BRAIN DRAIN

Random Travel Notes 13 March 7, 2010

This is the lucky thirteenth installment of Random Travel Notes, the “briefest trip to New York and back again” (also known as “it’s now or never to present your dissertation proposal”).

Missing the wife. I’d done this before and been away for months at a time a few years back, and it didn’t phase me. Now? I’d say the first thing that came to mind was how much I wish the wife could’ve come along on this trip.

Come to think of it. While waiting for my connection in Hong Kong, the odd thought came to mind: What ever happened to the Northwest pilots who overshot their destination? Now there’s one news story that quieted down too soon.

Viand. Funny how airlines make an effort to enlist executive chefs to jazz up their meal offerings. The way I see it, no matter how airlines dress up their in-flight menu, the choice still boils down to: chicken, fish or beef.

Longest. Ash Wednesday. Ever. I left on Ash Wednesday; I arrived in New York on Ash Wednesday. I think the Almighty will forgive me for breaking the fast and not abstaining during the trip, if only because traveling such a distance is hard enough with a normal diet.

Cabin Fever. For the first time, I managed to take the direct flight to New York from Hong Kong. It has its pros and cons. On the one hand, it’s much more convenient from the standpoint of getting more uninterrupted sleep while in transit, as well as not having to be bothered with collecting one’s things and deplaning for a layover. On the other, it’s significantly more expensive (and how!), and I must say that at some point I began to wonder if I was going a little stir crazy from being in such cramped quarters for so long a time.

Border Patrol. I suspect I’ve made remarks to this effect before, but it seems to me that immigration officers in New York are much more straightforward to deal with as compared to other ports of entry into the United States. This is not to say that they’re more lenient — I find that Homeland Security professionals are pretty serious about their work regardless of where they are — but rather that there’s much less added baggage in the way they process travelers. In San Francisco, for instance, there’s just too many questions unnecessary questions asked and suspicious glances offered (or maybe I’m just paranoid). In New York? Much more businesslike. I would think it has something to do both with the city culture and the volume of visitors they process. That said, is it just me or are immigration officers trained to ask you questions without actually looking at you?

Misquote of the day. From the flight attendant, upon landing: “Please remain seated as the jetway is not yet connected to the gate.” Now wouldn’t that have been scary?

Hello, Friend. I met up with my good friend Carlo while I was in New York. He’d just moved there some time ago, though we saw each other last when he was visiting and while I happened to still be living there. I asked him if he managed to meet up with any of our other friends that have also visited the city, and his reply was that I was probably the one person he’s seen the most in New York. Thinking back: he was right. He’d visited when I first moved to New York and started grad school, visited again right when I was moving out having finished my coursework, and here I was with a chance to see him again now that I was scheduled to present my dissertation proposal. Personally, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the next time I get to see him will be when I graduate.

The upside of BPO. Something I realized: Because there are no call centers in Manhattan like there are in Metro Manila, there are few places to grab a bite to eat at 3am. Sure, I’ve heard New Yorkers trumpet “the city that never sleeps” schtick over and over again, but as far as I’m concerned they don’t know what that really means until they experience the convenience of a 24-hour MiniStop right when you get the munchies at an ungodly hour.

When the jet lag set in. I was fine for all of two days when I arrived. Then past midnight (EST) on what should have been the third day, I was roused from my sleep by several beeps from my phone. There were a couple of work-related messages from people who didn’t know I was away. After that, my sleep cycle stayed out of sync for the remainder of the trip.

Dissertation Proposal — Done! The presentation of my dissertation proposal went well, thank you very much. By that yardstick alone, the trip was well worth it.

Out of sight, out of mind. I didn’t realize how much stress I was under until after I was done with the scheduled presentation. Strictly speaking, there wasn’t much for me to do prior to that as the paper had already been written, slides prepared, and feedback from the very people to whom I’d be presenting to was already in hand. Really, all I had to do was show up and deliver the presentation. Still, after the presentation it felt as if a huge load was lifted off my back. I must be getting soft in my old age.

