8.22.2007

Argentina Part 1

I spent the night with a stranger in Washington DC.

My story starts at LAX. United Airlines flight 18 to Washington DC's Dulles Airport sat on the Los Angeles tarmac for 30 minutes before the captain announced that the plane would be delayed a full 50 minutes more due to "weather problems" in DC. The first 30 minutes were attributed to a "customs issue" at LAX.

The guy who sat next to me answered my "How ya doin?" with, "I'm gettin' there". I laughed because I hadn't heard that response before. His name, as it turned out, was Paul Kelly.

Paul Kelly put on his headphones, cranked some R&B tunes and fell asleep during the first 30 minutes of our delay. When he woke up an hour AFTER WE WERE SUPPOSED TO TAKE OFF, he was relieved to see that it was still light outside in Washington DC.

The problem was that we weren't in Washington DC. We were still at LAX!