On October 1st, I was able to mark off another item included in my “50 things before I die” list. Due to sheer luck, I was sent on a training to Brisbane by the company I joined just 2 weeks earlier. The initial trip was supposed to be 3 weeks but Ondoy conveniently cut short our trip by 4 days when it decided to flood the whole Metro Manila area.

The flight itinerary was Manila to Hong Kong, a 3-hour lull period in HK airport, and then we take a connecting flight that will take as to Brisbane.

It was a series of firsts for me.

I was a bit nervous about the take off as a bunch of my friends have always told me that they hate flying and have always likened it to Space Shuttle gone mad. A few days before the flight, I was warned that my ears would probably hurt badly due to the pressure. Good thing, there were no heart-in-my-stomach moments nor broken-by-pressure eardrums. It was pretty anti-climactic.

We landed in Hong Kong just in time for dinner! Despite Kaloi’s objections about eating food found in Manila, Rose and I opted to grab some food from Popeye’s (which wasn’t really that good). The best thing about HK airport food? Ben & Jerry’s scoop station!

The one thing I learned that I hate about flying is how uncomfortable it is to sleep on a plane, I tossed and turned with no luck in finding a good enough position. The 16 hours made me realize why business class is way more expensive.