January 22, 2007

January 21: Chicago


Honestly, why this little snow managed to bring such mayhem is beyond me.

Embassy Suites, Chicago: Monday

We ate breakfast, packed our stuff up and headed out Sunday morning. A taxi took us to the airport. (The taxi driver started out our conversation with, “Can I ask you a rather strange question?” It turns out that she wanted to know the names of any stores that might carry clothes for large women. Her son had gone to New York City for four days and hadn’t found anything, so she wanted to try online but she didn’t know what to look for. -- Speaking of being large. One of Roz’s friends, Bas, had a great line on size He’s originally from Hong Kong and though I wouldn’t call him fat, I’d say he was husky. He said that he goes to Hong Kong, looks around at everyone and says, “God I’m fat.” He goes to England, looks around and says, “God I’m fat.” He’s goes to America and looks around and says, “Yeah! I’m skinny!!!!!!!”) ;-)

The taxi only cost 35 quid. Apparently many taxi services have a fixed rate to the airport. The check in line was rather long and they only let us have one carry on item which ticked Rob off. He’s a regular traveler in the states where the rule is “one carry on and one personal item.” But the check-in gal was having none of that. (However, when we got on the plane later we saw several people with a large bag plus a suitcase as carry on. They obviously didn’t get the same check-in gal that we got.)

The security line was insane. There was a couple in front of us that probably missed their flight because of security.

Then when we got through security, we came out of the grumpy, drab, stressful security area into a world of light and color. It was the duty free shop and it looked like we had just been transported from some East German security checkpoint to some All American department store. It was very odd. And you had to get through the store to get to your flights. (So all those people who were running very late in getting to their flights had to fight their way past dreamy shoppers picking out cologne and bottles of Scotch.)

We got to our boarding gate where we had to go through a 3 point security check again (thankfully we weren’t pulled out for the last point which is where they go through all your carry on bags and check them for drugs, etc.)

Our flight to the States was fairly uneventful. We saw both Scotland and Ireland for the first time (just bitts of the coast as we flew over). And we landed on time at the Chicago airport.

As we were waiting to grab our bags to go through customs we saw one of the suitcases come down the center belt. Our luggage is distinctive not because it’s bright red (that seems to be a popular suitcase color these days) but because we had the kids draw pictures all over the suitcases before we left. We figured that that would not only be a pleasant reminder of them during our trip, but it would also help us to locate our luggage when picking it up. So we waited for that case to get off the center belt, then swing around till it reached us. But it never reached us. I started to get worried that someone else had taken it so I quickly buzzed about to the other side of the luggage carousel only to see a red suitcase heading down a long hallway past a security check point. As far as I could tell, our suitcase had just taken a trip without us.

Rob was pretty upset about it. But I figured that either the person would go to declare stuff and then realize that he had the wrong suitcase, or he’d take it through, not declare anything, and put it back on the luggage check-in belt and it would end up in Denver anyway, since that’s how it was tagged. Our only worry was if the guy was staying in Chicago. So we waited for the rest of our stuff (which took another 25 minutes) and right before we were getting ready to go fill out any paper work we might need to to say that our bag had been taken, there it was coming around the carousel. We’d been watching the center belt so we knew it hadn’t come down from there. So we’re guessing that the guy eventually got to the point where they tell you your gate change information. The people there would look at the tag on your bag and then tell you your gate based on that info. I can just picture the woman looking at the tag and saying, “You’re going to Denver?” and the guy’ slowly realizing that he’d screwed up. How he could grab a bag covered with pictures of kitties, doggies and lizards without noticing is beyond me, but there you go.

We took the train to our terminal and checked a television to make sure we were heading to the right gate.

What a shock. We found that our flight had been cancelled! We tried to find someone who could explain why (it certainly couldn’t be because there was a light snow in Chicago. Nothing was even sticking to the ground.)

After waiting in a couple of different lines, we finally calleda 1-800 number and found out that we’d already been rebooked on a Monday morning flight.

