Sojourn la Vida: Armenia Mania - Early Surprises!!!

November 29 2013 7:00am: Travel ala Dora the Explorer

Complete with my sturdy black Delsey laptop bag (sans laptop...as I just love the multi-pocket design which is perfect for travelling!), I sat on my small 14kg luggage to be able to zipped in all the newly bought thermal clothes from Columbia store at MOE (did I told you the winter clothes are on sale???) while breaking in my new winter boots. I headed to Terminal 2 past 4am on a foggy morning via hired taxi. All travel documents protected in one plastic envelope, I checked-in the ticket counter and grab my airline ticket. So to say, my fellow travelers are quite bemused as I am the ONLY Filipina who was in-line among them, and yes I do stand out even if I'm a little bit less than 5 feet as they were all towering above me.

Red is my favorite color...fate once again???

Marhaba Lounge - As soon as I got my immigration exit stamp, I went to the Customer Service Desk who happened to have a Filipino guy. I hurriedly asked him for the direction of the loo as my bladder is screaming expletives at me. Oh well, I was too excited to even relieve myself before going to the airport, so basically it was entirely my fault. Well, I was in for another surprise! The guy was kind enough to ask if I have a credit card (although I was totally confused, wondering if he heard my queries correctly or he was deaf as he kept saying "ha? again? sorry?" simultaneously in one span of breath... come on, I was asking for the loo...not a Duty Free!) But despite my growing impatience and bladder, I said "yes, I do have my credit card with me" with a highly noticeable increase of my soprano voice. Then he told me to check out the Marhaba lounge, in which he added politely "they have a nice comfort room there and you can get free snacks/wifi/reading materials as you wait for your flight. The Marhaba reception will announce your flight on the public address system. Thank you." Then, it was my turn to say "ha? sorry? did I heard it alright? Free? Something is free???" and one nod of affirmation from him, my face cracked into the biggest, sweetest smile I can muster and hurriedly checked the Marhaba Lounge.

a morning dawn flight...lovely!

Apparently, my credit card was acceptable (I have yet to thank my company for putting me in that category) and I was able to relieve myself in a no-queue toilets. Munching some midnight snacks and catching up on some dailys, I almost forgot to listen to the PA announcing my flight which was ready for boarding in about thirty minutes. Well, you can't blame me as I spent the whole Thursday in a whirlwind of activities to get prepared for this impromptu holiday. As I fall in the queue of fur-coated Armenian-Russian travellers (yes, this time people are obviously gawking at me as I'm the only non-European looking person among them!), we were instructed to wait for the bus at the boarding gate to take us to the plane.

Economy ala Business Class - who would have thought that there is a business class in an economy row???? Well, that only happens if you are lucky enough not to have seatmates throughout the entire flight... that my dear, automatically translates that the three rows of seat is all mine to stretch and behold! An instant business class upgrade! Who can ask for more? Did I also mentioned that the flight was a bit jam-packed and it was only my row that was totally empty from the two other travelers, who according to the flight attendant had cancelled at the last minute? Is this fate showing off at me and taunting me that all I have to do is to believe? Alrighty, it happened and I accept it gratefully, if not excitedly....this flight is really meant for me!