- Back to the Philippines
From the time we landed in Cebu, the heat, the dust, the rampant poverty, the crowds, the traffic--oh, the traffic--yet I missed this place. Well, we had a safe trip, not without a few mishaps. In Columbia when we were checking in, the attendant told us that the Philippine government demands an on-going or return ticket before entry. While that's true in most cases, they allow a balikbayan privilege: if one of a husband or wife is a returning Filipino, the other, the foreigner, can stay for one year without a return ticket. The attendant was nice and polite, but also very helpful. While I desperately looked for a throw away ticket to buy, s he stayed on the phone with her superiors for about twenty minutes until she got the answer we needed. We could proceed. When we got to Atlanta, without our prior knowledge or consent, they told us that because of weight considerations, our luggage would not be travelling with us. They did not know when it would arrive. Sure enough, when we ar