Alarming!

3:20 am

The fire alarm starts ringing.

After waking up in a complete state of confusion I identified that annoying ringing bell as the hotel fire alarm. This is was the fifth alarm that had woken me up in the middle of the night this year.

I laid back in bed and listened for the sounds of crackling wood, screaming, fire trucks, anything that would confirm that this was in fact an actual fire. I was not interested in getting out of bed at that ungoldy hour until I had proof that the hotel was engulfed in flames first. It was the same old drill every time the fire alarm went off. I get dressed, go downstairs and stand around in the lobby with my crew whom are all in various states of undress. (Trust me, a pilot dressed in his giant sweatpants and over sized wife-beater is not something one wants to see in the wee hours of the morning. No offense Ty, you are much cooler than they are). After an hour or so, the alarm goes off and we all hike back up the stairs to bed. No emergency there right?

After a few more minutes in bed it dawned on me that I had just weighted the risk of burning to death in a horrible hotel fire to the prospect of having to get dressed and out of bed...and couldn't decide which was worse.

Needless to say I got out of bed. Oh, and while it was in fact a false alarm it was also most definitely a wake up call.