Ok so first I would like to appologize for not getting round to writing on Sunday like I had promised. I thought I would have the oppertunity and then I did not. So I am writing to you now and will put several updates/postings on what has been happening since I have been here this past week and a day.
My flight went like this:
I was meant to leave the CR airport at 7:11 pm. I haven't a clue who in the world books a flight at that time, but apparently I do. I arrived at the airport for my oddly timed flight just before 6. I was thinking this would be more than enough time since it is such a small airport. It turned out to be a bit of a good thing I was that early. The first mishap in my flight was the weight of my luggage. I was told when I booked the flight that I could take 70 lbs of luggage in one bag, have a carry-on bag, and 1 personal item such as a purse. Well I had planned all along to take a second bag of luggage, as it was to only cost me $30. All of that was apparently untrue. My second bag ended up being $70 AND I had to lighten up my first luggage bag because the weight limit waa 50 lbs. I ended up having to ditch pretty much all of the gifts for Alex's family, a pair of sweatpants that I had stolen from my sister anyways, and a few pairs of shoes. My bags were pretty much bursting, but I was able to keep everything else and stay below the weight limit.
After that ordeal (which to be fair got me a bit flustered that things wer already going wrong for my all important flight) I waited with my family until I needed to be boarding my plane. I heard them call the landing of the flight before mine (which had come straight from Chicago) and figureed I needed to mosey on up to my gate seeing as they usually just turn those sorts of planes round and sent them back asap. Also, with it being such a small plane and so few passengers (there were only 12 people on my flight) sometimes they like to leave early if possible. I made it all through the security stuff just fine but it felt as though it took ages due to all of the things that needed doing. I have neer travelled with my Nook before and as it turns out airports make you put even those in it own separate bin to be scanned. Plus I was wearing a hat and belt that I then realized I'd have to remove for every security check. lame, but only a minor inconvenience really when it meant I would fly comfortably.
I eventually made my way to my gate. With such a small airport it was very easy to find seeing as all of the gates are in one place. I waited and waited to board. We ended up bording about 10 minutes until the plane was set to take off. I thought it slightly odd but not concerning at the time. Turns out I should have been concerned. That day had been snowy but not much had stuck and it quit by the time we had reached the airport so I was not concerned my plane would be delayed due to the snow. I was, however, concerned about weather conditions in Chicago and how that might effect my takeoff for my overnight flight. Wellll turns out my plane had run into a bit of ice and rain on it commute to CR and had accumulated quite a lot of ice that needed to be removed before takeoff. Of course it would be my luck that the plane leaving before us wouls also need to be de-iced. I had no problem with this as we were told it would only take 5-10 minutes and that we were the next in line for the de-icer truck to visit. Well wouldn't you know, the de-icer broke while in the middle of de-icing the plan in front of us. They brought out the replacement de-icer, but it was not stocked with the proper kind of de-ice solution that was needed for our plane....or the plane in front of us. After about another half hour they found a third de-icing truck properly equpt. After the whole thing was said and done, my plane had finanally gotten off the ground 1.5 hrs late.
Do not get me wrong, I am very thankful that the flight crew went to so much trouble as to secure the safety of myself and the other passageners. Certainly waiting for the proper de-icer equipt with the correct solution was a necassary delay and one that could not be avoided seeing as the original de-icing truck suddenly broke down. And you can never really predict the weather in the first place. The crew was nice enough to comp us extra drinks and snacks as we waited and did appologize quite a lot. They were good people trying their hardest to get all of the passengers safely to Chicago.
That being said, unfortunately there were several of us with connecting flights to make. Due to the time of day our flight was taking off we all were very aware that if we missed our conecting flights due to the de-icer mishap we would be staying at the Hilton hotel across the road from the airport that night. Athough I do hate delays of that sort, like everyone does, I have had to endure the overnight in a hotel all by myself deal and it was not that bad. Meals are usually comped and the hotel is typically pretty decent. I was not, however, wanting my Valentine's Day arrival to be ruined with such a delay. I was hyper aware as that hour and a half slowly drug on that there would be no more outgoing, overnight flights from Chicago to Copenhagen after the 10:05 pm flight I was supposed to be making. At least I had a small chance, 5 people on my plane missed their connections before we ever landed, 2 of those before we ever took off from CR.
My originally scheduled layover was just about 2 hours. Which is normally enough to get from one end of the airport to the other but not too much that you have loads of time to potter about. The international terminal is always at the opposite end of the short, local flight terminals I arrive into the decent sized airports I utilize when making my trips overseas. Unfortunately, that hour layover was dwindled into a 30 minute layover. If you are unfamiliar with the O'Hare airport in Chicago, well, its huge. To get from the gate I arrived in (somewhere in terminal G) I had to take the nearly 10 minute tramride to the other side of the airport where the international gates live in terminal M. Needless to say, I scurried as fast as I could. I had a few things slowing me down:
- I was wearing my army boots, which are incredibly heavy and big. Difficult for getting places quickly in.
- My carry-on bag was one of those small rolly luggage deals that technically meets the requirements for carry-on luggage...just barely. Due to being on an older, small plane, my carry-on did not fit in the overhead bin. I therefore had to do curbside checking. This meant I had to wait for them to unload it and bring it up to the little bridge where you exit the plane. That doesn't take long, but was another delay I couldn't really afford.
