27

27 - it's the number of hours it took to get from my house to Chicago and back home again on Wednesday. 10 pm - Drove to the airport 10:45 p.m. - At the gate at LAX. There is a quiet hush over the airport at night. Night time at the airport has a different feel than at other times. There is not the hustle and bustle of the morning. Not many business travelers (or travelers dressed in business attire). In fact, most people are simply sitting around waiting to get on the plane and go to sleep. 11:15 p.m. - Board the plane. I settled in with a bunch of reading. 11:45 p.m. - Plane takes off. Most people fell asleep quite quickly. Much to the flight attendant's dismay, I was up reading. Just could not fall asleep. She was not the nicest flight attendant. I tried to make up excuses for her - like oh she was having a bad day. Turns out, not so. She is just an unhappy person. Mean and snitty with her announcements. I know they are there for our safety, but no reason she cannot be pleasant about it. Not hard to smile and say please, thank you, or your welcome. 2:00 a.m. - I finally gave up on my reading and fell asleep. 3:00 a.m. - I woke up to the sound of the pilot letting us know we were beginning our decent into Chicago. I looked outside and thought that there were a lot of cars on the road for the middle of the night. Then I realized - Time Change Stupid. It was actually 5:00 a.m. in Chicago. 5:30 a.m. (now on Chicago time) - got off the plane. The Chicago airport was full of business travelers getting an early start and a quiet hum of an airport about to start bustling. I changed (wore comfy clothes on the plane), ate something, and headed to where my meeting was going to be. 7:00 a.m. - sat down to write a number of emails and work until my meeting started at 9 a.m. 9:00 a.m. - all day meeting. Details boring so will omit. But did get a good ruling from a Court during the middle of the day. 5:00 p.m. - finished up what I needed to, changed back into comfy clothes, and headed out for some dinner (and drinks). 7:15 p.m. - headed back to the airport and through security. It was pretty slow again - absolutely no lines at security. Quiet of the nighttime starting to take back over the airport. 8:00 p.m. - Back on the plane. Reading again. Same flight attendant. Same snippy attitude. I guess she does not like her job or is having a bad week. 10:15 p.m. (back on Pacific time) - Land at LAX. When we landed, I grabbed my phone to check messages / emails. (No I am not that important, just wanted to know what silly things I had to deal with the next day.) As I land there once a week or every other week, I was expecting a 5 minute taxi to the gate - quick right, quick right, and a left into the gate. So after a few minutes I noticed we had stopped and had been stopped for a while. Odd. I looked up and we were nowhere near the terminal. Sadly we were at the end of the south runway. We drove around the airport for a while, and after waiting for planes to cross runways, gates to open, a tow to the gate, and 50 minutes. . . we finally pulled into the gate. I am usually patient, but was just tired and wanting to go home and sleep. 11:15 p.m. - Off the plane, to the car, on the freeway, headed home. 12:00 a.m. - Home Sweet Home Long day - but at least it was productive.