Jet Lag Sucks

April 29, 2008 American time
This is gonna be the last day of that hectic American vacation and we're going back to Disneyland in Anaheim for California Adventure.

It's obviously smaller than Disneyland proper, but it has a few surprises that will make you come back. One of them is Soarin' Over California which is also the first attraction we went to and it was a favorite- or rather, my mom's favorite- because she clearly wanted to go back for a second ride on that flight simulator. Oh right, it was a flight simulator that realistically portrayed people- complete with the series of seats raised up a few feet from the floor- flying over the various cities of California, and the wind would also change according to the environment. For example, when we're floating over a beach, the air would simulate a sea breeze going on your face, or when we're soaring up to the air to avoid the surfers, we'd actually feel like it even when the seats don't go up. It's kinda like a goodly engineered 3D movie, sans the dorky glasses and more of that realism.

But anyway, we also went around the ferris wheel which was near the flagship California Screamin' roller coaster ride and the spinning chairs in an orange, and my brother and sister would ride the rotating chairs contained inside an orange while my father and mother lets an artist make a caricature of them. We didn't want to get wet this time around since we were gonna go to the airport the same day for a 1:00+ flight. We'd eat some ribs for lunch, some hotdogs and corndogs for snack time, and watch some 3D films like Muppet-Vision and the A Bug's Life inspired "It's tough to be a bug". The Bug's Life 3D movie was funny with stinging on your back and the "bugs" crawling on your butt, while the Muppet-Vision is...

When 5pm struck, we went to the entrance to wait for the shuttle home when I discovered that I left the DS in the hotdog stand. I ran, the thing wasn't there. I checked my bag again, and- false alarm- it was there. Just there. I ran back and we rode to LAX.

We were first in line (in the check-in line) and we had to wait for the line to actually open. However, when it was already open an hour later, we tried to check in our bags and showed our ticket and guess what? We missed the flight one day ago. And it wasn't long ago when I'd remember them (my dad, mom and sister) arguing over the time we were supposed to be in LAX. It wrote: April 28, 2008 1:45pm and one would say, if it was 1:45pm it should've been April 29 written on the thing, and the other would say, we'd still be home by April 30 Philippine time if we went to LAX on April 29 even though after 1:45, it would be April 30 in America. It was very confusing considering the time zones but it didn't have to be! It was very clear! But then, there was the itinerary the travel agent gave us. It was stated clear, especially in the expenses sheet, that we had to go to California Adventure on this day... This day.

We were now set for Stand-By and the person representing Cathay Pacific would say that we should wait till 10:20 so we can know whether we can ride the 11:45 flight. And wait (and eat) we did. In between, I bought a magazine because I was too lazy to read Neverwhere, and my brother got Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii. Of course, since it's my avatar in YM, I'd be happy, but something more important was the fact that we were in uncertainty as to whether we could actually ride the 11:45 plane. Fortunately, we got seats located in the back, and we were one of the first to board.

The 13 hours of flight would make the time out of control again, but after that time in the plane where I met merely 2-3 hours of sleep for some reason, we got to Hong Kong airport.

May 1, 2008 Hong Kong/Philippine time
It's Labor Day! But since we missed our flight the day before, we had to wait again and be on stand-by for the flight bound to Manila. My brothers played DS and we were just there on chairs at least, because at LAX, we had to stand up for hours (from 6-10:20)!

But unlike the delayed flight we had before we went to America from Hong Kong days ago, fortune once again chose us to be able to ride the 9am flight for Manila. It was another hour and 30 minutes at the plane and minutes at the grueling baggage check. We practically flew through the other processes and went home.

But surprisingly, jet lag was worse coming here than arriving there. Still, at least I get to not exercise tomorrow because of the nausea my body experienced. It was like my feet were walking on its own at some point and I just had to sleep. And at 8pm I did. The other people in the family watched the Idol elimination where the next day I'd find out, was Brooke White (finally). Still, I wanted Jason Castro to get out first, but whatever.

May 2, 2008
Now my body has sort of settled down, with mild nausea here and there, but the pissing thing is, I also experienced the infamous Wii Disc Error accompanied with the Super Smash Bros. Brawl Wii game, and I was like, after weeks of waiting, I get this?! Why'd Nintendo make a game that they probably know can't run on all Wii systems?! Why do high-rated games have to be so elusive to us in pirated shores?! And if it were pirated, why does Nintendo put bricking for that specific title?! Damn! The game we had was already original and yet it still can't be played! This is ultimate suckage, right? Especially since you have to send it to Nintendo America for that, and we bought Super Smash Bros. at the freaking airport at Los Angeles! You can call this one of the ultimate rip-offs of gaming history because it's so damn expensive (as usual) when it's original, and it's an AAA title to boot!