I Cried for 19 Hours During My Layover in Hong Kong
Here’s all the lies I had told why
Travelling is one of the best things to do in life, at least, for me; but travelling is different from moving.
Moving entails leaving something, a piece of ourselves behind whether it maybe something we want to get rid of or hold on to.
I remember getting that text from the visa office telling me my passport was ready to be picked up along with my visa, it was a strange feeling: not sadness but not happiness either.
It was on December 30th when I received the news and I immediately booked the cheapest flight from the Philippines to Canada.
I, at least, wanted to spend New Year’s Eve with my family, so I picked the night of January 1st — just as everyone was getting up from bed and shaking their hangovers I was leaving my home and whole life behind.
It was the cheapest flight and dare I say the crappiest for someone who’s been holding back tears for 2 days that day; a 19 hour layover in Hong Kong with no booked hotel, not even a winter jacket so I can roam around outside.
I’m moving to a country with zero close friends and family with 2 suitcases that are basically my whole life.
My family who are rarely emotional, got a little teary eyed. Nothing past that though — just hugs and a little sermon to make up for the upcoming years I’m not home. I think we all prefer crying by ourselves, we’re a wreck like that.
I didn’t get emotional until the nice lady at the check-in counter asked how long am I planning to stay in Canada. I think I startled her when my tears started flowing with my stoic face on, I think I even startled myself.
I was bawling my eyes out until I reached Hong Kong, which is not that far from my home land, about a 2 hour flight. No one dared to ask me what’s wrong, I looked like a crazy person.
It was a different set up in Hong Kong though, It was a more composed crying. I just lounged there or walked around crying , I said my hellos and good mornings to every personnel — I might be sad but it didn’t stop me from eating Chinese food.
Here’s the fun and deranged part of it all: of course people would ask what’s wrong. A nice couple from Germany asked if something got stolen from me or if I was lost — this is where it all started, my lying rendezvous in Hong Kong.
The Lies I’d Told
I’m not used to talking about my feelings, but I’m working on it, you can put your virtual torch down. I’m not sharing it with random people in an airport though.
If you’ve read my past articles, you’d know lying is something I enjoy doing (okay, light up the torch again), I don’t do it during serious situations though, only when I think they’re harmless, although my calls are not always right, just ask my ex.
I left my son in the Philippines
That is what I told the nice German couple: I left my son in the Philippines because I need to work abroad to give him a good life.
It’s a typical Filipino story — one that most if not everyone from a first world country cannot relate to.
Mothers leave their children to take care of other people’s children in another country — the world is cruel like that in my part of the world.
The German couple was nice enough to hand me some tissue and a cookie and they’d forever change the way I view Germans because of those simple acts.
I missed my flight
When this other girl who was sat across me asked why I was crying, I told her I missed my flight.
She told me to just book another one with a poker face. In my head I was like, “damn, the privilege”, if I were to actually miss my flight and had to book another one I would be so freaking broke.
There are a couple of other lies I’d told but I think those are best kept secret. Let’s just say if the Academy people had saw me, they’d hand me an award.
Now I had safely arrived here in Toronto, if anyone wants to show me how to commute around here, that would be fun because I suck at this stuff.
Getting out of our comfort zone is hard and painful but I can’t wait to see what the future holds for me and what this year would be like if I were to look back at it same time next year.
