Super Bowl Sunday


Today is Super Bowl Sunday.  I was supposed to depart on my flight to Guam today.  Key word = supposed.  Well a funny thing happened on the way to the runway.  My flight from Richmond, Virginia departed the gate on time this morning.  We taxied out to the runway without incident.  Then we sat there for a while.  After the delay, the captain announced that he was unable to get the right hand engine started and that we were returning to the gate.

After arriving there, he summoned the maintenance crew who worked on the problem and discovered that the the engine starter was inoperative.  The delay meant that I would not make my next connection to Tokyo.  The airline agent rebooked me for the next set of flights.  I now will leave tomorrow morning.  That means another 3 AM wake up and 4 AM drive to the airport.  Then I fly 2 hours to Atlanta, 15 hours to Tokyo, and another 4 hours to Guam.  And of course, add in the 2-3 hours of layover at each airport.  I'm scheduled to arrive the following day at 11:40 PM.  From the initial take off, until the final landing, that is a full 24 hours enroute.  I'm sure I'll be totally wiped out by then.

But, it's no problem.  I could have had the breakdown while at the Atlanta airport where, instead of getting to come home for the night, I could spend a night in a hotel.  Or, we could have taken off, sustained an inflight emergency and either ended up at an airport that has few amenities, or even crashed.  So, all in all, not a bad day.

I got back home at about 11 AM this morning.  I've got my suitcases, I spent the day with my sweetie, and I get to watch the Super Bowl!