Part 5: No, really, we made it home.
Thursday. This was not a day that was supposed to be spent travelling, but travel we did. Having gotten to the airport at 5:45 for our 7:20 *boarding* for the 7:50 AM flight, I discover at check-in that our flight has been bumped to 10:45. Oh my freakin' lord. It turns out after much checking of computer, that our best bet is to keep this flight, arrive in Chicago around 11:15 AM, and take the 5 PM flight to YVR, getting back in at 7 PM local time. They check our bags through so we're back to a reasonable amount to schlep all day (stroller, his rolling bag, my backpack). We eat breakfast, wander around a bit, get to our gate stupid early, and he watches Thomas episodes. Eventually we board, and I paid for us to sit in the seats with a bit more room. Our stewards were really great: the snack they gave was stroopwaffles, and when I said "oh my god I love these!" the woman came back mid-flight and gave me 3 more. (I'm hoarding them; I still have 1 left in my office.) When Benito started to fall asleep, another person brought me 2 blankets to use as pillows for him.
In Chicago, we had a LOT of time to kill. We walked around, saw shops, had lunch - oh, but not before I went looking for the Vosges Haute Chocolate place!! I love this chocolate, and I don't order it to get shipped to me because, after all, it is just chocolate, but if I'm here I'm sure as heck going to get some. I put together my purchases and hand them my debit card, which is a Visa card and has given me no trouble anywhere else in any other airport. Here, though, here, it will not read it. ARRRGGHHH!! I am so saddened! Woe is me, no chocolate to bring home! *sigh* I move along to get lunch, which is at least an hour overdue for me. (Benito had been eating leftovers of various sorts for the last hour.)
Lunch was a really tasty sandwich... I think; honestly it's not important except that it was good. We go back to our concourse, to what I think is our gate in another 3 hours - it has spacious empty floor space, great for Benito to roll his trains or for us to sit and use the Magnadoodle. He mostly watches the planes taxi-ing. I spot a solo dad with a younger toddler, perhaps 2. We exchange the kids' names, as parents seem to do. They wander, we stay put for another half-hour. I then go to check our actual gate and head that way. We're at the end of the terminal. I spot the same dad and kid at the windows, looking at planes, so we head that way, and as the kids play with trains the dad and I talk. After about 15 minutes, there's enough general information shared for him to realize that I'm family with the Ben with whom he grew up, and attended the same schools and first job, for 19 years!! He's heading from San Francisco to Pittsburgh to visit his family. I pass his name back to Ben so they can possibly meet up again and catch up on life. They've drifted apart in the last ... 13-15 years. Small world, eh? Quite ridiculous.
To end this long tale: we make it onto our flight cheerfully, get our good legroom seats again, Benito sleeps for about half the flight (I read a book!), we got home with no additional worries, we are happy to be home, and life resumed as normal on Friday.
This entry was originally posted at http://avivasedai.dreamwidth.org/687780.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
In Chicago, we had a LOT of time to kill. We walked around, saw shops, had lunch - oh, but not before I went looking for the Vosges Haute Chocolate place!! I love this chocolate, and I don't order it to get shipped to me because, after all, it is just chocolate, but if I'm here I'm sure as heck going to get some. I put together my purchases and hand them my debit card, which is a Visa card and has given me no trouble anywhere else in any other airport. Here, though, here, it will not read it. ARRRGGHHH!! I am so saddened! Woe is me, no chocolate to bring home! *sigh* I move along to get lunch, which is at least an hour overdue for me. (Benito had been eating leftovers of various sorts for the last hour.)
Lunch was a really tasty sandwich... I think; honestly it's not important except that it was good. We go back to our concourse, to what I think is our gate in another 3 hours - it has spacious empty floor space, great for Benito to roll his trains or for us to sit and use the Magnadoodle. He mostly watches the planes taxi-ing. I spot a solo dad with a younger toddler, perhaps 2. We exchange the kids' names, as parents seem to do. They wander, we stay put for another half-hour. I then go to check our actual gate and head that way. We're at the end of the terminal. I spot the same dad and kid at the windows, looking at planes, so we head that way, and as the kids play with trains the dad and I talk. After about 15 minutes, there's enough general information shared for him to realize that I'm family with the Ben with whom he grew up, and attended the same schools and first job, for 19 years!! He's heading from San Francisco to Pittsburgh to visit his family. I pass his name back to Ben so they can possibly meet up again and catch up on life. They've drifted apart in the last ... 13-15 years. Small world, eh? Quite ridiculous.
To end this long tale: we make it onto our flight cheerfully, get our good legroom seats again, Benito sleeps for about half the flight (I read a book!), we got home with no additional worries, we are happy to be home, and life resumed as normal on Friday.
This entry was originally posted at http://avivasedai.dreamwidth.org/687780.html. Please comment there using OpenID.