11-11-11. Pasay, Philippines. To book or not to book, that is the question. Aside from the fact that the date begins in identical odd number, there is nothing bizarre about 11-11-11. I don’t know how but businesses have a way of making random things appear significant. To make tourists like me drool about the next big travel destination, ads about sale of airfare tickets are circulating on the net. Being that I am, I strategized for the best way to get that sought-after ticket (now blame capitalism for hardcore consumerism!).
It was past midnight and the unusually humid breeze of Christmas season made my sweat glands revolutionized. Groggy that I was, I woke up in the middle of the night just to achieve something I consider significant, life-altering, and schedule- transforming: ONLINE BOOKING. I see you laughing and yeah, I am a bit OC about travelling but I sorely needed to be the first one to avail of online promo tickets. There I was waiting for my internet connection and in a matter of split second; I was busy typing those airline websites. After a few moments, these websites seem to have technical problem and it said “SERVICE UNAVAILABLE THIS TIME”. I told myself it might only take a few seconds and in a jiffy I will be back on track. I tried using another search engine but the same thing happened. I tried time and again until past two am and realized I am just wasting my precious sleeping time. I went to bed, exhausted and frustrated. Coincidentally, since I have slept for a couple of hours, I can’t get my head still. I was trying all of my sleeping habits (counted my blessings, taking slow and deep breathe, counted backwards) but of no help. That made me furious and I swear to myself to tell my horrendous experience.
This online booking in an unholy hour experience made me realized that the early bird did not catch the worm or the second mouse got the cheese but the sleepy head gained more strength. I promised to myself I will never be a slave of consumerism again (cross my fingers). I barely slept when the alarm went loud and I can do nothing but to get my ass to the shower. After taking a bath, I tried checking those websites again and viola, I connected without a sweat (or is it because I just took a bath?). Unfortunately, those ads about big, big sale and discount are just plain advertisements. The fares are still priced beyond reach of an average bourgeois like me. Why can’t these airline websites be straightforward in their fares and include everything in their ads? Why should they separate fuel surcharge, taxes and web admin fee only to find out that the much-anticipated low fare is really not that low? Whew, what a humbling experience it was! The moral of the story: expect nothing because if it is too good to be true, it really is.
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