The Long Way Home

8:39 PM

I tried mobile blogging this, but unfortunately my lovely Samsung A900 doesn't like blogging. I'm unfortunately stuck in Corpus Christi at the moment, on what was supposed to be an hour trip to Houston. From the looks of it, we weren't able to get to Houston because of a raging storm. Actually, the passenger next to me lives 5 miles from George Bush International, and his wife had a different opinion on the weather, or lack of opinion when he called her. However, I know I did see something out my window - well, I've actually never seen a glowing cloud before (while in the air), so I'm assuming. We were rerouted during the flight and flew for 2 hours before finally having to land in Corpus Christi for some gas.

All I know, is that I already missed my flight to San Francisco International. It's an odd predicament, because the last time I've been involved in a travel snafu was when my family was forced to stay in Seoul en route to the Philippines because of airplane repairs. It's just now... I'm not with my family this time. The pilot announced that people were allowed to leave the plane if they wanted to, but it was a point-of-no-return. They couldn't take bags or even get back on because the airport is closed, so obviously, there's no TSA to inspect them. About 5 people left the plane.

Our flight attendant has been pretty nice about the whole thing. She's also one of the most unusual, like in a "nice" unusual, flight attendants that I've ever met. Makes me wish that most flight attendants didn't seem like they had a stick up their ass.

We're still here, because apparently the "storm" hasn't passed Houston. Texas just doesn't want me to leave.

9:04 PM

Still waiting for that fuel truck. Well, we thought that the fuel truck was there, but apparently he was just getting fuel for himself before getting to us.

10:26 PM

Fueled up, ready to go, but air traffic control told us that we have to wait another 30 minutes for an update on the situation (or non-situation) in Houston. The odd thing is that my flight out of Houston probably left on time and will probably arrive at SFO on time. So I called Continental to catch the first flight out tomorrow, which is 9:10AM. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find any hotels that were available, so I guess I'll be sleeping at George Bush International tonight. I've always seen people sleeping at airports early in the morning, but I never thought I'd ever be one of them.

I guess the experience is helpful, and that I can say it happened to me. Not with pride, but just to say that it's happened. We've been on the ground for almost 2 hours now, so I'm really glad that I grabbed the exit row seat when I did. The legroom really helps. It's one of those small ERJ planes, by the way, really small things. Never really liked them.

Let's hope I can actually get to Houston before midnight, but I guess it's not like I'm trying to catch a flight until the morning.

11:01 PM

Finally, we're moving. Time to put this thing away.

~ 11:30 PM

It's like the gods hated us being in the air. In my years of flying, I've never experienced such turbulence, like they were literally shaking the planes with their hands. The skies were glowing, even more than the first time I saw it. It was the best and most ominous light show I had ever seen. It scared me. So I tried to sleep.

12:15 AM

Finally, we touched ground. Walked off the plane, making sure to thank the pilots for taking care of us. I gave Jenni a call to tell her I was okay and then started walking through the terminal. Obviously everything was closed. I was wondering what I'd do for the rest of the night when the nice flight attendant gave me her liter bottle of water. She really proved herself as the nicest flight attendant I've ever met. :) It's a bit scary how empty this place is. Went to the monorail, which also felt weird to be alone in. Too bad my camera's in my checked luggage. Well, wait, I do have my MacBook Pro's camera.

12:52 AM

Found my spot for the morning. Thank god for wi-fi. Shit, that stupid lady that usually talks about safety isn't going to let me sleep tonight.

3:23 AM

Still awake. Jenni offered to stay up with me, but I feel really bad asking her to do that. Well, even if I didn't, she said she's planning to sleep either when I finally do, or when I finally board my flight at 9:10. I'm waiting the 2.5 hours to see if more life comes into this place as well as hope for some of the food shops to open. I haven't eaten since 3 PM. Headline News is starting to annoy the crap out of me, I've heard the same exact series of headlines about 8 times now - so much so that I can recite it in my head.

4:28 AM

Gaahh, where the hell is my second wind? I'm halfway there. Pulling an all-nighter has never been this hard for me before. SMALL UPDATE: Yay, I just asked an employee when the restaurants open and he said Wendy's should open at 5! Saved! :D

7:13 AM

The food made me feel even sleepier. The last 2 hours will be hard to get past, but I'm looking forward to passing out on the plane.

8:18 AM

Our plane's finally here and the passengers are getting off of it. Only a matter of time until we can board. The only thing that's on my mind right now is sleeping. You know, because I have to be awake enough to drive back to Santa Clara from SFO. I'm just glad that I'll finally be on my way - hopefully with no delays this time.

The Finale - 9:10 AM CDT to 12:20 PST

I was asked to change seats twice, but I didn't care at that point, all I wanted to do was sleep. It felt weird though, because I found myself in the middle and trying not to fall on anybody. It was a fast trip and we were welcomed back into the Bay Area before I knew it, but she said "Oakland" instead of "San Francisco", which didn't surprise anybody except the people around me. Anyway, I was just glad that I was almost home. But then I thought, "oh crap, I hope my bag made it." It was one of the last ones that came out, but it was a delightful site to see that Continental came through with the redirect.

So, why?

I'm sure a bunch of people have been reading the past few articles in your feed reader and wondering what's going on. Well, I can't explain it really. In this case, this was a memory I didn't want to forget. I mean, it wasn't a great memory, but as said in the comments - it's a story I can tell in the future. I'm sure that people have had much worse, and I'm not saying that I've had the worst moment of my life. But it's all relative right?