The Typical Travel Day 
I have a driver pick me up at my apartment and take me to Houston IAH airport. I then fly united airlines to New Orleans. I arrive at my hotel at 11:30 pm. My wakeup call is at 3:30 am. I am not a morning person! So, I set my watch alarm, my phone alarm, and also schedule a wakeup call. Soon after falling asleep I am bombarded by 3 separate alarms. I get up, get dressed and meet in the lobby. There are five other Schlumberger employees in the lobby who are all very welcoming and nice. We start to eat breakfast, but the driver arrives so we head towards Houma, Louisiana where the heliport is. It is an hour drive, the entire time I am still really nervous about my first helicopter ride. I get to the PHi Heliport and go through security, similar to airport security.

The Chopper
The helicopter we ride is a Sikorsky S-92. I was told this is the the passenger carrying version of the military black hawk chopper. This helicopter as shown below is HUGE!!!! Take off was a little intimidating, It awkwardly hovers then bolts forward extremely fast. Once in the air the vibration was so intense, it was putting me to sleep. As I am dozing off and almost out, I hear the pilot come on the speaker system. I immediately look out my window to see nothing but water under me. My stomach sinks because the first words out of the pilots mouth are, "sorry guys there is a problem".... the look of uncertainty in the other crew members also gives me anxiety. Luckily the sentence is finished with , " at the rig and they told us to go back to Houma." After he says that I have a sense of relief, and with one sharp turn we are headed back to the airport.

Once landed, I check my email. Something apparently broke off down hole, and I am not needed back until Thursday. So I book a flight home through our online travel agency. I then take a shuttle to the airport and schedule a pickup home. 

Back Home

I am now back home I feel exhausted, even though I have not started working, or even been to a rig for that matter. Wednesday, hopefully will go as planned but until then I enjoy racking up frequent flyer miles. 

Prepare to Go Offshore

Blinking on my computer ......1 New Message

Subject: Prepare to Go Offshore 

Thats a pretty straight forward email. I need to prepare four weeks worth of clothing, toiletries, and any other random items. I will have a car pick me up at my house, drive me to Houston Intercontinental then fly me to New Orleans where I will sleep for the night. I then will be helicoptered 2 hours off shore in to the deep ocean.

My first "Hitch" (the term used for I guess one 4 week session of working offshore) will be on the DiscoverAmericas Drill ship. I hear that drill ships are the best to be on, vs land rigs or semi-submersible. I also hear that this particular drill ship is the nicest. The only problem is, the only ship I have to compare it with is the Carnival Imagination Cruise Ship. I'm pretty sure the drill ship wont have any entertainment.

I still do not know the exact day I will be departing. The oil industry seems to have a hurry up and wait attitude. However, after being a flight attendant I think adapting to that mentality will be a piece of cake.

More to come once I actually get to the rig!