So, after sitting around have a few glasses of Diet Coke and Rum, playing scrabble with Lynn and Eddie, and running downstairs to pack before the dog got wise - I left for the airport Friday night around 10:30PM. The flight left at 1:55AM Saturday morning, and it is a pain to check in.
Everything seemed to be going okay. "Seemed..." being the operative word. As we are lined up (LINED UP!) to board, they check our passports. Then they say. It will be about 10 minutes. Turns out the pilot fell ill.
Ten minutes pass and they annnounce the Pilot didn't just have "the trots" he has some intestinal thing and his on his way to the hospital. Then the played the game of expectations. "We have called Hong Kong". Well that can't be good news.
It turns out Hong Kong called the local backup pilot.
Picture this, at 1:30 on a Friday night, they called the back up pilot. Yea - turns out he has to ge ready (read sober up) and it will be 2 hours!
So Cathay had to reopen the business lounge (truly a hell hole in the best of times). So they run donw and open this midget sized business lounge- but they couldn't get the air conditioner back on. It has been humid in LA - the room quickly turns into a sweat box. I grabbed two Corona Lights and lead a rebellion when they didn't want to let us out with them. Bite me. You got a 747 worth of people piled into a tiny room without air. And you cannot exit the processing area. Everyone went home. There is no security to run you through the little scanner, no stores are open at 2:30AM - give me my Coronas and let me pass woman!
The flight itself was fine. I mean it's 13 hours in a tin can with a nice chair. It was as good as it could be. "13 hours, Scott? I though you said it was a 14 1/2 hour flight?"
Well it is normally, but get this - when they take off 2 1/2 hours late they only land 45 minutes late. Why don't you put in in 5th gear more often?
So we were suppose to land at 7:50 and our connecting flight to Bangkok was at 8:55 AM (it's Sunday here now). We plopped down and were in the terminal at 8:45. Plan to Bangkok - gone. There are over 20 connecting passengers, but the plane didn't wait. Instead they have booked us on a 12:05 flight to Bangkok on Thai Air. Whatever.
Christina (the girl I work with) through a hissy fit worthy of me and got us into the Cathay First Class lounge. Nice. I have had some great food. A good BM in a sound proof room. Some diet coke. And I found out the UCLA beat up on Illinois. Now I know, it's Illinois - but a win is a win is a win. And it is our first since last October - so go Bruins. And Michigan lost. And Wisconsin won (not a stirring victory over Ceaser's Palace High - but still a win is a win baby).
So soon I will march over to Thai Air and demand they put in my United Air Mileage number. Right after I grab another beer. And maybe some more dim sum. Okay and the bar-b-qued pork buns. Alright - just one more lunch, a BM and then I am really outta here.