"This is the captain, from the flight deck..."

I haven't had a good year for flying. Since thinking that I'd never had major problems, I've been stuck in Denver for days, sat on the runway for hours in Chicago, scrambled for a flight out of Love Field when American cancelled everything at DFW, and waited many, many times for my "delayed baggage".

Recently, I discovered my new favorite airline, ExpressJet. The amount of food, XM radio, and friendly staff are great, but what really does it for me is the fact it flies directly to San Antonio, where my family lives.

Since all of my problems had happened when changing planes, I figured that flying direct would cut down on any issues. As I was returning from SAT last weekend, I found out that wasn't the case. When we were close to ABQ, the plane suddenly began to decelerate and turn toward the south. The pilot began speaking over the PA, "Folks, I've got some bad news." I start to look nervously at other passengers. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news..." I've had dreams off and on about planes crashing for the past 12 years. By now I'm thinking, this is it! "Some idiot driving a fuel truck at ABQ rolled and spilled part of its load. The airport just closed so we're going to have to divert to El Paso." El Paso, wonderful!!, especially after thinking we might be going down in a fiery ball over eastern NM.

The pilot told us, once we landed, the airport would likely be closed for at least 4-5 hours. I frantically phoned my mom, who's gotten used to these calls. "I'm stuck in XXX (location); can you please get online and look for a XXX (flight, rental car, train or bus ticket)?" I was tired and needed to get home.

The story turned out to have a happy ending. The pilots were helpful, the airport eventually reopened (I found out later that it was never really closed, just part of one terminal), and eventually the airport got the equipment to unload us off the plane when we made it to ABQ. I was only delayed 3 or 4 hours, not bad considering all the other problems I've had.

Still, I'm not really keen on flying. However, I need to go back to SAT next month for the winter holiday...when I think about driving through 8 hours of my least favorite state, I realized that flying might not be a bad option. Plus, there are some places in the world I want to visit that are only practical to reach by air. I just need to be open to where my journey takes me!