As many of you know, I was selected to be on the alternate Yahoo broadcast of the first-ever worldwide stream of an NFL game as the Buffalo Bills are taking on the Jacksonville Jaguars from Wembley Stadium in London.

As I am humbled by this tremendous honor and excited to work with Larry Beil, Kirk Morrison, Shaun King and Chris Trapasso, I figured I would document this historic experience through a blog.

The Long Trip Across The Country

Although the Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars have traveled approximately 3,000 and 4,250 miles respectively to London, I’m still traveling 2,865 miles and doing it in economy style (because I’m keeping it real). That deserves some points.

Leaving the house

5:00 a.m. EST- I begin my journey to the Orlando International Airport, one of the best airports in the world.

Off-Site Time Wasting

5:45 a.m. EST- I’m making good time so I decide to help out the company a little by parking off-site. After circling the parking lot twice, I finally find a spot. By the time the bus picks me up and takes me to the airport, 30 minutes has elapsed and I went from early to running a little tight for time.

Karma is a Cutler

6:15 a.m. EST- Everyone who knows me knows I’m a big believer in Karma. I accidentally brought bad Karma upon myself as I forgot to tip the guy taking my bag, despite having the $10 bill in my hand. This would come back and bite me today.

No food, big problem

6:38 a.m. EST- I still haven’t made it through the legion of people in security and my flight is boarding. I wanted to grab a greek yogurt or an Egg McMuffin, but those options are now out the window.

Gus’ Doppelgänger

7:05 a.m. EST- I get onto the plane and I’m enjoying the extra eight inches of legroom that my $38 purchased me. The man sitting next to me strikes an amazing resemblance to Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley. I quickly check my Twitter account (@NFLCharlie), and Gus is indeed safely in London so no shenanigans happened and this is but a doppelgänger.

No fuel, bigger problem

9:20 a.m. CST- We’re about 15 minutes outside of my first stop in Dallas. Unfortunately there is a storm (Hurricane Patricia) and we can not land in Dallas. Instead the Captain (it could have been the First Mate) makes an announcement, “Ladies and gentlemen, we are running out of fuel and we can not circle until the airport is ready. We’re going to land in Austin.”

This isn’t good being that I have a connection at roughly 10:30 CST.

Hello Austin

9:39 a.m. CST- We land in Austin, Texas. Four lucky passengers get off the plane being that Austin was their final destination. They hit the bad weather lottery. The delay is supposed to be 20-30 minutes, per our leader.  I really have to use the bathroom but airplane lavatories are about 3/4 of a step above a port-a-potty.

Getting to know the Austin runway

10:55 a.m. CST- The good news is that I was able to urinate, the bad news is that we’re still on the runway in Austin. There are no updates and I quickly attempt to make alternate plans, looking for the next flight from Austin to San Jose.

Double life?

11:30ish a.m. CST- Gus Bradley’s doppelganger is apparently living a double life! I overhear him talking to a spouse or significant other on the phone. Just three minutes later, he calls another woman and tells her the same story. He happens to be wearing a wedding ring, but it would make the story even better if neither was his bride.

It’s a long day already and this is the most interesting thing I have going on right now.

Just say yes!

12:10 p.m. CST- We finally get fueled up and the DFW airport is again ready to accept incoming aircraft. Everyone feels a sense of relief with the exception of my new neighbor who moved in to the exit row seat across the aisle from me. He is a man, likely of Asian descent that doesn’t appear to speak much English. The flight crew matches up lefty-lefty and gets the Asian flight attendant to try and communicate his new responsibilities as he upgraded himself to the exit row.

Their signals apparently were crossed and he couldn’t accept full exit row responsibilities. Two other attendants came over to try and explain it to him while four passengers, myself included were chanting, “just say yes so we can leave!”

He refused.

After approximately 10 minutes, he had to be moved to a regular seat and the plane finally took off.

Finally getting off the plane

1:19 p.m. CST- We finally land in Dallas. The day is beginning to turn around. I get off the plane and find out I can catch another flight to San Jose at 2:30 p.m. Spectacular! I’m not going to have as much time to unwind, but everything will still be okay.

Two lunches

1:35 p.m. CST- I’m absolutely starving as I haven’t eaten anything all day (normally I eat every 2-3 hours). I find a taco stand and order three tacos (two steak, one carnitas). I was underwhelmed as I believed I could get a decent taco as I’m fairly close to Mexico. Still, the tacos go down in about 90 seconds and I’m onto Wendy’s for a grilled chicken sandwich.

Another delay

2:00 p.m. CST- We haven’t boarded yet and for good reason: There’s no plane.

2:20 p.m. CST- The plane finally arrives and the passengers disembark.

2:55 p.m. CST- I board the plane and I get row 29, seat E. I’m sitting in the middle (which can also be a term for a female dog).

Getting to know the Dallas runway

3:15 p.m. CST- The plane is full and we’re still on the runway. It’s getting hot.

Flight attendant has a breakdown

4:05 p.m. CST- A flight attendant is crying as she’s apparently getting abused by some of the passengers. Thank goodness Roger Goodell isn’t on this flight, people would be suspended.

4:55 p.m. CST- The flight leader makes an announcement saying that we’ll depart “eventually.” Very reassuring.

Time to take off

5:11 p.m. CST- After spending roughly two hours and 15 minutes on the runway in a plane with no air conditioning, we finally taxi down the runway.

7:20 p.m. PST- I finally touch down in San Jose. It appears that all of the airplane tomfoolery finished prior to takeoff. I grab my bag, a cab and then head to the hotel.  If you’re counting at home, I left at 5 a.m. and arrived in my destination city almost 17.5 hours later.  Roughly 14 hours was spent sitting on aircrafts, which is only acceptable if you’re leaving the continent.

Things are turning around

7:50 p.m. PST- I check in to the hotel, the front desk guy asks about my travels and I give him a brief summary. He looks mortified and upgrades my room. That wasn’t what I was trying to do, but I’ll take it. Great view of Levi’s Stadium from my room and after I take one of the most necessary showers in my entire life, I head downstairs to get some food.

8:30 p.m. PST- I go down to the hotel bar and order a burger with a fried egg on it (protein). It’s either outstanding or I’m simply starving. Either way, I’m happy. I watch the end of the Toronto-Kansas City baseball game, which was exciting. To try to get the karma in the right direction I overtip the bartender.  Shortly after I head back to the room to get some sleep.

Good night!