Day 1 - It started out as a good day...

The day started out great.  I got to Richmond early and browsed in the Borders for half an hour.  I found a book that I haven't been able to find for about six months, along with an omnibus version of the two preceding books with new material!  When I purchased them I received a $5 gift certificate, so I bought another book.  Had a great lunch with a friend, and then dropped off a graduation present.

Went to Kristin's house to drop off my car.  We hung out for a bit and then headed to the Richmond airport.  Check-in was a breeze.  I swiped my passport, got my boarding pass and checked my luggage.  Then I got to security.  I was carrying two laptops, so I had to take those out of the bag I was carrying.  I then had to empty both of my jeans pockets, remove my belt and camera, and take the stuff out of my breast pocket.  One of the security guards kept droning, "Remove all metal objects or you will be subject to a pat down."

It was at this point that I realized I was wearing a money belt under my clothes that had zippers on it.  I had to untuck my shirts and pull off the money belt.  Then I realized I was still wearing my shoes.  I now had five tubs filled with my crap.  I felt very obviously like an inexperienced traveler.

The scanner I walked through was very neat.  It was circular.  You stand inside it and it rotates a bar around you.  You cannot move and you must hold your hands above your head.  It's like being under pre-arrest.  I stepped out and then had to wait for someone to read my scan.  Luckily for me there were footprints painted on the floor.  Otherwise I might have stood in the wrong place.  I was cleared.

Then began the process of getting dressed again.  Shoes.  Money belt. Tucking in the shirts. Refilling the pockets.  Putting the laptops back in the bag.  As I was looking for the terminal, I got a phone call.  It was Jesse, the guy going with me.  He and his wife were lost in Richmond but on their way.  The plane left in about an hour.  He was sure he would be there, but I was a bit worried.  What would I do if he didn't get there?  I didn't speak a lick of Portuguese!  Could I continue on this flight if he didn't show up?  Should I wait?

After 45 minutes of worrying and praying, he made it.  We boarded our plane without incident and were on our way . . . to Charlotte, North Carolina.

On the plane it was announced that Miss North Carolina was on our plane!  She was heading to Las Vegas for something or other.  She was in seat 17.  That was the seat in front of me.   I listened to her and her seat-mate talk most of the way and read my book.  Jesse slept.  I decided that Miss North Carolina was not a very interesting person, or that her seat mate was an awfully boring conversationalist.  Either way I found the book more interesting.

Our plane got in fifteen minutes early, but then our spot was filled with another plane.  We were assured that if we were on the Las Vegas flight, they were trying to hold the plane.  When we finally got docked, Miss North Carolina made a beeline for the exit, but so did everyone else.  I hope she made it.

I stayed in my seat.  After all, I had five hours until my next plane and I was into my book.  When the plane cleared I exited.  Jesse and I went and ate dinner.  I would say it was ok, but it was faux-Mexican food trying to be Chili's.  Ironically Chili's had been our other dining option besides fast food but we had wanted to try something different.  We agreed to do Chili's next time - when we came back in two weeks.  Still, as a low for the day it wasn't that bad.

Chocolate Store in the Charlotte Airport

After dinner we found our terminal and did some window shopping.  We found a power outlet and plugged in my laptop, and then charged our phones.  We took turns exploring the stores.  I found a chocolate store.  After much deliberation I bought a little tub of peanut butter fudge for the trip.  I had a few bites but it was so rich I decided to save it for dessert on the plane to Rio.


An hour or so before our plane was to board, about 9 PM, we made our way to the gate.  9:45 rolled around, when we were supposed to start boarding the plane.  An announcement was made that there was a small problem and it would be about 10 more minutes.

Jesse asleep in the airport.

An hour of ten minute intervals later, I found out through listening to the crowd that something was wrong with the air conditioning and they weren't sure how long it was going to take.  A few minutes later we were told it was going to be another hour.  People started lying down to go to sleep.  Jesse curled up in a corner with his sweatshirt over his head.  I lay down as well, but the blazing lights of the room burned down through my closed eyelids.   I crawled under the seat I had been sitting on and slept for a good two hours.

Family I spent 5 hours with. They only spoke Portuguese.

The line for vouchers at 3am.

About half a dozen kids under the age of 6 were running around at one in the morning.  I felt sorry for their parents.  If might have felt sorrier for them if they hadn't all been 5 feet from me.  Still they were cute and I understood.  I would wake occasionally for reports - first in English, then in Portuguese.  I had limited dialogue with my neighbors - most of them only spoke Portuguese.  It was sitting there in the airport terminal all alone that I realized this was what my trip was going to be like.  I couldn't talk to anyone!



Three o'clock rolled around and then canceled the flight.  Apparently there was some rule that the flight crew could only work a certain number of hours.  Since we'd been delayed 5 hours, our flight was officially grounded.  We entered blobs to wait for vouchers for hotels and meals.  After waiting for about 15 minutes, Jesse and I were next.  We were given vouchers and asked where we wanted to sit on the next flight.

As we were making our way to call the hotel shuttles to come get us we found out that we were staying in different hotels.  We called our respective hotels and split up for the night.  I met a few other people waiting for the same shuttle.  One guy was named Erik.  He was from Canada.  He was going to Rio with a friend to keep him company for two weeks while his friend started a new job.

Plane in the ceiling.

We got into our rooms about 3:30.  I crashed.

I got two and a half hours of sleep that night.