Travel + Me = Bad

Well, at least I made it safe and sound... finally. I am here at the bf's for a week. Yeay! I may need to do a little work but basically I am free and clear. I plan to crochet and cook new foods. Should be good.

Of course, getting here was not entirely good. I mean, I should have known when the cab was 10 minutes late. grrr. My flight was at 7:45 so I scheduled the cab pick up for 5:30. That gives me an hour for travel in rush hour with a 15 minute buffer. Should be fine. Good thing I had the buffer because I didn't actually leave until 5:42. And for those of you who know me - no! it was not my fault! I was on the curb waiting right at 5:30. There was no way I was going to miss this flight!

I get to the airport and check in. Rather uneventful except that one of my checked bags was too heavy and so I had to throw some stuff into my backpack instead. Security is a hassle (why are we still required to take our shoes off??) but not an issue.

Since it was a direct flight, I had planned on eating dinner at the airport. The fact that international flights require you to check in an hour ahead of departure means I can safely anticipate having time to kill. I picked Chili's instead of bad fast food. Got seated fairly quickly. Then waited. Finally got my order in. Food arrived. Never got my glass of water. I finished eating and realized I needed to get going. They start boarding 30 minutes to flight time and it was right around 7:15. I'm not in a rush but getting the bill would be a good move to make. I try to find my waitress. She isn't ANYWHERE. Grrr. I flag down another waitress. She promptly tells me she isn't my waitress. Ah, yeah. I know that. Did I mention she was a little rude about it. I ask if she could just let my waitress know that I have to get going. She walks away. A few minutes later, I ask the hostess. She asks if I know her name. Is she kidding me?? I'm at a Chili's To Go at the airport and need to pay my bill so I can leave. Is my priority really going to be noting the bad waitress' name??

Fast forward another three or four minutes. Still no waitress. I put my jacket on and collect my bags. The couple at the table to my right AND the guy at the table on my left (who both have the same waitress as me) are now urging me to just stiff the girl. I am serously considering it. I mean, I have a soft spot for service people having been a waitress but this is ridiculous. Finally, as I am walking away, I see her and she motions that she will be right over. Yeah, finally.

By the time I get to the gate, I am starting to have concerns that I will be the last one to board. Not that this is a huge problem but it always makes me feel awkward. Plus, I am pretty sure it is a full flight and that means that I might have trouble finding overhead space for my (now overfull) backpack.

Now, at this gate, there are apparently two planes. It is unclear what the line is for - my flight or the other flight. No one seems to know anything. Finally, I make it to the gate area just as they make an announcement that the Edmonton flight has some sort of issue (unclear speaker system) and that we should wait on the left. I confirm the announcement with a couple next to me who are on the same flight. (see note on bad speaker system)

At this point I make a fairly critical error. I figure if they haven't started boarding that I should have time to run back 75 meters to get a bottle of water and some gum.

On my way back, I see quite a few people leaving the concourse. Then I see the couple that I know are on my flight. They inform me that they have directed all passengers to go to gate C2. Apparently, a late gate change. Oh how nice. It is already 7:30.

So off we all troup to gate C2. Now, in O'Hare, to go from B22 (our original gate) to C2 requires going through a connecting tunnel. Plus, B22 is as far from C2 as possible without going to a different terminal entirely. Below is the diagram of the concourse.




The numbers are hard to see but B22 is in bottom right side on that little kidney bean shaped wing of the B concourse and C2 is at the top left of the C concourse.

Now, here is why traveling with me should be avoided... Once we (at least 1/2 the passengers on my flight) got to the new gate, just after sitting down (as there was no sign to indicate they were boarding my flight), there was another announcement. "This announcement is for the passengers of flight ___ to western canadia, we are sorry for the inconvenience but your flight is boarding at gate B22." WTF?!!?? "The gate change announcement was incorrect, your flight was and is boarding at the original gate, B as in Boy, two-two, B22."

Needless to say, the flight is now delayed more than 1/2 hour. I have to pee. I decide to stop at the bathroom on the way back because, who are we kidding, I walk faster than some of my more 'senior' passenger comrads. By the time I get back to the original gate, I have broken a sweat AND I am the last one on the fucking plane! I guess I took too long to pee.

On the upside, we made up about 1/2 hour during the flight! Woohoo! We were hardly late at all. Bummer, the plane was totally full. I had to have the flight attendent stow my backpack because there was no room in any of the bins in my vacinity. I think it ended up in first class. I've thought about writing a letter to the airline bitching about the whole thing but I won't because, ultimately, I'm too lazy.

I'm just happy to be here! I got a little bit more of a workout on Tues. than I anticipated but that's okay. My thights needed it. Speaking of those pesky thights, think I will go do my bootcamp DVD... because I can! :)