We were quite disappointed that we wouldn’t be getting back when planned. But I kept telling myself that the kids would have been asleep when we arrived and we’d only see them long enough in the morning to send them off to school. So we’re not missing kid time and the main bummers are the expense of the hotel (only $159 and we don’t have to worry about the wretched exchange rate!), the fact that Karen has to watch the kids one more day when she probably needs to catch up on work, and that my mom will have to wake my dad up to come get us. (My dad has been sleeping late in the mornings which is a blessing because it’s just that much less time that my mom has to cope with him.)

So we ended up at the Embassy Suites. We got a free drink in the evening and there’s supposed to be a continental breakfast this morning. And unlike Shendish, the television actually works, there’s a fridge in the room as well as a full length mirror and an iron and ironing board. We don’t need any of these things now, but it would have been nice to have them before the wedding and it’s comforting to be back in a land where these things are standard in a hotel room. It just helps to have a sense that you’ve got your bearings back. ;-)

40 comments:

  1. You've just lost all privileges to ever questioning the validity of any photo I take...nut.

    :-D

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  2. Heh-heh, the bed looks quite short in length.

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  3. hey! a picture taken to prove a point is different than a picture taken to embarass and annoy a relative! ;-)

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  4. As far as I know they are standard, all of the hotels I remember staying in have them, or at least an iron....

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  5. Portland woulda shut down completely.

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  6. I can't believe you took a photo of that.

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  7. It's certainly different, but not necessarily better!

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  8. Does anybody ever use an iron anymore?

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  9. Glad to see you back home safely, looks like you had a wonderful trip.

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  10. rob irons his clothes. at least, he does when he's here on sundays getting ready for work on monday. i don't know what he does when he's in SF.

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  11. People in Chicago forget how to drive, let alone operate aircraft, at the sight of a flurry. Connecting through there in the winter is a legalized form of gambling. :) If you're in the frequent flyer program of whatever airline you were flying, I'd check their web site for a comment form and tell them that due to the flight being canceled, you missed out on (whatever you missed out on). You might get some bonus miles for the disruption.

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  12. parting notes: there were several things rob and i noticed that i had planned to stick in a final post, but i think that plopping them here may do.

    1. during the two weeks that we were in England, rob counted 39 SUVs and 13 scooters. we were impressed by the low number of SUVs (and the smaller cars in general) but rob was shocked that there weren't more scooters on the road. especially in the congested downtowny parts of london and cambridge. when we got back to the states, we saw 39 SUVs within the first 10 minutes of being on the road.
    2. the English keep their hot water way too hot. in the airport bathroom, there was even a sign warning that the water was hot and there was no way to make it cooler. so you either didn't wash your hands or you suffered through near scalding temperatures. brilliant.
    3. when we'd try to stop someone on the street to ask for directions, we were generally ignored. the few exceptions were usually americans.
    4. we were surprised that the beer in england wasn't as full bodied as what we're used to. and much of it was much hoppier.
    5. have i mentioned the magic round-a-bout yet? i suspect that there's a level of hell that consists of nothing but magic round-a-bouts and the ultimate torment is when the devil insists you ride in a taxi through every single one.
    6. a large latte in cambridge is equivalent to the child size portion in fort collins.
    7. there were streets in both london and cambridge that changed names every time the street curved (even slightly). so within a 4 block length the street could end up with 4 (or more) different names. we even saw a couple of streets that appeared to have one name on one half of the block and another name at the other end of the block.
    8. the english seem to hate street signs. which is made all the more difficult when taking #7 into account. perhaps purgatory is being dropped into london with nothing more than a map and being told that you have to find your way out on your own. ;-)
    9. the english were great conversationalists. i don't think we had a single cheesy or fluffy conversation with anyone.
    10. they hand out newspapers for free in london. we thought that was weird.

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  13. 1. not surprised, we didnt see many either, although our tour bus did have a wreck with an SUV, lol:-)
    2. never noticed
    3. I got the feeling that people generally ignored you outside the touristy areas
    4. can't say i can relate to that expirence, lol;-)
    5. haha...roundabouts suck. we ran across that giant one in Paris before we found out thre was a walking thing underneath
    6. THATS TERRIBLE:-(

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  14. 1. not surprised, we didnt see many either, although our tour bus did have a wreck with an SUV, lol:-)
    2. never noticed
    3. I got the feeling that people generally ignored you outside the touristy areas
    4. can't say i can relate to that expirence, lol;-)
    5. haha...roundabouts suck. we ran across that giant one in Paris before we found out thre was a walking thing underneath
    6. THATS TERRIBLE:-(

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  15. Meg, please don't come visit Australia. I would hate to see what you would post about our beautiful country. Did you enjoy any part of your trip to England?

