I’m not going to pretend. I’m making another post now because I’m bored. I’ve really neglected this site recently and I really have no excuse except laziness. It’s not like I haven’t had anything to write about, because I have. I missed a great opportunity to document my latest trip back to Texas. Plus, I’ve have so many things going on around here. Today I’m going to do a recap and try to remember the important things that happened while in Texas and highlight the things that have been going on around Calbayog.
I had to seriously save money for over a year to get enough money for my round trip ticket back to Texas. It took so long because it seems that something was always coming up that needed immediate attention. I guess that happens to a lot of people though. The experience did help me discover a better way to save money, so, in the future it will not take me so long to save up to travel. Now that the trip is over, I’m glad it happened the way it did.
I informed my parents that I would arrive before my father’s 90th birthday on March 12th. I did not tell them exactly when I would be arriving because I wanted it to be a surprise. A surprise, but not too much of a surprise because, after all, my dad is almost 90 and my mother is 86. No sense in maybe too much of a surprise and making their heart jump too much. I didn’t want to take that chance, especially with my mother being so emotional.
With a lot of discipline saving and a little help from my friends here, I was able to buy my tickets (at a good price I will add) and have enough money left over to survive a while until my next check came in. It seemed fate was on my side at the time because I was able to get flights that were all on sale for my travel time period. I showed up at my parents place approximately 2.5 weeks before my father’s birthday and I stayed until approximately 2.5 weeks after his birthday.
The trip there was full of pain. I have an issue with my legs. When I sit for too long, my legs swell up. I mean they swell up to over 3 times the normal size sometimes. My flight from Calbayog to Manila was not bad, only about 1 hour, 15 minutes. I had a long wait in Manila and I walked as much as possible to avoid too much swelling. My next flight to Korea is when the issue started, but still not really so serious because it was only about a 4 hour flight and I stood up several times during the flight to reduce any swelling.
The next flight, from Seoul to Los Angeles was the biggest problem. By the time I got to LA my left leg and foot were so swollen my shoe popped open and every step felt like I was on fire. You may be able to imagine the pain while heading from the international airport to the domestic airport because it is not a short walk. In hindsight, I should have requested a wheelchair, but my stupid male pride would have none of that. I endured the pain and walking up and down stairs was the worst, especially down. It could have been worse but, during the flight, since I paid extra for a front row seat with lots of leg room, I was able to remove my shoes during the Seoul to LA flight. Although I was afraid that I would not be able to put my shoes back on when the flight was over, that did not turn out to be an issue. I just did not tie my shoes. My feet were so big at that time and my shoes stayed on without tying.
For the last flight, from LA to Austin, it was so painful but, again, I endured it and didn’t complain to anyone, except myself. My shoes were still not tied but I had been dragging my feet so much I ripped the soles from the shoes. So how I’m flopping a little bit also. I was so glad there were no more flights. Mostly now I just had to wait for my nephew to come pick me up.
I want to leave you in a little bit of suspense so I will say that it turns out that my nephew has never been to the Austin airport before and was unsure on how to get there. That and the fact that I had a limited internet connection turned into a not as smooth as I would have liked it to go evening.
Please return in a couple of days to read the next part of my adventure.
Salamat Y’all
