I’m back in MN! I landed at the airport nine hours ago, went to bed seven hours ago, and I’ve been getting ready for / en route to / at work for four hours. But there is so much to write about. I finished a book. A good book. The Amazing Race shocker. Thanksgiving. But let’s start with my travel tale from yesterday.
In order to save money, I got a flight out of Boston. Boston is about 90 miles from my hometown. Since I was leaving on Monday evening, my parents were unable to bring me to the airport. Luckily the bus to Boston is very easy. So I boarded the bus at 11:35 Eastern Time (10:35 Central) after hanging out at my parents’ school for a couple of hours. One transfer and four hours later I arrived at Logan Airport in Boston. The bus was packed and the seat was relatively uncomfortable and cramped, but it was a nice trip. We can drive to Boston in about an hour and a half, so four hours is a long trip. When I got to the airport the bus driver was adamant that he would only be stopping at Terminal E, despite the fact that there were only three of us on the bus and we weren’t going to Terminal E. But I had two and half hours until my flight so it was all good. I like exploring and I now know how to walk from Terminal E to Terminal B, just in case I ever need to in the future. When I got to the American check in, I found out that there were major delays in Chicago – but not why, and everything was delayed going in and out. That meant that I had to wait for about 30 or 45 minutes in a line to speak with a ticket agent to make sure I would make my connection. The ticket agent was very nice and friendly and put me on a flight that was delayed, but leaving at the time my original flight was leaving, so that I could make my connection to Minneapolis. So I headed to the gate to wait. I waited for about an hour an a half before boarding, and we were only a half hour late from the gate. I thought this was good news. I had an hour and a half layover in Chicago so I figured the minutes we were late were minutes that I wouldn’t have to wait at O’Hare. The flight was good. When we landed in Chicago I saw the 4ish inches of snow on the ground and realized why there had been major delays. But I had made it in plenty of time for my connection, and all was still good. Then I remembered why I do not like O’Hare. We taxied for what seemed like a half hour after landing before we reached our gate. Goodness people. If I never fly through O’Hare again it will be too soon. When I got into the airport I checked the status of my flight and found out that it was delayed by an hour… giving me a two and half hour layover. I was scheduled to land in Minneapolis at 12:20 Central time (1:20 Eastern). I immediately went to try to get on an earlier flight to Minneapolis, but found out that my bag would be on my original flight anyway, so there was little point in arriving earlier. The terminal where our flight was scheduled to depart from was far removed from all human activity. Around a couple corners, down a couple halls, past some make shift cots for people who were delayed until the morning, and past a Starbucks I found the “L” section of Terminal 3. I got a couple of bagels and hunkered down in front of the CNN Network TV that luckily was showing the Monday Night Football game. Two hours later I made my way to the gate, where some lady was throwing a hissy fit and yelling and going nuts about not being able to get on the flight. I laughed. Out loud. Literally. It was hysterical. Then the people behind her in line started to yell “Hey lady shut up!” and such. It was quite a scene. Once they finished dealing with the situation, the agents (who were amazingly well composed and nice considering the hour and what they had to deal with) informed us that our flight was leaving from “H16″… back where I got off two and half hours ago and a longgg walk from where we were. I was so tired at this point I almost just lay down on one of the cots we had to walk past to just sleep. We finally landed in Minneapolis at 12:30 AM Central (1:30 AM Eastern). It was 14 hours since I had left home on the bus. That amount of travelling is exhausting (at least to me), no matter how easy everything is. I could just about have driven to Chicago in that time I think. My wonderful roomie was awake and came to pick me up at the airport, and I finally walked through the door to my room after 1 AM. I had to unpack and get everything set up, since I knew I would not be able to before work this morning. So it was around 3 AM before I finally got to sleep. But I’m back in the flow… ish. A little tired, but in good spirits after a wonderful break with the fam. Yesterday was a long day of travel but if you don’t let those days get to you, they can actually be quite enjoyable. Getting upset only exacerbates things. Plus, for a people watcher like myself, airports are endlessly entertaining. More in a bit. Hope you all had wonderful Thanksgivings!
