 45 minutes before the boarding time.

This was when I got mad. I started to raise my voice and demanded that I had to be on that flight. I never used curse words though. If I was speaking in my dialect, I would have probably done it. But since I had to say it in English, I didn’t I find it weird to use the F word all the time or other curse words I also didn’t see the point of mentioning I was rushing a trip home because of a sick mom. I don’t want their pity. I want action since it was my right to be on that flight. If anyone saw me that time, they would probably be afraid for I had to put up my super angry face because I was and because I had to.

A Filipina also arrived at that Tiger Airways counter since she had a similar case like mine. She also booked a flight that noon and the staff from SEAir didn’t issue her a boarding pass and was told the same thing as I was.

Delaying Tactics

I pleaded to Mr. Noppalit and Ms. Areerat that I was willing to pay the 150 baht I saw online when I booked my flight so that they can prioritize my boarding (even if I only had 200 baht left in my wallet) just to get it over and done with.

They said I can’t and I really have to wait. They said they were fixing the issue. But when I saw that they were still entertaining other customers, it gave me the impression that they were doing it on purpose. That they were just taking their time without prioritizing my issue. It looked like they were trying to delay solving my problem until 3:55pm, the deadline given to me before they give me a boarding pass.

Getting a boarding pass 45 minutes before departure was a no no for me. Have you been to the Suvarnabhumi Airport? That airport is huge. I would need a lot of time going through the security checkpoints and the immigration check point. This Bangkok airport is one of the busiest airports in the world and I can’t bear the thought of missing my flight just because I got stuck lining up at the immigration checkpoint.

The Art of Injecting Pressure

“No photo, no photo!”

Still worried sick about the staff of TigerAirways’ not helping me and the other passenger, I started taking photos. I was fuming with anger so I just clicked my camera to capture images of the counter and the staff and the next conversation happened:

Mr. Noppalit (waving his hand): “I’m sorry ma’am. No photo.”
Me: “Why not?”
Mr. Noppalit: ”It’s for security reasons.”
Me: “There’s no sign here saying taking a photo is not allowed!”
Ms. Areerat: “Ma’am, please, we are trying to help you with your problem.”

Yeah right!

Lies

After a couple more minutes, he finally told us that he found our names and that we are already confirmed for boarding. All we needed to do was to go back to the SEAir check-in counter, which was a few aisle away, to get our boarding pass. With that, I thanked him for his help and hurriedly walked with my heavy backpack to get to the SEAir counter.

As I briskly walked to the counter, my head was chanting “I can still make it! I can still make it!” (worried that the plane will leave without us)

The time on the monitor showed 3:45 pm. Ms. Areerat also went back with us.

I was almost relieved when I reached the SEAir counter and started to wipe out my angry mood when all of a sudden, after giving my confirmation number, the staff at the check in counter told me I needed to wait for the clock to strike 3:55. Whatdaaaaaaaaaaa!!!???!!!???!!!

Fighting another battle

I had to insist that Mr. Noppalit said at the other counter that he found our names already and instructed us to come back to the SEAir counter so that we could get our boarding pass. The staff said that I really had to wait for 3:55. I raised my voice again and told her the instructions given by Mr. Noppalit. Ms. Areerat didn’t do anything at all even if she heard the conversation we had with Mr. Noppalit. The staff on the next counter heard the commotion and she asked the other staff for my confirmation code. After which, I saw a boarding pass popping out of her printer. This staff gave me my boarding pass at 3:50pm.

Making a run for it

I thanked her for her help and hurriedly dashed towards the security checkpoint. I got detained for a while since I forgot to remove a pair of scissors and they had to check the liquid container that I was carrying, which was my contact lens solution. There was a long line at the immigration check point too and after getting through it, my newfound friend and I made a run for our boarding gate.

We reached the boarding gate at 4:30pm, 10 minutes before the scheduled departure and boy were we relieved!

Finally on board SEAIR!

My bottled water got confiscated and I would be eating my first meal for that day at 11pm after I landed in Clark. I hoped to drop by one of the 7Eleven stores inside the airport terminal to grab a quick meal while waiting for my flight but thanks to Tiger Airways and SEAir, who wasted all of my time, I flew out of Bangkok with a grumbling stomach. It was a good thing I brought 5 packs of small crackers with me. When I bought a bottled water inside the aircraft, I asked how much it costs. The flight attendant said it costs 50 pesos. I only have 500 and they had no change. I asked if they accept Thai baht and asked how much it costs and their reply was “50 baht”. The baht rate is more expensive but without thinking (probably because of my hungry tummy), I paid in baht. Way to go SEAir!

Recalling the traumatic airline bullying incident

I flew with SEAir/Tiger Airways when I travelled to Bangkok last February and I never thought that I’d be a victim of their airline bullying tactics when I went back to the Philippines after buying a Bangkok to Clark airfare. Had I known this would happen to me, getting denied boarding passes because I booked my plane tickets 4 hours before my flight, I would not have bought my plane fare with Tiger Airways at all. I read from Manila Bulletin that…

“If the delay or cancellation of flight is not caused by force majeure, Maglaya said the airline should pay the full amount and all that a passenger is entitled to including meals, hotel accommodation and hotel-airport transfers.”

