My POE Experience - Detroit, Michigan USA
Departure City - Manila, Philippines
Destination - San Antonio, Texas USA
Date of Departure - May 03, 2008
Date of Arrival - May 03, 2008
via NW Airlines
Definition of Terms:
POE - Point of Entry
A port of entry is a place where one may lawfully enter a country. It typically has a staff of persons who check passports and visas and inspect luggage to assure that contraband is not imported. International airports are usually ports of entry, as are road and rail crossings on a land border. Seaports can be used ports of entry only if a dedicated customs presence is posted there. The choice of whether to become a port of entry is up to the civil authority controlling the port; In the USA, for example, Los Angeles and San Diego are ports of entry whereas Newport Beach is not.
CUSTOMS
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country. Depending on local legislation and regulations, the import or export of some goods may be restricted or forbidden, and the customs agency enforces these rules.
IMMIGRATION
Immigration refers to the movement of people between countries. While the movement of people has existed throughout human history at various levels, modern immigration implies long-term, legal, permanent residence. Short-term visitors and tourists are considered non-immigrants (see expatriate). Immigration across national borders in a way that violates the immigration laws of the destination country is termed illegal immigration. Under this definition, an illegal immigrant is a foreigner who either illegally crossed an international political border, be it by land, water, or air, or a foreigner who legally entered a country but nevertheless overstays his/her visa in order to live and/or work therein. Seasonal labour migration, while generally non-permanent in nature (typically for periods of less than a year), is often treated as a form of immigration.
My visa on hand Experience....
We finally got our visa on hand May 2nd of 2008... after tracing and calling all branches of UPS, and never succeeded, a person on foot came to the dormitory where i lived and looking for me... Everybody knows that i am waiting for my visa, so they know when to call me fast when that person comes... May 2nd was a Friday... and that means that it is the end of the week wherein every offices in town closes.. The rule is, once you get your visa, you have to go to CFO Philippines for stamping of the passport or else you will not be allowed to depart the country and will cause more delays... guess what... hubby and i wanted really badly to fly as soon as we get the visa... so at 3 in the afternoon, the guy who delivers the visa (DELBROS) came and handed me the package... i ran fast as i can to get a taxi and go to that place (like an hour travel from my place, duh! the traffic included) to have my passport stamped... was praying hardly that id be able to reach their office even before they close... oh yes! God answers prayers! i did made it!!
was done with the stamping few minutes before 5pm.... called my hubby fast to give him go signal buy the ticket online... (we cant buy ticket not unless we are really sure im done with the stamping... so much money involved you know...) when i got home i had the ticket emailed to my email account... printed it fast, went back to the dorm, got online and talked to my hubby....
My travel and POE experience...
Guess what!?? my flight is 6am May 03, that is the next morning... Saturday!!!! whhhhaaaaaaaaaat!!!??? hahhahaha... it is happening sooooooooo fast i can barely grasp the idea, bwahhahahha... my gosh... let me sit first and breath some air... i just got home from a jifffy ride to get a stamp, and now im leaving few hours from now... 6 am means... you have to be there around 2am... and guess what, its 5pm Friday when i found out! eeeeeeehhhhaaaaaaaaa!!!! Ill be in Texas few hours from now and be with my hubby dubby... eeeeeeeeeeeeehhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!
anxiety....
ok.. so i didnt sleep... excitement, feelings of anxiety, hunger but no appetite, tiredness came... i just cant believe that im coming home finally to the love of my life... after soooo many years of waiting... here we are... the end of the road... finally be together!! soooooooooon... sooooo soooooooonnn....
sending me off...
Cousins send me off to NAIA Terminal 1 at 2am... checked in at NW airlines... falling in line for hours even before the check in counter opens... gosh, my luggage are heavier than me, that i can hardly lift it to the cart... geeeeeezz,, people are just looking at me, why dont they help for Chrriissake... ok.. so there.. i checked in... followed where the crowd is... ( i suggest if you are flying to the US, before you fall in line to check in, pay the TRAVEL TAX FIRST!!!(1600.00 pesos something something...) look for the counter which says TRAVEL TAX because they have to collect their money FIRST!! or else at the check in counter, they wont give you your itinerary and ask you to pay the TAX first and come back... what happened to me actually... ) ok... so check in... i paid travel tax, went back to the lady at the check in counter... got my luggages checked in... and got my itinerary... and then went out of the airport to see my cuzinz for the last time that day... gave them stuff like my fone and some cash, bid them farewell and got back in to the airport...
the long wait...Northwest Airlines, what have you done??@!?
went inside the airport, paid the terminal fee (again, another fee... geeez.. 750.00 pesos) then went to immigration, unbuckle your belts, take off your shoes and coats, put your purse in the xray machine, geeezz how many times have i done that til i got to the US... in Japan connecting flight, they did that too... in the boarding area in Manila, they did that too... in the US, they did that too.. no more trustworthy people in the world nowadays huh....
boarding area...
ok so i was there at the boarding area... talked to some passengers once in a while, smile at a few... then waited for more hours... mind you... i didnt sleep... the flight is 6am... its 430am and im still waiting and never got inside the plane yet... ok... 5am is the boarding... finally... oh my finally... i got in... a lady approached me (japanese lady..) and asked if i can swapped seats with his hubby coz they are a family with a kid... so i did... my kindness for the day... i did... but its a good thing since the seat swapped to me was closer to the door... an easy access for getting off the plane... yiipppeeeeeee... was seated in between two Filipinos... which is good... not in the mood talking American yet... hehehhe... the only regret i had swapping is.... i didnt bring my unopened blanket with me.. since when i got to the new seat, the blanket was already used by the japs guy... sucks.. no can do, cant go back there and get mine now... too late...
delayed flight....