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  16. 2. They do, it's why I prefer places where they only have one tap for both the hot and cold, so you can mix them to what you want them to be.
    3. I know what you mean, but I can't explain it. There people (non-Americans) who will help, but not many. I think part of it is people are so busy to get to where they are going they can't stop to help. Another part being people aren't being taught manners any more.
    5. But roundabouts are brilliant! :-)
    9. Glad you think so! And that I didn't bore you that day.

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  17. Ugh, I have to disagree. There are rotaries in Massachusettes and circles in New Jersey and they were horrid. And now they're proposing them for her in North Carolina, and they want to call them roundabouts as well...

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  18. Roundabouts are brilliant..I agree. We have them here in Australia. They keep the flow of traffic going and when one knows how to use them correctly they work. When I was in America I noticed that many intersections, without lights, had stop signs on all roads. I thought it quite silly. All cars stop, who goes first I asked my friend, she said it was curtesy applies. What ever that means



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  19. haha, they put one in downtown here last year...its kinda pointless, because there was only one street there. NO INTERSECTION. the city just thought it looked cool:-P

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  20. whoever gets there first gets to go first...i think. i dont really remember anythng i learned to get my permit:-P

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  21. yup. sure did, as i said in my list and in previous posts. :-)

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  22. the first to arrive is the first that should go. however, if two cars arrive simultaneously, then the law says that the person on the right has the right of way.

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  23. Correct...and I've always wondered who gets to decide which car is on the right. Such a stupid rule...

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  24. um,... imagine that you're in the car on the right. where's the other car then?

    don't sweat it. it will come to you. ;-)

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  25. Okay hehe all four cars arrive at the intersection at the same time. Who is the one that goes first?

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  26. This scenario has actually happened to me. The car on the right rule is ridiculous.

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  27. I would have thought that you would have to give way to the left over there? For you to give way to the right you would have to give way to the left too. No wait they have to give way to you first. Sheesh I am so confused. Here in Australia we give way to the right at give way signs. At stop signs we have to give way to both right and left and can then proceed through the intersection when safe to do so. Usually a stop sign is used on minor road's intersection with a major road (th e major road having the right of way). A give way is usually used where two minor roads intersect and then only on the one road. Usually the least used. Two major road intersections either have lights or roundabouts. If the lights are not working for some reason and no police are there to direct the traffic, the give way to the right rule applies. I have never seen an intersection here that has 4 stop signs. There could be some around but I have never seen them.

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  28. In addition to this happening, more often than not, it happens when two cars stop at the same time at opposite stop signs...one turning left and the other going straight. I've always assumed the car going straight should go first, then the one turning left, but it doesn't seem like many people follow that rule. Instead, I just wave the other car to go first, since I am not the least bit interested in arguing over who had right of way in an accident.

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  29. We have them all over the place here.

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  30. Yep I noticed that when I was over there. I guess the system must work or it would be changed hehe..that thing about turning right through a red light frightened the daylights out of me when my friend did it rofl. Here a red light means do not enter, stop..hehe

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  31. It usually does here too. You're usually supposed to at least stop and make sure the coast is clear before you turn right on a red.

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  32. it makes sense to turn right on red (when the way is clear) because it not only helps to clear that lane, but it also means that many fewer cars wasting fuel at the light.

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  33. Here we have, at some lights, a part where we can turn left when the lights are red. But we don't actually go through the red light. It's sorta like a leeway or something not sure what it's called..We also have green arrows that allow us to sometimes turn right when the others are on red. But no we are not allowed to go through red lights here at any time.

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  34. OOOh snow....we don't have snow anymore here...so sad...I love winter, but I haven't get any snow at all in my city this winter.

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  35. We don't Have snow here in New Zealand - at anytime
    ( well not in the north island ) The south island has it all the time ^_^

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