Slow Flying

It’s been a day of waiting. It was supposed to be a day of travel, but instead I’ve spent the day sitting. The only things moving have been my eyes as they track the people walking by in the airport.

My first flight was supposed to leave New Orleans at 12:25 pm. It did not; the first text message I received from the airline said there was going to be a delay of about 45 minutes. The plane was coming from Miami and the weather there was creating quite a few flight problems. My friends and I settled in with a cup of coffee and a few beignets at a small café in the airport.

The text messages continued on a regular basis. Take-off time kept changing, getting pushed back later into the afternoon. The two-hour layover we had in Miami was slowly disappearing.

Our coffee and beignet breakfast turned into lunchtime and one more opportunity to snack on catfish, shrimp and red beans and rice. At 2:00 we made our way to the security line to catch our 3:00 pm flight to Miami.

And then, finally, a break in the monotony! Out of nowhere, or at least nowhere that I was looking, came a group of 12 – 15 men in suits with the tell-tale ear buds and squiggly wires hanging out of their ears. Security...but for what or who? There were police cars outside near the gate, as well as a lot of men trying to look inconspicuous as they surveyed the airport waiting area.

We were finally able to board at about 2:30 pm, but it seems our high profile citizen was also on our flight. The security detail led the way and he was boarded on the plane first. A man in front of me smiled and shook hands with the celebrity guest as he made his way to the gate.

Curiosity got the best of me so I turned to the excited man in front of me, “Do you know who that is?” I asked.

“It’s the president of Honduras.” He replied.

Wow, I thought. I had to wonder why he wouldn’t have his own plane to fly on. And then I hoped that he doesn’t have a lot of enemies, because if he does I don’t want to be on a commercial airline with him.

As I walked through the fortunate people in First Class to make my way to my seat in the back of the plane I looked for Mr. President, but he was not there. To my surprise he was sitting three or four rows behind First Class in Coach.

Things must be tough in Honduras these days.

Epilogue:

I spent another two hours waiting in Miami. At 8:35 the flight that was originally scheduled to leave at 5:50 pm took off for Washington, DC. There isn’t one empty seat on the plane. If all works out we should land at about 10:55 and I’ll be home by 11:30, just in time to make my midnight deadline.