Strandedblogging

Blogging will be light today, as I'm unexpectedly still in transit, from Hawaii to New York. 22 hours in and I've made it as far as San Francisco.

About 30 minutes after boarding the plane at SFO last night, they announced the captain hadn't shown up and they had no idea where he was. They were "calling his hotel" to try and raise him. Interesting.

Another 30 minutes and they announced they were going to start the movie "to distract us".  Still no sign of the captain. This didn't bode particularly well. And only partly because the movie was "License To Wed", another plight meriting distraction.

30 minutes or so into the movie, it was cancelled. The flight, that is.  Crew "exhaustion" wouldn'cha know. (Does the "exhaustion" euphemism translate the same way in aviation as it does in the entertainment industry?) Anyway, that was our cue to flee madly from the plane and elbow-joust with a couple hundred tired and angry flyers on our way to the rebooking/airing-of-grievances desk.

In addition to rebooking me on a flight this morning, they put me up at the euroly posh Redwood City Sofitel. Part of euro-posh, however, apparently means having no access to personal hygiene items, either through the hotel itself or any open drug store in the greater Sofitel area. It also does not include clean sheets. Or any sheets, for that matter. But the curtains and the trim on the loveseat were frilly and lovely.

This also appears to have been the weekend when we used to, but no longer, celebrate the end of daylight savings time. This (combined with long-haul travel and flitting through time zones) caused my watch, my Blackberry, the hotel clock, and the wake-up service to diverge greatly on the time of day this morning.

Happily, the wake-up service got it right and got me (showered, if not shaven, deodorized, tooth- or hair-brushed) to the curbside in plenty of time to learn the hotel shuttle only runs once an hour. So $50 in cab fare later, here we are.

I board in about 10 minutes, so we'll be on blog silence for the next 5 hours. If you hear from me sooner, it means another pilot's on a bender.

Update: Delayed. "We're waiting on flight attendants." If they're with the pilot from last night, they must've had a heckuvan evening.

Update: On board! Not counting any chickens though. This is where I was 12 hours ago.

Colin Quinn's a couple rows up, making him the second celebrity I've ever come across randomly twice (Hank Azaria shares the honor). Sam Donaldson was also lurking in the gate area and may be aboard. Quinn's in first class, Donaldson's not. Does being an SNL news has-been pay that much better than being a real news has-been?