The desert is full of sand!

Okay, so my luck has run out. All those good things I said about how the flight was running so smoothly? Well, forget them. Our layover in Germany was six hours, not four! And the only thing it had were the mandatory duty-free shop and the gift shop. Oh, and I could use their internet services on their terminal to send email for a Euro or two. At least I was with friends and colleagues, so it wasn’t so bad.

It was a nice experience, actually, because I got the chance to spend some time with some of the great folks in my unit. If anything, that is always a good thing.

So, back on the plane. The jet lag is already hitting hard. Or maybe it is the fact that I’ve been awake for nearly 24 hours. Say what you want, but there is only so much one can sleep on a plane. Of course, the airplane food is typical airplane food and they continually feed us, like every two or three hours. I did get to watch Fantastic Four in its entirety this time.

So, after about five more hours on the plane, we land in Kuwait! Yeah! Well, maybe not. Because of the extra long layover in Germany, we didn’t arrive in Kuwait until about 0300 or 0400. I was in the back of the plane, so the baggage detail and the folks sharing my section of the plane were the last to disembark.

So, off we went. After we drove in the desert for hours (I fell asleep a couple of times, so my estimation of time is a little off. We could have been driving in circles for all I know), we finally arrived in a different camp where we were supposed to arrive. Apparently the other unit that was with us was supposed to go there. We dropped them off, checked in, had lunch, went through a couple of briefs and went on our way. Back on the busses!

Hours later. (I think anyway. Again, I fell asleep, so my estimation of time is off.) We finally arrive at our destination. Everyone stinks. We’re hungry, tired and aggravated, but happy to finally be done with the traveling. We locked up our weapons and then headed to our new home for the next year.

So, nearly 48 hours of travel with maybe three or four hours of sleep. Plus jet lag to boot. I hope you can feel my pain because all I can feel is the call of my mattress.