Day: June 13, 2024

It took days to get here but we arrived. Intact even. Once we were able to get to the airbnb, we crashed hard. We didn’t wake up until the following afternoon. I cannot tell you the last time before that I slept for 10 hours. It isn’t even a thing in my mind that happens. I needed it. My hands were swelling from salt intake and lack of medication. I ate nothing but airplane crap for a day. It might have nearly killed me. At one point I took a bp reading (post shower) before bed and it hit 158/98. Danger territory to be sure. I checked a moment later and it was 138. I haven’t checked since. I am hoping it was a blip and nothing that caused real damage. On the other hand, I have noticed my nerve issues have been a lot worse today after that hell day.

So, British Airways tried to murder me and did not care. We’ve established that. But what about Roma? It is fantastic. It is all that I expected it could be and everything I needed for a summer city. I love the space we have. I love the fact that the places we want to hang out are so close and transit is so close. Rome is bringing unparalleled happiness to this couple, and I aim to see it continue for a long time.

I’m still in London. It was meant to be a stopover on the trip to Rome—a quick hour and a half to get out of one plane and into another. Except the first plane didn’t let us out for an hour after landing, so we never made it to the second one. What has followed is a dystopic hellscape of a day. We’ve been on standby for every single flight to Rome, yet according to them, we’ve been taken off of standby by the time we reach the gate. There’s one more flight tonight and we supposedly have regular tickets. That will get us to Rome just before midnight. We landed in London at 9:20 AM. In short, we’ve been in transit for days now and with me lacking sleep, I’m about to crack and start yelling at people to fix this crap.

Only nobody cares. Not a single British Airways worker. We’re just caught in a machine that nobody maintains. While these people do their jobs they are forced to deal with us up till the point where they decide not to and legitimately tell us to go away. There is not anywhere to go that doesn’t cost us money. We are stuck in this hellscape, tired and pitted against the world. Romantic, isn’t it? I am sure we will reflect in that fashion at another time, but for now the anger is righteous and it is bright.

I don’t know what time it is where ever in the world you find yourself reading this, but consider this: An airline is only successful if it keeps customers. Maybe one day I will have the platform to convince people to speak their truths and their horrors dealing with BA specifically, and Heathrow in general. I’m looking forward to it.

Ten hours is a long time to spend on a plane. Not my longest, mind, you, but a serious chunk of time to move oneself across the planet to a destination that feels better. At least better at the time. We are enroute to Italy for a month of relaxation and exploration. I am personally excited by the opportunity to get away from the desert for that long, but we are in fact going into the Italian summer complete with all of the humidity you can ask for. Out of the frying pan and into the fire as they say.

One thing I am fairly pleased to get away from is football. Odd that. However, it is an important break if only because I’ve realized that the one thread keeping my mind somehow attached to the idea of coaching is the idea of proving myself to the ones who do not already support what I have done in the past. This happens at occasionally. I find a group of coaches, try to fit in, and don’t. This was the case for two such stops, so I suppose it happens less than half the time with football. I suppose I also intended to push myself to the next level at some point, but realize now that the time involved is not worth it.

Still—I want to call plays. I think the NCAA game (and a little research into developing a scheme that transcends the field to the console) will go a long way towards getting me right.

Rome will go a long ways towards getting me right on many levels, and I look forward to exploring each one.