Back home!

Back in San Diego safe and sound, remind me not to take L1011-500’s anymore, might have just been the model that we were flying but it was a flying junk heap. Couple of days ago, our time was sent to go through customs at 1:30 in the morning and the finished emptying out our bags and pockets around 5 and we were told to wait in a holding tent till 7 when we were going to ride the bus the airport. I was in the middle of my two hour power nap when everybody started heading for the busses. So I woke up, primed and ready to get on the plane, What? It’s broken down in the states and the flight has been pushed back 24 hours? Couldn’t they have told us this stuff before we went through the customs ringer? Jeeze Louis!

Since I was already up went to breakfast and hit the rack again to prepare for the same thing the next night, the customs folks felt bad about us going through all of that and came to our tent to go through our gear. Which meant we could sleep till they got there and after they left, so 7 the next morning we’re heading to the Airport. Climbing the stairs, I was mildly disturbed by the clanging sound the engine made. Maybe it’s something that this model does. Who knows?

I wasn’t pay attention to where I was sitting and ended up next to the guy that hates flying probably more then anybody else on the plane. We’re heading down the runway and I glance right and his arms and legs are sticking straight out and shaking! Of course a moment later, I had to ask him if he’s seen the movie Final Destination , yes he had. And I followed up with, this is probably how high they were when they blow up. Okay, when I’m tired, I have an evil sense of humor.

More gripes about the plane, the ceiling wasn’t attached on my side and hung down 4 inches (clip broke), the luggage bins above the seats were small and all 4 lavatories, were different models from each other, two of them wouldn’t flush after halfway through the journey. No first or business class, not that I ever get to sit there but it’s always a nice dream. Still it was better then military transport but after 2 weeks of total civilian air time in the last decade, would have to say this was the oldest creakiest jet that I have flown in a while.

Next shop Shannon Ireland and cold beer! Just had a token Bass, I had only been in the desert for a little over 2 months unlike the rest of my guys, they had a bit more and deserved it! I picked up a hand crafted stole for Tragic, it looked like something that she would wear and haven’t seen it’s like in the states.

Next stop was to the usual awesome welcome that we always receive at Maine, my forth time through there. I’ve shown up at all hours and someone is always there to shake our hands and give us a warm welcome, they also have cell phones so we can call home from there. Thank you! Had a token Bud Light and we were off to Mira Mar and arrived an hour and a half early. Home at last!