Flying to Chicago

Sunday 12 August 2012 – Chicago

Day 122 and 36 to go

What a great night’s sleep in the sumptuous bed at this fancy hotel. Bliss. We were quite happy to stay there til after 9am when we finally decided to get up and have a shower. Paul started to pack up our gear while we began watching the gold medal men’s basketball game between USA and Spain.

At ¼ time we left the hotel and went across the road to the Atlantic Beer Garden for Sunday brunch. Paul enjoyed the Irish breakfast and I had eggs benedict YUM! We were able to keep watching the basketball game, they even put it on the projector screen for us. The game was really close and at ¾ time there was only a point in it.

We walked back to the hotel room and watched the final ¼ with US walking away from Spain in the end. We were then ready to head. I returned the key to reception and we walked across to the ‘T’ and took the bus to Logan airport.

We checked ourselves in and once again paid $50 to put our bags on board. We then put forward our bags only to be told one was over weight. So we pulled some some things from the bag and put them in the hand luggage.

With that sorted we made our way through the x-ray screening. I was pulled aside to have my bag swabbed for drugs. With the green light we were sent on our way. We wandered through the terminal making it to our gate. The flight was over booked and they were looking for volunteers to jump off. That wasn’t going to be us. They were also looking for people to stow their hand luggage in the hold for free so we figured we would put Paul’s heavy bag through.

We were then called to board the plane. Unfortunately we didn’t have a window seat.

We were up and away by 2.30pm. I got into my book and that made the flight time disappear quickly. We were given a drink, but Paul had to pay for his whisky and dry. We weren’t given any nibbles either. I was glad it was only a 2 ½ hour flight.

We soon made our descent into Chicago arriving at 3.45pm, but 4.45pm in Boston time. We are now 13 hours behind home. The plane taxied to the terminal passing over the freeway. We were getting off the plane by 4pm and wandering through Chicago’s O’Hare airport to the baggage claim. Our bags were off quickly and all together which was surprising considering they didn’t all go on together.

We followed the signs to the train line to the city and bought a ticket before entering the platform. Here there was a large board showing the train lines and the hotels so we were able to plan our journey on the train with ease.

We took the ‘L’ line into downtown and then swapped to the red getting off a couple of stops later. When we made it to the street we weren’t sure which direction to take so I stopped a couple to ask for directions they used their phone to sort out where we were heading. We were really appreciative for it.

We then walked with our bags about 500m down the road before turning into our street and making it tot the lobby of the hotel.  We checked in and collected our last MotoGP tickets that had been sent here to wait for our arrival.  We then took the lift to our room where we put our bags and made ourselves at home.

With 6 O’clock approaching we went down stairs for dinner. A quick chinese hit the spot and then it was back to the room. I was going to have a bath but had to wait for a bath plug to be delivered. Once it was I did some washing and then enjoyed a soak while continuing to read my book. We had someone knock on the door delivering a blanket we didn’t ask for. They were sent away promptly by Paul.

When I finally emerged from the bath it was straight into bed where we watched a little TV before lights out at 10pm. 

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