An Adventure to Remember, Part 2 - Hong Kong Airport

If you missed it, read about the first part of my adventure here.

I don't remember the flight from Cebu to Hong Kong. I remember sitting in the airport in Cebu, waiting. I remember disembarking (is that a word?) from the plane in Hong Kong, and running through what seemed like miles of terminal to get to our gate. Our flight was late arriving, and they were holding the flight to Vancouver for us.
The airport in Hong Kong is enormous. It seems like it goes on forever, and to get from one section to the other, you have to ride a subway for 4 or 5 minutes. It's huge. The group of us, eight in all, ran through the terminals as quickly as we could. We really weren't moving very fast, because we all had really bad sunburns, especially Kayla, my roommate and best friend. So, we hobbled/ran down to our gate, carrying our backpacks, pillows and purses, and praying that we wouldn't miss our flight. I couldn't even imagine what would happen if we missed our flight... hopefully get on the next one, I guess.

Just as they were giving the last call, we made it to the gate! Ah, sweet relief, we were going home. I was second or third in line, and after the attendant checked my passport, I stepped through the gate, but luckily not too far. I think I was waiting for David, hoping we'd have seats together and be able to sit together. I don't kno why I waited, but I'm thankful that I did. Kayla couldn't find her passport.

I walked back out of the gate, and helped her look through her backpack. It was soon discovered that her small purse was missing, which held not only her passport, but also her digital camera. We couldn't find it anywhere. The rest of the group had gotten through the gate, and weren't allowed back out. Peter, our group leader (who also had our money), had already boarded the plane, and I asked David to go get him so we could have the extra money for whatever we might be doing.

Peter returned and handed me the money through the gate. (I'm so thankful that I was able to get out of the gate while Kayla was looking, or she would have been all by herself) David didn't get to come back. They wouldn't let him. Then Peter returned onto the plane, took his seat, and they all left; Kayla and I watched them fly away.

It was a very strange feeling watching the plane that we were supposed to be on fly away without us. We just sat there for a few minutes. Kayla cried a little bit, and I was stunned, not knowing what to do next. Then we both got up, and followed the flight attendant down the hallway.