This week has not been the easiest. I have lacked motivation to get out of bed. It may sound like a matter of 03:30 am being too early for my alarm to go off, but for me, I like early mornings and even on my days off I tend to wake up early, so 3:30 am is not as impossible for me as it might sound. But not this week, this week I wanted nothing but to curl back in bed. The first time in almost five years I felt “tired of the job” hopefully it is just a phase that will pass soon.
When I write this I am actually heading down to Rome on my day five. We have reached cruising altitude and all paperwork is done, coffee in my hand and about two hours of cruise before we start our descent, time for breakfast and relaxing.
And was I more motivated getting out of bed today than day 1? Well, I still have a bit of the feeling that I had the morning of my day 1. When I say Day 1 and day 5 meaning first day for this working block and last, we always work in blocks of five. I woke up completely rested. I went to bed early last night but it is still unusual to feel completely rested and to wake up before my alarm goes off. Something felt a bit odd, it was brighter outside than it normally is at 03:00 am, I could hear an airplane take off in the distance which is also unusual since I am normally in one of the first wave departures. I looked to my side and saw my phone blinking ALARM, ALARM but no sound. PANIC!! I overslept! That feeling of not knowing anything rushing through my body. I have only overslept once before, and believe me it is not a pleasant feeling! I did a quick calculation to see if I would even be able to get to the airport in time for my flight without delaying anything. I had 40 minutes until report time, meaning 85 minutes until departure, I should be fine. I missed all the possibilities to get there by public transport that I normally use, opened Uber to see if there were any cars around, one could get here in 20 minutes, perfect! Not so perfect that it cost me 18 pounds! I booked it and called our operational number, she must have heard the panic in my voice trying to explain that I overslept but waiting for my Uber and I should be at the airport no later than five, maybe ten minutes after our report time giving us enough time to leave on time as long as the Captain could do the pre-flight preparations. She said she would call the Captain to let him know and for me to go straight to the airplane. I got there just as they boarded the first passengers, said hello to the crew in the front, the crew in the back was already busy helping passengers finding their seat and stowing their bags. The Captain was friendly, I had never flown with him before but he flew the first sector to let me get ´back on track´ thankfully the weather in Rome was CAVOK (meaning good ´Ceiling and Visibility OK´ in pilot languages) so we didn´t need to plan for any extra fuel or other than one alternative airport. Rest of the day, not as CAVOK London Stansted had gusty winds up to 35 knots and Poitiers in France pretty much the same, a good day to be a pilot 🙂
Tomorrow I’m going home to Sweden to see family and friends, it was about a month and a half ago I was home, I try to visit as often as I can. May is usually beautiful in Sweden, I love springtime when the trees start getting green and ´signes of summer´pops up. Until next week, take care and please let me know if you have any questions?!
3:30 a.m. can not be totally motivated.