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GETTING TO MANILA, ALL IN ONE DAY

A few months ago, I was asked to share the teaching of a class with a good friend, Tim Standish, who works for the GEOSCIENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE in Loma Linda. We’re in Manila, at the ADVENTIST INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE for ADVANCED STUDIES, addressing a class of pastors, administrators, and students about the relationship between our religion and modern science.

The adventure started at 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday in Bend, when the alarm clock went off and Gail and I popped out of bed, threw on our clothes, jumped in the car with the two carry-on bags, and drove to Redmond/Bend Airport. I got out, we kissed good-bye, neither of us remembering the bag of sandwiches and fruit I’d packed the night before - writing a BIG NOTE to myself not to forget and leave it in the refrigerator. My plane left at 6:15, and I remembered my breakfast bag about 1/2-way to Portland.

Ah well, I had three hours in the Portland Airport, so I had a “Tree-Hugger’s Scramble” in the grill you can see, near my gate…
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It was actually rather good (scrambled eggs with lots of vegetables - they left off the feta for me - plus lovely potatoes and rye toast), and I’ll get reimbursed, so…...

I took Alaska Airlines to Seattle and upon arrival, asked for directions to the international terminal so I could catch my United Airlines flight to Tokyo. I was directed to the “S-gates” in the south sub-terminal where I learned that United’s gates were actually in the north sub-terminal!! So, back on the tram underneath everything and off to the “N-gates”, where I waited another 90 minutes or so for departure.
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We got on the jumbo jet, and I took my assigned seat, and was charmed to find out that every single seat between me and the little old lady on the other side of the section was EMPTY!!
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This wasn’t QUITE as wonderful as it might have been, since the movable arms between the seats didn’t truly move up out of the way - you can see the one just beyond me in the photo, and that is as far up as it would move…I pushed REALLY hard! It wasn’t impossible to lie down, just not very comfortable for someone my size, since the space between my neck and the small of my back wasn’t quite enough and some part of me was always banging into the arm. BUT, by sitting on the third seat over, I could stretch my legs across the seats toward the aisle and put them on my computer bag on the floor, and I probably slept three or more hours of the nine and one-half hour trip to Tokyo…..it was great.

United gave us drinks and pretzels right after we got on, then a snack after a couple of hours. I missed that one while sleeping, but it was worth it. There were chips, more pretzels, cookies, drinks, etc. off and on during the trip, and then a nice noodle dish about 90 minutes before we arrived in Tokyo. I would rather have had my bag of fruit, carrots, etc., but I didn’t go hungry.

Once we got to Tokyo, there was a three-hour layover before the flight to Manila on Japan Airlines. We had to change concourses and then board a bus to go to another terminal - the ride took us right by the gates and the sheer size of these airplanes was genuinely impressive - note the engine….
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We lined up at the JAL counter where I got my boarding pass and then went on upstairs to the gate to wait.
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I went to the men’s room, and in the handicapped stall (having to haul two carry-on bags qualified me as “handicapped”, I figured) there was something a bit strange on the wall—something I’d never seen before:
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It’s actually a child seat so that a parent can park the baby while using the facilities - note the instructions:
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Leave it to Japan!

Walking down the access ramp to the airplane, we got a nice view of the “magical flying carpet” that would carry us to Manila. Unless I remind myself, it’s very easy take for granted the modern miracle that is international travel!!
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It was about a four-hour flight, and there was an innovation on this JAL plane I’d not seen before - they had a camera on the nose somewhere. On takeoff, we got to see the runway lights flashing past as we accelerated down the center-line of the runway. Here are the monitors with the view as we approached our destination in the Philippines:
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On the closeup, you can actually see the threshold and runway lights just left of the center. It was pretty neat….

Once we landed, abut half an hour late, I made it through the immigration lines, and cleared customs:
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When I exited, I looked carefully for someone holding a little sign that said “Aagaard”, or maybe “AIIAS” and none appeared….. After using the restroom and rechecking all the signs held by the hotel touts, I fired up the laptop, got the name of the institution down, and went to the “Tourist Help Desk” to see if they’d look up the phone number and make a call for me….. Whereupon I learned about the “Auxiliary Waiting Area” (or something like that), and was told that my party was probably waiting there for me. So, outside:
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where I was reminded how similar the worlds major airports are, in many ways….and then across eight lanes of traffic and down some stairs, where Woody Whidden and Tim Standish were waiting for me. We piled into the car, and in a bit less than an hour we arrived on the campus of AIIAS. It was almost midnight local time, but 15 hours earlier on the west coast, so I was tired, but not really sleepy. I’d been up and “on the road” for almost 24 hours, so after Tim and I talked for a while, I forced myself to bed about half past one.

Woke at 7:15, saw Tim off to class, ate breakfast, went to take a shower but the water was off (you’ve got to love developing countries), so I dressed and went to class. I was introduced, watched Tim in action, contributed here and there, and when it was done we headed for lunch with the Mora family, a lovely set of parents and three kids. They’ve been missionaries all over the place in South America and here at AIIAS for the last couple of years.

I worked the afternoon on some things, saw Tim off to Thailand for the weekend, went to the office where the secretary bought my tickets for Kuala Lumpur (I’m doing a weekend seminar for the church there) and then it was time for supper. Astoundingly, the other guests were John Youngberg - the principal of Colegio Adventista de Bolivia when Gail and I were student missionaries there our first year of marriage - and his second wife, Millie. It was amazing to talk with John after all these years - his first wife, Bonnie, died a few years after our Bolivia experience - and I was really glad to see Millie, with whom I’d corresponded and talked on the phone at various times. They’re working on health evangelism, and are amazingly energetic - I hope I’ll be the same when I’m their ages!!

It was a great evening, but I really hit the wall about 7:30 p.m. I could barely hold it together

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 05/13 at 07:49 PM

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