My resilience was tested big time on this trip.  Only three of eight flights departed on time.  Before I even left the UK delays put the transatlantic connection in jeopardy.  Only a similar delay in departure from Amsterdam avoided the need for rescheduling.  I reduced my anxiety by checking seat availability on later flights while still at Teesside.  Ironically concern about making the onward connection displaced fears related to the immediate flight.

Return delays are substantially more irritating than outgoing ones.  North West Airlines' indefinite strike, which started five days after my departure, was this trip's piece d'resistance.  I expected to make eight flights with two partnered airlines.  I did not anticipate visiting nine different airports (Teesside, Amsterdam, Boston, Minneapolis, Billings, Salt Lake City, Denver, Gatwick & Newcastle) via four different carriers.  Having departed from Teesside, I finally touched down at Newcastle a whole day late.  But for the new Denver to Gatwick service I would have lost two full days' work.

Frustration and lack of control over my return flights and the isolation this engendered were by far the most difficult feelings I experienced on the whole trip.  For a short while panic threatened to overwhelm me.  Then I quit struggling to negotiate alternatives other than arriving home three days late via a night flight from Chicago with North West on a crackly stateside landline from a remote ranch.  When I enlisted the help of a journalist friend in the UK the airline miraculously managed to magic up a previously unavailable seat.  As I watched the last rays of evening sunlight trail gold across the Great Salt Lake from my Delta flight I all but forgave North West the hassle of returning home via Utah and Colorado.

Bad weather can also cause delays and seem pretty scary.  I had no desire whatsoever to fly into the midnight black sky illuminated only by forks of lightening which hung over Minneapolis at nine in the morning. Although the worst of the electric storm had dissipated I still felt scared as torrential rain continued to lash the runway down which we hurtled. Yet a short time later the clouds cracked openings on the patchwork mid-west.

There's No Escape Now!
I covered as many bases as I could possibly anticipate before I left although I knew that no amount of preparation could cover all eventualities.  My hands still shook somewhat as the tiny jet screamed down the Teesside runway but I was aware of how far I had come in the thirteen years since I first flew.  My toy parachute (a good luck gift) was stowed somewhere in my rucksack in the hold and I left my squashy orange stress balls at home.  Even as I automatically whispered, "Come on Tom (Paris) keep me safe!" I realised that I didn't need to invoke the Star Trek talisman.  I trusted the unknown pilot and crew to their tasks.

Teesside to Amsterdam seemed slightly less risky than the transatlantic flight and, en route to Boston, my vigilance increased in line with perceived vulnerability.  I never focused one hundred per cent on the videos.  Perhaps that related in part to film quality though Primary Colours' dig at the American political situation was particularly topical!  North West's relaxed yet efficient service offered frequent complimentary cold drinks and regular snacks as well as the pre-prepared airline meals.  And as I watched the crew about their business I realised I could cope using my own resources.