I’m sitting in my hotel room in ORF even though I should be sitting in the back of an ERJ to JFK. For whatever reason, we’re scheduled for a deadhead back to JFK, then a single leg to IAH tonight. It’s not looking like we’ll make it to IAH on time, even with the 3 hour sit in JFK we had scheduled, as the ERJ still hasn’t even left JFK for ORF. Luckily, I noticed it before I packed up my computer and told the captain who decided we didn’t have to go to the airport yet. It’s always better to be sitting in a hotel room than sitting in an airport.

So far, the flying is hard. I’m improving, though maybe not as fast as I’d like. I’ve managed a few touchdowns with only minimal control inputs from the captain so far. With any luck, I’ll figure out how to land this thing eventually.

I’m starting to get the hang of all the stuff I’ve got to do before a flight. Get ATIS, get a clearance, run the performance numbers and do the weight and balance. Then, when I’ve got a chance, try to figure out how we might taxi, and then figure out how to fly out of the vicinity of the airport, since it’s a bit late to figure that out after takeoff:)

I’m liking it so far, and the state of mind that constant airports, hotels and eating alone in restaurants is returning. This time I have the added frustration of a commute. Flights back to DEN on Monday are looking pretty full. I hope I can get the jumpseat at least.

ORF is turning out to be an okay overnight. The quality of the hotel and things in the surrounding area are important. The hotel is fine, except for the shower with no water pressure. So bad, that I was seriously tempted to demand another room to take a shower in. I’ve had interesting luck with plumbing this trip so far. In JFK, there was no hot water, only cold and lukewarm. It was warm enough to take a shower, but not enough for a hot bath. In DFW, there was warm and hot water, but no cold water, which was strange. I don’t like brushing my teeth with warm water.

The ORF hotel is right downtown, and there’s tons of stuff in the immediate vicinity. I ate at a cuban place last night and had a good sandwich. (It was $10, everything else on the menu was $30). The atmosphere was deafening and the service poor, so I don’t think I’ll return, at least not on a Saturday night. I don’t know why people want to be in a place with loud (not live) Cuban music with hard floors walls and ceilings with nothing to absorb any sound. $2 Sam Adams summer ale, but didn’t discover until after I ordered it that it came in a bottle, and the waitress didn’t even bring me a glass until I asked, which is just ridiculous. Beer doesn’t taste right in the bottle.

I got to sleep around 1am and finally got out of bed around 11am. I was pretty darned tired. Ate lunch at the first open place I found (not counting the hotel restaurant), which happened to be a Thai place. I’d spotted a deli the night before, but it’s closed on Sundays. I had the red curry which was okay, but not great. The meat was pretty low quality, the curry wasn’t spicy or all that exciting. I was the only one in the place for most of my meal, as I left a couple came in. Judging from their conversation on the way out, they’re airline pilots as well. Most of the airline crews in ORF appear to stay at the same hotel.

Which isn’t as many as stay at the hotel in JFK. In the mornings, they need several vans to take the flight crews to the airport, and the vans depart every half hour. Appears to be a good 30-50 folks each trip from airlines around the world. I need to do something to make my luggage stand out better. (Suggestions welcome.) Right now, I’m doing okay simply because they’re brand new. When I was a flight attendant, I had luggage that didn’t look anything like crew luggage, so it was cake.

I saw my first weather of any significance on the way to ORF last night. Some thunderstorms crept up along our route, which meant we turned on the weather radar and tried to steered around the red. I got my first ICE caution message since I was too busy paying attention to weather (and well, just basic flying) to even think about needing the antice. The ICE caution means the ice detectors detected it. Shot my first instrument approach, though we broke out pretty high. Came in over the Chesapeake bay, and saw the bridge tunnel. Which I’ve driven over, but it looks pretty cool from the air. Or probably would if I could see it. As it was, all I could see was the was the lights on the bridge, and where they completely disappear…