How’s the weather. Overall, I was lucky that New York experienced good weather for most of my trip. Right before, there’d been a couple of snowstorms; a few days after I left, there would be a couple more. While I did experience the rain that preceded these on my last full day in the city, I’m glad that the weather cooperated, making the trip possible and allowing it to go on without a hitch. Well, aside from a delayed to my outbound flight, which in the grand scheme of things hardly counts.

Chuga-chuga-choo-choo! While waiting to board the flight home, there were a couple of kids running around outside the departure gate. One was Chinese (the flight back would also be via Hong Kong, of course); the other Caucasian. Apparently, they were pretending to be trains, exclaiming “Chuga-chuga-choo-choo!” and making quite a ruckes from one end of the waiting terminal to the other. As I watched, it struck me that these kids probably wouldn’t be able to understand each other given the language barrier, and yet here they were happily playing together to their hearts content. Truly, childhood is its own universal language.

Again with the forms. It happened again: once more, I ended up on the receiving end of customer feedback forms. I rest my case.

Litmus test. It bears mentioning that prior to boarding my return flight home I was on the receiving end of the new security procedure whereby passengers are randomly screened for traces of explosive chemicals. My hands were swabbed, the swab was analyzed by some machine, and only after the results came back (thirty seconds later?) was I allowed to proceed on. Surprisingly, it doesn’t take as much time as I thought it would when I read about the new procedures in the news; still, multiplied by the number of travelers that might have to go through this — I wasn’t the only one, so there’s no discrimination here folks — it can potentially be an enormous hassle if this security screening becomes SOP.

A-team, B-team; New and old. On the way to New York, I ended up on noticeably newer aircraft, with well trained crews, on flights that weren’t full. I think there’s something telling in that. For the journey home, I noticed I was in relatively older aircraft, slightly less polished crews, and the flights themselves packed to capacity. I think there’s something telling in this, too. For each, though, I can’t say what exactly.

Random Travel Notes 12 August 31, 2009

The twelfth installment of Random Travel Notes (to Singapore and Back edition)!

Finally: Progress. Was surprised to discover that the Philippine Bureau of Immigration introduced a new departure card since the last trip overseas. Was even more surprised to learn that this new card is at least on its second iteration already: we were asked to fill out different ones since those we’d already accomplished from the travel agent were apparently outdated. In some small way, it’s nice to know that there is some process improvement going on at the airport, however superficial.

How the Other Half Lives. Curious: do airlines decide to have passengers disembark by moving past the pricier cabins (First and Business Class) just so you get to see what you’re missing? I wonder.

Equal Opportunity Cabbie. Upon arriving in Singapore, we managed to flag down a cab whose driver was female, Muslim, and who formerly had a desk job at some unnamed office. Personally, something about one person having this collection of attributes is simply noteworthy.

Wife in the City. Although business was the order of the day for this trip, the wife came along as well since opportunity was just too good to pass up. This posed a challenge since it was her first time to visit Singapore and I couldn’t show her around for most of our stay. But she acquitted herself magnificently, managing to find her way around town on her own. She even discovered a free shuttle within the environs of our hotel that we didn’t know about despite having stayed there a number of times already. Good job!

Passing on the Pohpiah. The parents (and now the wife, too) have taken a liking to pohpiah. Unfortunately, the allure is still lost on me.

Are you sure? Try this for confusing: the corporate headquarters of United Overseas Bank (UOB) is at UOB Plaza. UOB plaza just so happens to be across the OUB Centre, the flagship property of the former Overseas Union Bank, which UOB acquired in 2001. So just telling a cabbie that you have to go to one or another building tends to bring about a double take. More, if you get off at OUB Centre, one of the first things you see as you walk through the entrance is (get this) a UOB ATM. It’s simple enough to just walk on over to the other complex if one happens to be dropped off at the wrong entrance, but even I have to wonder whether this is a sign that Singaporeans do indeed have quirky sense of humor.

Secondhand Designer Bags. While navigating the above OUB/UOB confusion, came across a branch of Madam Milan, a store that allows people to trade (or purchase) “preowned designer handbags.” Personally, it seems like a strange proposition, but then in the age of vanity and luxury brands, it somehow doesn’t surprise me.

