Off To A Bumpy Start

Tuesday July 2 - Wednesday July 3, 2019

I usually don’t start blogging until we’ve actually reached our destination and the holiday “has begun”, but today is an exception to that practice. We were booked to fly out of Chicago just after 6 pm so we left home about 1 pm. That would give us enough time to do what we had to do and comfortably make the flight. Because driving can be a bit dull, we had three different GPS systems going - all of which were telling us to go a different way. What’s a person to do?!

It was clear sailing for awhile and then we hit Chicago traffic. You’d think we could have avoided this. Obviously the GPS route we went with was the wrong choice. We had to drop the car off  and catch a shuttle to the airport. We arrived at the car park as the shuttle was pulling out. The next one would leave in 30 minutes. We were already 30 minutes late so now we're an hour late. The stress is kicking in.

We get to the airport to discover the flight was delayed by 30 minutes - which was great. It ended up being delayed over two hours. Bad weather around Chicago was causing planes to line up for take-off. One line had 60 planes it in. Ours only had 10. The result is that we missed our connecting flight in JFK. We landed at 11:30 which is when our flight to Glasgow was to take off.

Since the next possible flight for us was 24 hours later, we had to find a hotel for the night. A very short night. If we wanted our luggage, we had to wait for two hours. Not going to happen as it was already midnight. We tried to call a hotel to book a room, but the phone battery said it was calling it a day. We began wandering aimlessly trying to think with super tired brains. At just after 1 we took a cab to a hotel. Getting in, I tripped on a seat belt laying on the floor and hit my head on the luggage rack. The driver didn’t exude confidence nor a pleasant personality. We now know he took the scenic route so he could run the meter up.

When we got to the hotel Dave, thankfully, forgot to close the taxi door. That allowed him to get the backpack out - which had all of the papers with reservations and other critical stuff in it. The zipper was open and he grabbed the bag by the bottom. Just about everything fell into a puddle. It’s now 1:30 am. We have to email the hotel in Glasgow to say we won’t be there on Wednesday and call the car rental people with the same message. I laid everything out to dry. The hotel was able to give us a toothbrush and other essentials as we had nothing with us.

After a short night of sleep we had the whole day in front of us. It would have been great to see some of New York City, but we were just too tired. We got back to the airport about 2:30 pm. The flight leaves at 11:30. As I write this, it’s just after 7. Over there on the coach, Dave’s sleeping. I’ve got a “lack of sleep hangover” which is most unpleasant. We’re both hoping to get some sleep on the flight tonight, and for a better day tomorrow.

One thing I learned today: How delightful it is at times to let someone make the decisions for you. Dave made things happen when I was too tired to think.
One new thing I experienced today: Putting mascara on while wearing glasses. Can’t see to do it without them!
Most powerful moment of the day: Getting into bed.
One pleasurable experience: The hotel clerk let us use her boss’ charging cord as long as we had it back before 7 am. She’d be in trouble if it wasn’t there when he arrived for work.