Greetings from Estates, Illinois!
Today I write from our hotel room from a town 16 miles away from the Chicago O’Hare.
We arrived at SFO yesterday with ample time to spare. It was a pleasant travel day even. Airport wasn’t too busy, Chris and David squeezed in a date at the United Lounge, and our flight was only delayed by a couple hours. The air conditioned airport was a pleasant alternative to sitting at home in the extreme heat.
The fun began while we were en route. While flying over Canada, about 4 hours into the flight, our captain announced that the flight was being diverted to Chicago due to a lost cell phone. There was concern that the cell phone had fallen into the body of the plane. The technical crew boarded the plane and searched and searched for this phone as soon as we landed. Could the phone have slipped into the body of the plane? Twenty minutes later, the plane roared with excitement…THEY FOUND THE PHONE!!! It was wedged between a nook in the seats.
The enthusiasm quickly diminished when we learned our travels stopped in Chicago because the crew had maxed out their hours. Chaos ensued when we de-boarded the plane at 2am. There were hundreds of people in the Customer Care line, emotions were all over the place, everyone was excruciatingly tired and there were no clear instructions on how to get to this hotel that was nowhere near the airport. Despite our zombie state, we managed to split a taxi with another couple and beat the crowd at 3am!
This morning we woke up and walked around a nearby strip mall in search of caffeine. We ventured into a Starbucks. I haven’t been to Starbucks in years so the experience was relatively foreign. What is a grande? What is a venti? I resorted to gesturing with my hands to communicate the volume of coffee I wanted. We sat outside listening to the sound of cicadas, soaked in the view of the corn fields and enjoyed our morning coffee.
If you walk away with anything from this post, losing your phone while flying has grave consequences. Please don’t be that person.
What is those mysterious paper cups between Chris and David?