The Daily Ping

The longest day of flying ever for me took place Super Bowl Weekend 2008 – Had to go to to Honolulu for a convention that weekend.

Sounds great, right?

Here’s the notes I made of that day, scribbled furiously into my old Blackberry:

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6:45a EST – Plane leaves Philadelphia in 15 minutes. Looking forward to this! Gotta fly into Phoenix to connect, no problem.

8:30a – Still de-icing this plane. Great, now I’m gonna miss my connection.

9:45a – …finally, we’re off!

12:55 MST – In Phoenix, missed connection badly. Can’t get on another connection til after 3pm. Bah.

2:30p. No room on the 3:30. But got a ticket on a 6pm flight. At least I’ll get out of here tonight.

5:30p. Engine trouble. Flight delayed. AGAIN. Good God.

7:30p. On plane, now waiting for new crew..

9:30p. New crew here, we’re off.

2:45a HST: Dear Lord, this day will never end, and I’ve still got to drive to the hotel, check in, and be up in 2.5 hours for work. I’ll just leave my luggage in the car, what’s the worst that can happen?

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Ok, so I exaggerated the text, but it’s all completely true. The worst that could happen? Someone broke in my car in the 2.5 hours I was unconscious, and stole my luggage.

Worst trip EVAR.

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Of course, at least I was allowed to be in the terminal while waiting for these planes..horror stories like this are the reason there’s rules against waiting on the tarmac too long…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R06dAgpmmbg

14 hours in the air plus layover.

Moving back to the states from the Marshall islands – about 9000 miles from Kwajalein to Boston. There was airline strike happening. I remember sleeping in airports on two different occasions that trip. I think it took about 48 hours to make it to Boston, all of it spent in planes or airports.