Lights Out, Carry On. During a breakfast meeting, an electrical failure in the building we were in caused most of the lights in the restaurant to go out. I dare say that all the other diners more than took the unfortunate incident in stride: after a brief pause to take in the situation, everyone simply went on with whatever business they were doing before the interruption, without so much fanfare. It’s a marked difference from how I would think Filipinos would respond if the same were to happen in the Philippines, where blackouts are nothing out of the ordinary yet are typically greeted with audible exclamations of surprise.

Jacketing. While in Bangkok for the honeymoon, the wife and I bought some books at a branch of Kinokuniya and availed of the plastic covers that they wrap on your purchases as a complimentary service. Buying some books from their branch in Singapore, we hoped to enjoy the same benefit, only to learn that “jacketing” costs an additional SG$1 per book. If this is an example of adapting business practices to local conditions, I guess this speaks volumes about the Singapore market’s purchasing power. Yet whether this is a sign that the store is using the charge to discourage the consumption of plastic or instead make additional profit given customers’ purchasing power, I haven’t really decided.

Gaming on the Go. Offhand, I’d say I spied more people playing with PSPs than with Nintendo DSes around town, by a ratio of at least six to one. This more or less conforms with similar observations I’ve had in New York, although I’ve observed more people in the Big Apple use the PSP as a media device (whereas in Singapore, folks were actually playing games). Just saying is all.

Nobody Loves Me Anymore? At first, it looked like I wouldn’t be able to meet with any friends in Singapore. But soon enough, meetings were arranged and in the end the wife and I managed to meet with all but two friends we’d hoped to see while we were in town. Funny how things work out. Good times.

Rain, Rain, Go Away. Having lived in the city previously, I was well aware of how quickly rain could set in around this time of year. True enough, during our stay we had our fair share of overcast skies and brief showers; thankfully, the weather didn’t get in the way of our plans. More, the only time it really poured was on our way to the airport to catch the flight home. So all in all, good fortune does a good trip make.

Top Flight Service July 13, 2009

A brief missive about the trip I’d been meaning to write about:

On our return leg, we repaired to Cathay Pacific’s Business Class lounge during a two-hour layover in Hong Kong. There, my dad took a moment to catch up on his cellphone messages.

When we arrived in Manila, he discovered the phone was missing.

After ascertaining that it hadn’t been misplaced on the plane, we came to the conclusion that it had been left behind in Hong Kong. On the off chance someone might have found it, I tried giving it a ring on the ride home. At first, no luck. But on my second attempt I got through to the sound of a woman’s voice on the other end of the line.

The conversation that ensued was none too easy between the poor reception and an apparent language barrier (she was obviously Chinese), but we somehow managed. I explained who I was, to whom the celphone belonged, and asked who she was in return. She explained that she worked for Cathay Pacific, had been the one who found the phone, and completely understood the situation. Thinking that we were still in the Hong Kong airport, she asked what flight we were on so the phone could be rushed over. I told her that we’d already left, providing the necessary flight details. As it became increasingly apparent that we wouldn’t able to resolve the matter then and there, I asked if it would be possible to just coordinate via email. Thankfully, she found it a sensible suggestion, took down my email address, and promised that her supervisor would be in touch with me the next day.

Come morning, I was in the office with my dad waiting to hear from the airline, beginning to worry that maybe my email address wasn’t taken down correctly. Yet before my anxiety go the better of me, I received a call from the local Cathay Pacific office.

They’d already flown the phone in on the first flight to Manila that day.

We dispatched a messenger to pick up the phone for us. All told, less than 24 hours after the phone had been left behind, it was back in my dad’s hands safe and sound.

Sadly, I can’t recall the name of the woman who took my call late that night and patiently talked through the problem at hand (my fault entirely). Whoever she was, she is certainly a credit to the Cathay organization, and the airline is certainly lucky to have her. As for Cathay Pacific itself? Let me just say that I wish all airlines took care of their customers as well as we were taken care of during this little mishap. In the calculus of dollars and cents, it may have been cheaper for everyone concerned to have just given up the phone for lost. Yet simple acts like these are precisely what build brand equity and customer loyalty.

So thanks Cathay Pacific. Hope to be flying with you again soon.