We finally got a good nights sleep! Probably the second one of this whole trip. It felt so good. The plan was to have a relaxing morning and our flight to Coron was at 12:30. We finally woke Ryder up at 9 when the rest of us were getting hungry. Before breakfast Ty called down to order our ride to the airport, and they told us with our flight time we should leave by 9:30. WHAT?! Cue freaking out, and frantic packing. We get down to lobby and there’s a giant line for breakfast. Ty checks out with the front desk and we push our airport ride back till 10:15. Thankfully the line for breakfast moves quickly.
Once inside the restaurant we’re inundated with an overwhelming amount of people, and noise. The restaurant was giant, and the staff were doing the best they could but they couldn’t pump out the food and drinks fast enough. As soon as something was brought out people would swarm it. It was crazy! I was so thankful we had a table off to the side, away from the path of the food.
With some food in our tummies and a desire to get out of there quickly we made it for our airport ride on time. Check in was fine, security wasn’t a big deal. We found some seats and waited out the 2 hours until our flight.
An hour later an announcement comes over the loud speaker that the Cebu Radar system has lost electricity and all flights are on hold. That sounds pretty terrible but we stay hopeful it won’t take long.
They keep making regular announcements and then they start offering snacks. Another hour later they cancel the first flight. So Ty gets up to check the board, and sure enough a bunch of flights have been cancelled, including ours. Staff is directing everyone out of the gates and to go back to the check in counters to talk with staff about rebooking. Ty and I separate. I go to our original check in area and he try’s a different section because by now the lines are outrageously long and there are several dozen flights that have been cancelled.
I get the kids set up at a coffee shop with some snacks, while I wait in line alone. After about 20 minutes I notice some people starting to shout at each other. As you would expect there’s some line drama, staff told people to stand here, other people join and didn’t realize. Now there are two lines and no one wants to lose their place and merge. Several big dudes are shouting, security shows up and starts making certain people move but not others, so more people are shouting. It was intense, but I thought I was fine. I was texting Ty and he said his area was a lot shorter and calmer. I kept thinking doubling our odds by being in two lines was smarter. However, when they started yelling and shouting at the lady right in front of me, I bailed on my line, grabbed my kids and got out of there. It was getting seriously unsafe.
Ty was like 10 people away from the front of a line that was half the length of the airport! He thankfully had just found it quickly while everyone else was in my area. Ty’s line also had a security guard at the front which I think really helped keep the peace.
We stood for over an hour just for him to get into the room with staff. Then it was another 30 minutes for him to see staff. It took just a few minutes for them to rebook us 3 days later! So frustrating because we have 4 days planned at our next island before flying out again, so it basically eliminated an entire destination for us.
We were able to get our suitcases back, thankfully. Got into another giant line for a taxi. It felt like that’s all we did today. While we were waiting Ty had found us a nearby hotel for the night. It was really basic, two twin beds in a box, but we were so thankful to have the rooms.
We spent the next hour frantically researching things to do in Cebu for the next two days, reaching out to friends who have traveled this area, looked into scraping this trip and traveling somewhere outside of the Philippines, and researching hotels. It was overwhelming and a brain buster for sure.
We dragged the kids to dinner at 6pm, we just went right to the little cafe in the hotel. It was surprisingly just what we needed, good basic food that was cheap. After dinner Ty, Ryder and I were going to get massages right next door to the hotel. I went to get Lincoln set up with the TV and nothing was working. No internet, no TV, staff members came up and worked on it to no avail. So I ended up hanging with Linc and skipping the massage.
Ty and Ryder said it was funky with mats on the floor but still worthwhile. They came back and Linc fell asleep while we were reading to him. Both kids were tuckered from an emotional roller coaster of a day. Honestly so were Ty and I. We did a bit more researching and then crashed out. Here’s hoping for better news tomorrow. ‘
