ARGH.
Double argh.
My flight has been delayed.
Thank goodness it wasn’t cancelled, which when I was first checking in it did sound like it was, weather somewhere messing things up.
Not here.
Here, it’s clear as a bell, I can tell you, I don’t have to be up in the weather tower to tell you, I can just look out the window to the jet way.
The barren jetway where there is no plane, no plane at all.
I was to catch a red-eye leaving SFO, San Francisco International Airport, at 11:56 a.m. Which I was early for my check in anyhow, it happens that my commute time from train to BART was far faster than I suspected it would be and the terminal airport was empty.
No security line.
No standing in line.
An apologetic clerk at the front was the only indication to me that something was off. However, I was happy to be here, happy to be on my way, happy to be moving.
That is until I overheard someone in the terminal complain about the flight delay.
What flight delay?
Oh.
That one.
The one that I am on.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
Really?
Grr.
Thank goodness there’s a Pete’s Coffee and Tea in the terminal.
I got myself an apple and a cup of tea and flipped through my magazine for a while. I have plenty of time to blog, and fortunately there is free wifi here and plenty of outlets.
I have also three movies on down load in my computer, so I have plenty to do and I will be quite fine.
I splurged and bought an airplane travel pillow along with a bottle of water and the magazine from the kiosk in the terminal.
This is not the worst travel delay I have ever experienced, really, it’s just more of a hassle than anything else, one and a half hours less of sleep for me.
Hopefully my connecting flight will be on time.
The clerk did say that I should be able to make my flight, that in effect, I would just be spending the time that I would have in Atlanta in a waiting area, here in a waiting area.
All time is not my time.
I can choose, however, to make the best of it.
How often do I sit still anyhow?
Not very.
I will be tired I am sure, but in the end, it’s probably all for the best.
I have a hard time sleeping on airplanes.
I get super excited and it’s hard for me to get calm down enough to fly.
I did follow my friend’s advice about getting up earlier than I would have normally. I woke up nearly an hour and a half before my alarm was to go off. Thereby getting to my laundry, shower, breakfast, and writing routine with loads of time to spare before I needed to make my way to 7th and Irving for my tete a tete at Tart to Tart.
I spent the majority of my day in the 7th and Irving neighborhood, having coffee and a long discourse at the Tart to Tart then hopping across the street for lunch and more talking with another at Crepevine.
Then a little “spa” time for me and a manicure, pedicure, and eyebrow waxing at the nail salon.
Today has been an excuse to read magazines like a pro.
And sit on my butt.
And soon to watch a lot of movies.
I have my set of head phones with me, my nice fat Skull Candy ones with the big ear phones that block out all noise and sit comfortably on my head.
The ones I wore on my flight previously to Florida the last time I saw my mom, just before flying out to Paris.
It felt like going in reverse at one point today.
The last time I flew out from SFO it was to Paris.
Time feels all synchronous and deja vu’y.
I just paid off my Paris return flight ticket yesterday and this feels like some weird loop-hole of time that I fell into.
I almost felt as nervous preparing for this flight as I did for the one to Paris.
A friend called me before I headed off into the night to the airport and we chatted about family and sibling relationships and I realized, just like I did when I travelled to Paris, that all I had to do was the next action in front of me.
Once I was off the phone I simply finished packing my suitcase and calmly ate my dinner. I did feel anxious to get moving, anxiety that I can obviously see now I had no need for, but it was not overwhelming and I knew that I was on the way with nothing forgotten.
In fact, I feel like a real adult traveller, with my nice suitcase that I haven’t used since returning from Paris and my new airplane pillow, with the magazine and the charger on my phone, having a laptop, my Iphone, a bottle of water, and the wherewithal to take care of myself.
I have grown up by traveling.
I have also learned that I don’t have to travel in a skimpy manner.
I packed my suitcase rather than just an overnight bag.
I brought a couple of extra pieces of clothing I probably won’t use, but might and as such are nice to have with me, a couple of pairs of shoes, and just having the spare room to not squash everything into my messenger bag is really nice.
I realize that traveling is a part of who I am.
I am a traveller.
I do it pretty well.
Even when my flight is delayed.
I have things to occupy my time and I have the disposition that makes me a calm traveller. I am not really all that irked that my flight is delayed.
It’s an extra hour and a half in a terminal in an airport that I am happy to say is my home base, the place I have flown most to and from in my life.
It feels fortuitous even, lucky, somehow to be doing this travel.
I may change my mind about that if I miss my connecting flight, but for the moment.
All is well in the world.
Just a tiny bit delayed.
Auntiebubba 