A Long Plane ride

The day before I left was a long day of packing and goodbyes. I spent a lot of time on the phone this week. I didn’t get to bed until after midnight, but slept better than I have in the last week for the few hours that I was able to. I had to get up at 5. I said goodbye to my wife and kids at almost 11am. It turned out that I didn’t need to until half an hour later, but I didn’t know. It was had to say goodbye.
Half an hour before boarding, the plane broke, and we all got bumped to the next plane, which wasn’t taking off until 6 hours later. I was disappointed that we couldn’t go anywhere or have anyone come see us, but the terminal was a comfortable place to stay for the time. There was free food and sandwiches and a very nice lounge. After an hour at the lounge I ran into a friend of Ariele’s that I knew and talked to her for a few minutes. She offered to put me on the list to make a recording of me reading a book for my kids and send them the book and a DVD. So I waited there patiently for three hours, reading a hoping it wouldn’t be time to board before I got the chance. All that waiting, only to make a horrible video because I was trying in vain to hold back tears as I read the book. I then walked out of the lounge and straight to the plane and we soon took off at 9pm for Bangor, Maine to refuel.
Between the lounge and the plane a few people noticed that I was still holding back tears. No one gave me a hard time, as they all understood and I’m sure almost all of them felt the same way. A people asked if I was ok. I know they meant well, but I wanted to ask if not being ok would mean I didn’t have to go. As we took off and left my home, I told myself that I was on my way home and to a new and better life. It will be a long journey, but each step I take and each passing day will bring me closer to going back home.
I slept most of the flight to Bangor. The past two days had been long and hard and it was late at night. We arrived sometime around 2am pacific time (PST) When we parked we found out that there was a blizzard in Bangor and they were trying to refuel and change the crew as fast as possible so we wouldn’t get stuck. I went back to sleep. Sometime around 3-4am (PST) we were told that we would have to wait out the blizzard in the terminal. So I went inside, laid down behind some seats and went back to sleep. Later they announced that they were serving a breakfast buffet somewhere, but I didn’t go and went back to sleep.
We finally got back on the plane around 10am (PST) and took of for Leipzig, Germany after the plane had been deiced. The flight to Germany seemed to take forever. I had slept so much previously, that I couldn’t sleep anymore no matter how hard I tried. I read about half of Hazardous Duty, by David Hackworth.
By this time I lost most track of time, and had to really think to figure out what day it was and what time it was where I was. It seems to happen every time I travel halfway across the world. We landed in Leipzig at 3amL on a Friday. ( 6pm Thursday PST) I have since figured out the times, but have not yet adjusted. I would have liked to have spent more time in Leipzig. Our layover was very short. There was a chance to buy some German food, but I had to room in my bags. This is the 4th time that I have been to Germany but not left the airport.
It is now my anniversary where I am. Today is my 4th wedding anniversary and the first one that we have spent apart. I hope that my journey home will be over by then and we will be together again for our 5th.