more fun with sky high wifi ...

I don't know what it is about me and the return end of airline travel, but it just doesn't seem to work out well for me. On the bright side, I tend to have smooth outbound flights that are filled with good karma (note 5/11 entry) ... no traffic, no lines, decent seat, on-time arrival, first bag off the baggage carousel, you get the idea - it's usually something akin to those old British Airways ads: "this lane for Sloan".

But the return leg of the journey? Not so much. Like today for example. "This lane so not for Sloan". Today I think I may have encountered every possible reason for travel delay - all in one simple non-stop flight. Mechanical problem? check. Plane needs new part? check. Part needs to be flown in from another state? check. Special mechanics need to come in from an hour away? check. Original flight crew had to time out due to the extended mechanical delay? check. New flight crew delayed in arriving? check. En route thunderstorms forced a detoured flight plan? check. Circled my hometown airport for an hour while said weather moves out? check. You get the idea. It's been a comedy of errors but without the comedy. And I'm writing about it all while I circle round and round and round in my airplane high in the sky. 7 hours late ...

The toughest part is that I'll miss that exuberant airport greeting from my two sweet girls who I've missed so much over the last 3 days, for they have long ago gone to sleep ... I will arrive to an empty, sleepy airport in the middle of the night with no one waiting for me. So depressing. It's not easy for a complainer like me, but I really must force myself to see the bright side: we'll land in the clear weather behind the storm line, I'll be in my own bed shortly after midnight, I'll collect my hugs and kisses in the morning ... and, oh yeah, that mechanical problem was discovered while the plane was on the ground and not 36,000 feet up. I guess life isn't so bad after all ...