When leaving means coming home

This time last year, I had set foot on Australia as a resident. The feeling still lingers to this day-- the thought and the anticipation of what was in store for me here was quite arresting. My previous trips, even the unaccompanied ones, never shook me from within, knowing I had a return ticket at hand for the many just-in-cases. For this trip, I was tugging along an overloaded 52 kilos of luggage with the-rest-of-my-life stuff and a short list of crimebuster phone numbers. It was also one filled with a lot of give-and-take luck.

It was an arduous yet exciting preparation of sorts, sifting through memories at the same time. Finally, it was a matter of choosing between what I needed and what I wanted. Well, I let in a few want's like my very first vanity set, a Hello Kitty comb and mirror set still well preserved in its original plastic purse.

The want's didn't score up much, and I wouldn't like to think my excess baggage took its toll from them, even after having gone through much drama with the airline I flew with. I was misinformed about the first-migrant's baggage allowance which apparently didn't apply with that airline, but was extremely fortunate when their own supervisors pulled me out of the ditch. Thanks basically to the prompting of my sister, who dropped me off at Cebu airport, to continue with my melodramatic acting, which supposedly harbours sympathy from those men.

I returned to my sister and her friends at the lobby for last farewell hugs and to relay how my luck went so far. More luck turned up when I was heading to the pre-departure, and a ground attendant approached me to offer a first-class seat just because they didn't have enough people in the said accommodation. Well, who would be such a duffer to refuse that?

At the Hongkong stopover, the 40 minutes' wait was well spent getting lost trying to find the next terminal. Upon finding the right one, I sat in pure relief, only to be told to stand up again to file for entry to the plane. Upon arrival, my husband was nowhere in sight at first, because of the confusion the on-going construction was causing. I was glad when he finally rang me up, and then my phone died at the first hello. Great, he really had me at hello. So much for cinematic lines.

Standing still and a few neck stretching, I had soon found my man. I was finally home.