- Airport security does not like it when you rush round the airport. Although I did not run (I really could have never made it running anyways, lugging about so much things), I was most certainly had the most brisk of walking I could tolerate without falling over, running into people, or having airport security stop me.
The final obstacle in this whole Chicago airport deal was getting through the security check point. I was a very lucky rabbit in the sense that there were literally no other people going through the airport security checkpoint when I finally made my way to it. There were about 25 secutiry people casually lounging, watching me as I was struggling to do things properly but quickly. Most of them were not rude, but certainly were not rushing to help me. I was clearly out of breathe and in a hurry. I get that they take their jobs veyr seriously. They should and I understand that completely. It is not their fault I am in a hurry and they should not rush their job for anyone. I am totally fine with that. However, there were 2 security guards at the end bit where you collect all of your items off the scanning belt that were leaned up some tables watching me. As I was hurridly collecting my things, shoving them into my bag, and putting my shoes on, they were clearly talking about me. They watched and commented about me in voices that were very clearly meant for me to hear. The one man was going on about how he hoped I missed my flight and that he did not care if I had to sleep in the airport overnight or something. They actually were laughing at me as I was trying to gather my things and figure out which way I needed to dash. It was so rude, but I didn't really get annoyed by it until I had time to think about it. At the time I was on a mission to make my plane before the gate was shut. I've attempted such things before in the Detroit airport and made it just after the gate closed and as they were shuting the plane doors. I was not letting that happen this time.
After the security checkpoint was when the treck to my gate got slightly confusing, as the posted signs were not very clear and my gate was, of course, the second to last down the row. This meant I had to haul my things a very long way down the terminal's length. Luckily, there was one nice lady working for the Scandinavian airlines that saw me rushing round and confused that shouted from her deck as me. She asked if I was due for the Copenhagen flight. I said yes, shouted the fligth number, and she pointed in the direction of my gate. She told me to hurry because they were getting ready to shut the gate, then asked me my name. I told her and she picked up the phone. I later found out that she had called the gate, telling them I was on the way. As I made my was round one of the last concers before I arrived at the terminal, I heard the dreaded announcement of my name over the PA system. It was instructing me to make my way immediately to my gate or else they would off load my luggage and leave without me. I was pretty well sure I would not make it at that point. Somehow I did though.
Once I got round the corner to my terminal I saw a flight attendent from my flight waiting in the middle of the terminal by my gate. I yelled down at him, telling him that I was coming and asking if the gate had shut yet. He said they were holding the plane for me. I had the biggest sense of relief rush over me. Despite this, I barely slowed down. I needed to make it all the way before I could relax. Huffing and puffing, I fumbled through my things for my ticket. The pockets of my skirt and hoodie were not very deep and I did not trust them to not lose my ticket and passport during my rushed jouney through the airport. I let the lady scan them, asked if my carry-on would fit in the overhead bin (she said it would), then carried on walking into the plane. When I arrived at my seat there was a bottle of water waiting for me and I had no seat neighbor to bother me. I was pleased.
Of course it felt like everyone watched me as I was trying to get organized in my seat. I am sure I made more noise than I think I did, seeing as I was exhausted. The flight attended said she was very impressed that I had made it through the airport in 20 minutes time and that I had made the flight. I was very lucky in that. I did need help getting my carry-on item in the overhead bin. It was very full of shoes and my jewelry and could not get squished down in the least bit in order to get past the door of the overhead bin. Plus I am short and could not reach very well. A nice man helped me get it in there, although he struggled with it as well a bit.
My flight went well. The food was amazing. They had marinated squab with veggie fried rice. The salad was wonderful, with a nice light dressing and corn and beans. For dessert it came with chocolate covered cheesecake. For breakfast the next morning I had orange juice, a ham, cheese, and turkey sandwich (I took the meat off) and a full pot of Oikos yogurt with granola. yum. My headphones would not work for the in-flight movie so I had to use the crappy ones that come complimentary and one of the movies I wanted to view (Sherlock Holmes) would not work. I ended up taking a natural sleeping pill and slept for a majority of the flight. I actually slept pretty well.
My layover was long but I read. That flight was again small and we got to Birmingham early by 30 minutes. Customs took ages and the lady said I should be careful about how often I come back because 2 long stays is "getting to be a lot and people will wonder which country [I] am living in". She did let me in the country though, and was really nice overall. Her parting words to me were to tell me that Alex and I should "sort that out" about where we were to be living together for longterm. Somewhere along the way one of my pieces of luggage got lost. It turned out that it was left in Chicago. It happened to have all my jeans but one pair, most of my shirts, and pretty much all of my socks. It did not come until 3 days later at 10:30 at night. Everything was safely inside though.
Once past customs and luggage I rang Alex on a payphone to tell him I had arrived early. I then perched myself on the edge of the luggage carrier I had gotten for my things and waited for him to come collect me. I wore a tag round my neck with a bow when I greeted him. It wished him a happy Valentine's Day and asked him if I could stay. Pretty emo, I know.
So there it is, my long journey. I utimately arrived safely and it turned out to be the best Valentine's Day ever - I was showered with gifts and got to sleep in peace, relieved in knowing that I no longer have to do things long distance with the person I want to spend the rest of my life with.
