Flying Home

It's September 4th, 2022. My partner Nuria left this morning for a two week stay with family in Costa Rica. We got up at 3AM. We prepared and I put her suitcases into the Jeep at 5AM. We drove in darkness up I-95 to Richmond, then I-64 to the Richmond airport exit. We drove to the parking garage and parked, grabbed her suitcases, and entered the terminal. We went up an escalator to the 2nd floor to the American Airlines counter. Nuria checked in, they weighed her luggage and gave her tickets. Her first flight was from Richmond to Dallas/Fort Worth, leaving at 7:10AM. Her second fight was from Dallas to San Jose, Costa Rica, arriving at 4PM. 

I drove back home, still in darkness. The traffic was thicker but still not bad. It's a Sunday so regular workday traffic is much less. 

I can track her plane's progress on FlightAware.com. It shows her plane is flying 500mph at 35,000 feet. It hasn't begun its descent yet. On the map, DFW is Dallas/Fort Worth and SJO is San Jose International Airport. Her journey began at RIC—Richmond International Airport at 7:10AM, but that leg of the journey isn't shown because it's in the past. You can see that her flight took her across the Gulf of Mexico and thirty five thousand feet above Cancun.

I just looked at the map again and her plane is descending. She's at 21,900 feet and 451 mph. The plane descends fast. Of course, it has thousands of feet to descend to get to the airport, so it has to come down fast. It's just fascinating to watch it online. Now it's at 18,500 feet going 450 mph. Now 17,200 feet going 420 mph. Now 16,000 feet going 400mph. 

Now the plane has turned 90 degrees and is headed to the runway. 

By the time I can wrap up this little blog post and publish it, her plane will be on the ground. It's at 6,500 feet going 200 mph. I spent a minute looking up something and when I looked at FlightAware again, it shows her plane at 3800 feet going 197 mph. She's almost at the end of her journey.

Her plane has landed. Either that, or it is stuck at 3800 feet going 197mph. There are no more updates coming through. It's 4PM my time, 13 hours after she got out of bed for her trip. I'm sure she's tired. It has been a long day for her. Right now, she's probably at the baggage carousel, watching for her suitcase. In two weeks she will make the reverse trip, back to Richmond, back to her second home.