Apparently, a plane that was supposed to come get us from San Francisco International Airport ended up having a part malfunction and they couldn’t get it repaired in time to fly us down from SJC to LGB. So, a few hours before I was going to leave for the airport to catch my trip back home, I got an email from JetBlue letting me know that my flight was canceled and I was confirmed for the next available flight of the same route – Wednesday, February 14, 2018 at 6:30 AM.
I obviously wasn’t going to make the same mistake again that I made the first night I was in Santa Clara with our PUBG team at the NVIDIA GeForce esports boot camp. This time, I actually went back to the hotel and slept on the couch with a warm blanket (instead of freezing to death in the boot camp room for a second night in a row). I also took a refreshing shower, which was nice because I hadn’t showered yet since the previous day’s morning due to having slept in an office building.
During the wee hours of 5 AM, a time I didn’t even realize had humans already walking the face of the earth, I woke up, quickly washed up and brushed my teeth, and headed out to the front entrance of the hotel to get picked up by my Uber to the airport. Of course, just because my flight is delayed for another day doesn’t mean a jacket magically appears on me, so I proceeded to nearly freeze to death once again in the biting cold of pre-twilight.
I got to the airport and stepped into the TSA PreCheck line because of my Global Entry status, probably one of the best investments possible for frequent travelers. Since getting it, I never actually had to use it, because I was fortunate enough to either fly at a time with low travel volume, or fly out of Long Beach Airport… but this morning, it actually mattered. I casually strolled past some 100 or so people in the regular line, because apparently, 5 AM is the new hot time to fly.
When I whipped out my boarding pass, I slightly panicked as I saw that I only had 13% of my phone battery left. I was 99.9% sure that I had charged my phone overnight, but what happened? Did the power outlet randomly stop working? Is my battery on the verge of dying? Will this even last long enough for me to be able to call an Uber back home from Long Beach Airport once I land?
Then I realized that I had taken a screenshot of my mobile boarding pass last night. I closed the screenshot and my battery jumped to 98%. I also discovered that I don’t quite fully function optimally when the time shows both a “5” in the hour slot and an “AM” at the same time.
No problem, though. I looked up at the screen of flights and saw that I was boarding through Gate 2. No need to rush, because my gate is nearby – I have a chance to go to the bathroom and take it easy for a while.
Just kidding, Norman Y. Mineta San José International Airport numbers their gates backwards and Gate 2 is over by the edge of the planet.
Miraculously, I actually made it on the plane, and doubly miraculously, I managed to eat enough dinner and get enough sleep last night that I wasn’t feeling at all sick.
That’s a good thing, because apparently, the airport only had one runway open, so we ended up taxiing for somewhere around 18 minutes to take off, proceeded to take off facing north, then spun around 180° so we could face south and start traveling in the proper direction. That would’ve been a disaster if I was actually still feeling unwell, because rotating the direction of a plane 180° is probably one of the best ways to make a sick person vomit everywhere.
Also, the wifi never ended up working.
The rest of the trip went uneventfully (or at least, relatively uneventfully). As you may have guessed, I’m back in Southern California now in Tempo Storm’s team house where I’m staying temporarily until the construction on my new apartment is done. I took a nap shortly after returning to make up for the extra strain on my body from all the traveling, and woke up not too long ago.
I also found out that I am missing a pair of dirty socks that I may or may not have accidentally left behind in the boot camp room.
oops