10/02 – SAN. There’s nothing like the knowledge that the airline system has probably tagged me as a traveler to watch. I have all the trigger signs that are in the system. I’m traveling on a one-way ticket to the Middle East. I have only carry-on luggage. I’m flying buisness class. My tickets were issued by a travel agency in Dubai and I have an Arabic/English ticket jacket. And, I have a new passport that has never been used and it beeped when the airline agent ran it through the computer. I went through secondary search in San Diego without any fanfare. My breakfast got smushed but it was still edible. I would have checked my bags I decided that the luxury of having all of my luggage with me when I get off the plane in Dubai would be worth the effort of carrying it around.
ORD – Weather delays in Chicago, wouldn’t you know it! A freak thunderstorm came through and delayed all the flights. I was pretty worried that I would miss my connection in London. After a 90 minute delay, the plane was finally off. Now I was so stressed that I couldn’t sleep so that 7.5 hours went by really slow. To make it worse, once we landed there was a plane at our gate and we had to wait even longer. The clock was ticking away. Several people had already missed their flights. I had 33 minutes to go and I was still on the plane. I finally got off and the gate agent told me to go fast because there was only one flight a day to Dubai and if I missed it, I’d be staying in London. I ran to catch the T-4 shuttle and of course, it wasn’t there. The shuttle shows up and I’m off to T-4 only to find a long wait for security. I hit the bypass line, get through security, and check with the next gate agent. I’m now down to 13 minutes. He looks at my ticket, does a double take and tell me, "go up the stairs and run!" Gate 25 is a long ways away. It’s probably the most remote gate at T-4. I run and have to weave in and out of people in the main concourse. I finally see a sign for gates 22-25 and it’s a big long tunnel that’s all uphill with twists and turns. I hear my name getting paged but there’s nothing I can do. Another twist in the tunnel and I think I see light. I even see a sign that says 22. Then I hear my name again with the announcement that the flight is closed. Ugh! I have to get to that plane. Another sprint and I can see small dots that are people and I turn up the speed. They see me coming and hold the doors. I’m the last one on the plane and everyone has to look at me to see who held them up. I don’t care, I’m on the plane!
10/03 So here I am in Dubai. I’ve been flying for over 24 hours and I’m tired. The coffee maker hasn’t arrived in the room so I guess I don’t get one. I’ve waited 45 minutes and I’m giving up. It’s time to sleep!
ORD – Weather delays in Chicago, wouldn’t you know it! A freak thunderstorm came through and delayed all the flights. I was pretty worried that I would miss my connection in London. After a 90 minute delay, the plane was finally off. Now I was so stressed that I couldn’t sleep so that 7.5 hours went by really slow. To make it worse, once we landed there was a plane at our gate and we had to wait even longer. The clock was ticking away. Several people had already missed their flights. I had 33 minutes to go and I was still on the plane. I finally got off and the gate agent told me to go fast because there was only one flight a day to Dubai and if I missed it, I’d be staying in London. I ran to catch the T-4 shuttle and of course, it wasn’t there. The shuttle shows up and I’m off to T-4 only to find a long wait for security. I hit the bypass line, get through security, and check with the next gate agent. I’m now down to 13 minutes. He looks at my ticket, does a double take and tell me, "go up the stairs and run!" Gate 25 is a long ways away. It’s probably the most remote gate at T-4. I run and have to weave in and out of people in the main concourse. I finally see a sign for gates 22-25 and it’s a big long tunnel that’s all uphill with twists and turns. I hear my name getting paged but there’s nothing I can do. Another twist in the tunnel and I think I see light. I even see a sign that says 22. Then I hear my name again with the announcement that the flight is closed. Ugh! I have to get to that plane. Another sprint and I can see small dots that are people and I turn up the speed. They see me coming and hold the doors. I’m the last one on the plane and everyone has to look at me to see who held them up. I don’t care, I’m on the plane!
10/03 So here I am in Dubai. I’ve been flying for over 24 hours and I’m tired. The coffee maker hasn’t arrived in the room so I guess I don’t get one. I’ve waited 45 minutes and I’m giving up. It’s time to sleep!
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