{"id":5298,"date":"2011-02-01T16:39:10","date_gmt":"2011-02-01T20:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/galadriel.astro.utoronto.ca\/ballast\/?p=5298"},"modified":"2011-02-01T16:39:10","modified_gmt":"2011-02-01T20:39:10","slug":"c-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/?p=5298","title":{"rendered":"C-17"},"content":{"rendered":"

Finally, just after dinner on the 21st, Matt and I happened to encounter the Runway Czar. He’s the one that decides whether or not the C-17 can land, and thus the one who had been delaying my flight. He said that while the flight would be delayed a few hours, it would definitely land later that night. I was leaving, and I knew it!<\/p>\n

So, at about 1am I donned full ECW gear (required for flights) and went to catch my transport. So did the 104 other people this flight had accumulated over a few days of delays, including Matt and Annamarie. At about 4am we boarded, and by 9:45 we were in Christchurch. Back in the real world, or at least somewhere very close to it.<\/p>\n\n\t\t