Tangled Up In Blog

To Chicago....

I have returned from the Windy City, in a better mood and hopefully with a few less worries. We almost didn't make it to Chicago in the first place. Our flight left at 7 on Saturday morning so I arranged for the car to pick us up at 5:15. Of course we were packed and ready by 5:00. 5:15, no car...5:20, no car...5:25, no car...the phone finally rings and its the car service calling to tell us they're running late...yeah, no shit. The whole time I've been impatiently pacing up and down, now extremely concerned about missing our flight. I figure everything will be fine once we get in the car. It had snowed the night before and as we get in the car I see a cab skid through the red light in front of us...not a good sign. We start to creep down 5th Ave. It takes us 15 minutes to get to Atlantic Ave. which is about a mile. There is plenty of traffic on Atlantic so I figure the guy can speed up now..but no. He creeped along the entire way to the airport while cars are passing us going a normal speed. Things get worse once we enter the airport.....now there are lots of twists and turns which causes him to slow down even more...and remember that he was 20 minutes late to start out with. At this point I'm about to jump out of my skin. I seriously could have walked faster than this guy was driving. We finally get to the airport and check in at exactly 6:30 for a 7:00 flight. Then the woman at the ticket counter tells us that we have go upstairs, through security, and then take the shuttle bus to our gate. We get through security really quickly, surprisingly enough, and dart over to the shuttle bus. One is waiting, so I think we're going to be fine....but then, the ramp to the shuttle bus that could have been five feet long, literally has instead been expanded into about 6 switchbacks, making the resulting ramp about 30 feet long and only three feet wide. This made it impossible to pass the extremely small elderly couple strolling down the ramp or the patient Asian man patiently following them with a half-smile on his face that said...my car was on time and the driver was competent so I am in no rush to get to my gate. Halfway down the ramp the shuttlebus pulls away. We finally make it to the bus and I suffer the worst moment of the day, I realize I have lost my gloves. At this point I am hung over, working on four hours of sleep, and have had to suffer through an hour long ride to the airport and the elderly so I lose it. I bent my arms and clenched my hands into fists and literally shook...shook with anger. A look of shock passed over Andy's face which made me even more angry and resulted in me giving him an elbow to the stomach when he tried to console me. The bus finally pulled up to the gate at about 7:50 and we boarded immediately. Then we sat on the runway for an hour.....and this is why I LOVE flying.

Labels: travel

posted by carolyn @ 3:48 PM