This news came out after DTI received reports of airline bullying from airline companies. However, given that I was out of the country and I booked my flight with an international airline operator who just tied up their operations with a local airline company in the Philippines, I had no clue what to do with the incident I experienced last July.

The lack of appropriate responses from the staff of SEAir and Tiger Airways in Bangkok also limited my options on asking for a refund and fly with another airline company.

The stress and ordeal that I had to go through after the bullying that TigerAirways and SEAir did to me was something I wouldn’t easily forget. Although I still managed to fly out of Bangkok, I will avoid flying with them from now on.

How about you? Have you experienced being bullied by airline companies during your trips? Would love to hear them too

You must probably wonder why I failed to update this site for a long time. I was supposed to give you an update on my 4th and 5th month experience during my attempt to backpack across Southeast Asia but I didn’t. Well, the truth is that I got lazy.

Every time I attempted to start working on the updates for the site, something was holding me back. I thought it was my friend Procrastination. So I ended up travelling back and forth Bangkok and Siem Reap without saying a word here as to what I was up to. I also managed to return back to Pai on the first week of June and I enjoyed that trip so much.

one of the best views in Pai, Thailand

When I got word that our “vacation” house in Siem Reap was going to be temporarily closed, I sought refuge at my friend’s pad in Bangkok. We referred to our guesthouse in Siem Reap as our vacation house since we just keep it to store our things when we travel to Bangkok for our visa run. So half of the month, our rented room in Siem Reap was empty. I didn’t expect to leave Siem Reap that soon. I even failed to say goodbye to the friends I met there It was as if someone was telling me to move my a** out of that quaint little town that I love so much since I had overstayed for too long.

Then on the last week of June, my friend Ed introduced another friend from home. He was in Bangkok to process his visa application since he was planning to go on a Euro trip. He mentioned that he’d travel to Netherlands and will work part time in Sweden as a berry picker. I didn’t know that that was possible. He claimed that since it was the summer season in Europe, one can try their luck and apply as a berry picker for the summer. The first time I met him at Coffee World inside the Terminal 21 mall in Bangkok, he was busy looking for cheap flights to UK. He was going to enter Europe from Netherlands so it was important for him to find cheap flights in that area. He was trying to compare cheap flights to UK from JetAbroad. On our next meeting, he found a great deal and immediately booked the flight even though his visa application was not approved yet. He was so sure he would be granted a Schengen Visa since it was not the first time he applied for one.

On our second meet up, while having dinner at Pier 21, Terminal 21’s food court, he had an idea that would have changed our lives forever. While randomly chatting about his upcoming trip, he asked us if we would want to go with him on the trip. He offered to help us process our Schengen visa applications since we were already in Bangkok and it’s easier to process the visa from there. He figured it would be fun if we join him on his trip to Europe. He also mentioned that he might go to South America after the summer season. After hearing all the details of what we needed to do, we were sold. We immediately agreed to join him in touring Europe and, if given the chance, South America too.

The offer was too good to be true. All we had to do was shell out money for the Dutch visa application which was less than 3,000 THB, purchase a travel insurance and make a flight reservation and that’s it. Ed and I no longer thought of where we’re going to get the money to spend in Europe. We just had to do it one step at a time to avoid being overwhelmed with the excitement of going on a Euro trip. So the first goal was to get that Schengen visa application approved then we’ll worry about the rest later on.

Honestly, I was a little bit worried with the luck that struck us. Thoughts of the scenes from the movie Taken entered my mind. But our friend assured us that none of those things will happen and we believed him. We had to believe him. I also asked help from above. After meeting up with our friend, I spent (3) nights praying hard to give me a sign. Should I really push through or not? My friend, Den, told me I should ask for a concrete sign.

On July 1st, a Sunday, I got my sign. But the sign was at the expense of my mom. I got word from my sister that my mom had a stroke that day and she was brought to the hospital. I was crying the whole time. What made it worse was that I got more confused with the sign. I know I needed to go home. I thought that if she could hear my voice, she might recover fast. I  guess my mom missed me so much and she was kinda mad at me for staying away for so long without a concrete plan. They never understood what I was doing abroad. I believed I was one of the reasons why she had a stroke, though my father and sister assured me otherwise. Then on a second thought, the trip to Europe was very handy as the part time job would have helped a lot in paying the hospital bills. My family also told me to try to find a job in Bangkok as a backup plan in case the visa application gets denied. They told me to stay in Bangkok until further notice.

On the 4th of July, a Wednesday, I received a text message from my sister that morning telling me my mom’s condition has not improved and she might ask me to go home to help out since she can’t be absent from work for a long time. Without having any second thoughts, I booked a flight that afternoon back home. I never even had the chance to message my sister to let her know I was coming home.