ok... our flight is 6am said NWA... it was 7am.. no plane flying... it was 8am.. no plane running... it was 9am... no sound of plane leaving.... what the heck are we doing here??????? NWA announced... we are giving you free breakfast at the resto's in the airport... you can enjoy the buffet blah blah blah.... omg, the plane needs to be fixed and they need to look for the parts of the plane from other planes...no way... are you kidding meeeeeeeeee... not a good sign for a first timer like meeeeeeeeeee... omg..... all you 300 people out of the plane now!!!!!( i really dunno how many were in the plane that time.. ) but its hundreds for sure... so we went through all that process again.. out of the plane... got some food from the buffet, met some passengers in the plane... and going back to the boarding gate going through all that metal detection thing, undressing and all that.. what a waste of time.........
finally we are moving....
so finally... around 930am... the plane finally started... people are smiling and exhausted... i saw plane running in the runway... and then we flew... and flew and flew... higher, and higher and higher.. and it was ear deafening, and higher.. it was ear pressure hurting... and went higher, and there... finally we are flying high.... my ear hurts, i cant stop yawning... i wish i had brought candy and gum with me to relieve the pressure... oh my.. but thank God we are now moving towards our destination....
the food was great... all you do in the plane is eat... sleep... peeee... eat.... sleep... talk... people watching......... watch movie... eat... talk..... peeee... sleep.. hahhaha... its boring... yes it is... i dont want to travel alone... hate it...
Nagoya Japan....
so we had a connecting flight in Nagoya Japan... just follow the crowd and for sure you will reach where you need to be... your gate is just there somewhere... go with the flow, stick to someone you think knows the way... if that someone turns out to not know the way too.. well, you are screwed... hehehhehehe....Japans architecture is undenyingly superb!! it was beautiful... the design is too much to handle... hahahha (well, for someone like me coming from a third world country...) the Japs Plane Attendants are beautiful, but cant speak fluent English as Filipinos can... but they are friendly... so all good...
DETROIT, MICHIGAN....
okay... i am excited... after Japan is DETROIT!!!!!! yippeeeeeeeee... what is waiting for me in Detroit... omg.. i dunno.. and im anxious.... ok... we landed Detroit, and im excited... went out of the plane... looked for the line for VISAS... took out the brown envelope, and a black lady immigration officer saw me holding the brown envelope, so she guided me to the other line (good thing since no people in that line...) and processed my papers... she took my envelope, took a picture of me... had my finger scanned... and stapled the form i got from the plane in my passport, and said have a good day! man!! i was expecting a Welcome to America Greeting!!!! that sucks... but its all good.. at least she is nice....
Baggage Claim....CUSTOMS..
okay... im done with immigration... i got to get my luggage in the carousel... they announced that it should be in carousel 1 or 2... so i went there... finally saw the luggage bag with all the yellow tapes on it (hahhaha.. i made it that way to easily find it...) the problem was... i cant lift it up... i cant get it out of the carousel... omg... i need help.... was looking around... looking for help... saw this guy walking... i stopped him and asked help... was so brave of me to stop busy people walking and ask for help... hahhaha... but thank God.. he helped... and with a smile too... that was awesome!!! he helped me put it in my cart and off i go... i said thank you and smiled... wow, that was a relief.... next stop is customs.... fallen in line again... this tall man in uniform approached me and asked for my visa... i showed him... i asked where the custom is... he said, I AM THE CUSTOMS... hahahha. and we both laughed... and had a small chit chat... and there... followed the line... when i reached the counter... just showed him the customs form and passport... and off i went....
IN the AIRPORT....
next stop... followed the arrow for connecting flights.... and there i left my luggage bag to where the NW lady told me to... then went to that detector again... oh yeah... the last detector for the day!!!! i went in... smelled the US AIRPORT SMELL.... oh yeah... i see a lot of white people... oh yeah im finally in the states!!!!!!!!! eeeeeeeehhhhhhhhaaaaaaa... i saw a money changer.. i have like 500 pesos with me... and i changed it all to dollars since i got no money with me... just my debit card (my hubby's) so i had money... i walked going to my boarding gate...... it was a looooooooooooooooong walk... i must say... it is HUGE AIRPORT.... wow... and oh yeah, the restrooms are WOW!!! everything sensored... the flushing of the toilet... the faucet... the PAPER TOWEL DISPENSER!! never seen that before... man... im really in a first world country huh...
with my dollars... hahhaa.. i bought water from the Vending Machine... looked for a pay phone... and used all my coins to call my hubby dubby....... was sooooooooooooo nice to talk to him again... knowing that i will be with him in the next few hours.. the feeling is overwhelming.... it happpened sooooooooooo fast... (we waited so long for this...) and now its happening so fast...
was hungry.... my first fastfood experience in the US was taco bell.. and then waited at the gate for my flight... i was cold... a tiny skinny like me will get cold fast in that airport...
my last flight....
finally going to my last flight!!!!!!!!!! eeeeehhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaa... texas here i come.. oh baby here i come....... showed the guy my boarding pass at the gate... went to my seat... i was anxious who will be my seatmate was.... but the plane flew and i got no seatmate!!!! yippppeeeeeeeeeeeee..... it was nice.. i can enjoy the 3 seats on my own.. oh yeah.... i arrived SAT aorund 9pm... followed the crowd again... and there....... finally......... after all these years....... finally im not the one waiting at the airport...... but him......... my hubby........ looking so handsome in orange shirt....... waiting for meeeeeeeee........... my one and only.......... gave him a big hug and a kiss....... and finally he said.. Welcome to America!!!!!!!!!!! he took me to the parking lot.. and when i opened the door of our truck... saw balloons and flowers waiting for meeeeeeeeee....
my happy ending.................... at last............
The End....
