In a few hours, I am supposed to wake up in my bed at the Hostelling International – San Diego, Downtown. Instead, I woke up in Detroit, on a generic room at America’s Best Value Inn. How the frak did this happen? Well, it all started with a broken windshield…

The long journey to the other side of the planet started with a short flight to Amsterdam. It took one hour and fifty minutes, just as it was supposed to. Good, great. Sitting there, reading the “Watchmen” novel, I felt nothing but bliss and excitement.

Once I landed on Schiphol, I already knew I didn’t have much time to jump on the next flight, which was leaving at 3 PM. So I hurried through hallway after hallway, eventually arriving at the E8 gate. “Gate Change: E19.” Okay, that happens all the time, I thought. No stress. So I went a little further and reached the E19 Gate. There, gleaming on the screen in front of me, in red and large letters, it said: “Delayed – 18:00.” That’s when the Mud began to settle about my feet.

“Mind your step …” Sitting there, patiently waiting for my flight, I had already lost count. “… Mind your step.” But I think I heard that monotonal voice at least a thousand times, echoing through the hallway.

“… Mind your step.”

Around 5 PM, after a couple of hours of dosing off, control was eventually set up and we were allowed to pass through after answering a few questions. It was also around this time that they announced the cause of the delay.

A windshield in the cockpit was broken.

That’s just typical. Well, at least I had my “Watchmen” novel. So, once again, I found a seat and waited patiently. At around 7 PM, they finally opened the gate and let us in. I found my seat on the plane and cursed under my breath, full well knowing I would miss the San Diego flight.

The minutes went by, and the flight attendence wouldn’t stop apologizing the delay. Alright already, please, let’s just take off and get out of here, I thought. Then, a vague murmur came out of the speakers, explaining that … well, yes, you can only guess what.

“We forgot to fuel the plane. This shouldn’t take more than another 15 minutes. Thank you for your patience.”

My jaw dropped. How could this even be possible? They couldn’t fuel the plane while fixing the windshield in the cockpit? Anyway, there was nothing that I could do, so once again, I waited—this time understandably less patient.

The plane landed in Detroit at 9:55 PM, local time (the flight took around 8 hours). There was no plane leaving for San Diego at this hour, so Delta rescheduled my flights and arranged a hotel accomodation for me at America’s Best Value Inn (after lots of waiting and lots of paperwork). The only good thing was that they gave me the opportunity to check in my baggage then and there.

So, around 1 AM, I got to America’s Best Value Inn, found my room and went to sleep. Now, I’m at the Detroit Airport, after having to get up at 5:15 AM, and waiting for my new flight to arrive at 9 AM.

Hopefully, there won’t be any broken windshields this time…