And just like that, my backpacking trip across Southeast Asia ended.

After assessing what had happened on that week, I realized two things.

1. It’s easy to apply for a Schengen visa if you have a working permit in Thailand.
2. When you ask for a sign and you get your answer, don’t try to confuse yourself and make it more complicated.

P.S. My friend’s in Europe now. Ed’s in Malaysia and I’m here in Cebu still trying to gather my thoughts on what to do with my life. My mom was admitted in the hospital for 20 days, 12 days of which was spent in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). She has almost fully recovered from her stroke (her 4th) as of this time and I want to thank ALL OF YOU who offered your prayers for my mom’s speedy recovery and shown your support to me and my family.

Two months ago, I embarked on this journey wherein I decided to lead a location independent lifestyle as I travelled to Southeast Asia with two travel buddies. I told myself I’d be ok financially since I will be splitting some of the travel expenses with my friends (e.g. accommodations, food, transportation).

But a week after our backpacking stint, when we were on our way to catch up with friends at Sihanoukville, Travel Buddy # 1 cancelled the trip the last minute because he had to meet someone in Bangkok a few days after and it would be impractical to travel to two destinations for a short period of time. Travel Buddy # 2 decided to bail out from the whole backpacking journey as he realized that what we were trying to accomplish and discover was not the lifestyle he’d want for himself.

Dazed from that unexpected turn of events, I ended up travelling solo to Sihanoukville. Everything happened so quickly that I didn’t fully understand what exactly transpired during that time and how we ended up from a trio to a solo. I didn’t know if it was the creepy room of the guesthouse I rented on my first night in Sihanoukville, the exhaustion from a 14-hr bus trip going there or the after shock of ending up alone in a foreign place, which resulted to my breakdown that day.

Yeah. That day I cried in Sihanoukville was the day I told myself that backpacking is not all fun.

I hit rock bottom and to get out of my depression, I immediately travelled back to Bangkok to meet up with Travel Buddy # 1 and another friend. I thought it would be best to surround myself with two of the most energetic friends I know who’ll help me forget that uneventful day. While my mind was still floating, I told myself that from that point on, I shouldn’t rely on others for the success of my own journey. I should be in control of my own adventure and that I should snap out of that state.

After I lasted my first month on the road, I found myself jobless. I was silently praying for that day to come so that I could concentrate on building my sites but when it did happen, I couldn’t explain the emotions that ran through my head. This website is barely making any money to help fund my travels. I froze the income I rely from Adsense since I could only withdraw the amount back home.

“How do I generate more funds?” I continuously ask myself this question. I am still thinking of ways to help this site earn fast money or I’d probably end up sitting on a corner in Khao San Road trying to unleash some hidden talents while I place a tip hat in front of me Though I always travel on a budget, this expensive vice I chose is depleting my funds day by day.

I also mentioned from a previous post that I had to create my own extreme backpacking food budget challenge before I move out of Siem Reap. I was to catch up with Travel Buddy # 1 as we’ll head north to Laos to meet up with his girlfriend. An hour before I was to leave my guesthouse in SR, I learned that Travel Buddy # 1 won’t be going to Laos but rather booked a flight to Singapore. While I travelled on an overland border crossing from Siem Reap to Bangkok I already knew that I might end up losing a travel companion if I continue with this journey. I already knew that my travel funds would be in danger because there’s no one to split my travel expenses with.

Should I give up? Shall I pack my bags and head back home to my country? Do I go back to Siem Reap, the city I consider as my comfort home in SEA when it comes to budgeting?

I throw caution to the wind and decided to travel to Chiang Mai instead in time for the Songkran Festival. And so far, fate has been so kind to me.

Huay Satan Waterfalls, Chiang Mai

I met new friends along the way as I joined the city in celebrating the 2012 Songkran Festival. I was also able to explore the city and go on an adventure tour at a bargain price. If living in Thailand for a longer period of time isn’t that much of a hassle, I would appoint the city of Chiang Mai as my second comfort home in SEA and would stay here indefinitely too.

As for the money, I’ve spent approximately $691 (29,500 Php) for my 2-month stay travelling back and forth Thailand and Cambodia. Food still dominates the biggest expense on where I spend my money.
My spending on accommodations also increased from last month’s due to my solo living/trips. I expect that this expense will also increase in the next coming months now that I’ll continue this journey on my own. And with that, I’ll have to probably cut costs on food and other expenses to make room for this unexpected change.

I guess that’s about the update I could give you now. I really don’t know where my travelling feet would bring me. My parents have pleaded for me to go home and stop the nonsense I’m doing. My closest friends have also asked me to go home to join them on our favourite past times – food trips and road trips.

Honestly, the thought of going home is so tempting. But I also don’t want to give up yet. Two months is too early. I know people may not understand what I’m doing or why I’m doing this. But if I give up too early on my dream to travel the world and spread the word, I might not be able to do this again. I know that challenges and roadblocks will always be there that’s why I’m trying my best to fight all of them to accomplish what I came here for.