21 January 2011

Chicago

Last week at this time I was sitting in day 2 of a 5 day board review course in Chicago. I was probably fighting sleep and hoping my brain was subconsciously absorbing some of the information that was coming at it at lightening speed. Literally. I swear a couple of the speakers could get part time jobs as auctioneers.
It was a small miracle that I actually made it to Chicago in the first place. Originally I was set to fly out of Nashvegas with my 2 friends that were going to be enduring the week with me, but decided to change it to Tricites due to the snow that was being predicted (change #1). Tuesday morning, I got up and was finishing up packing when I got a text that my 230p flight had been canceled and that I should call and rebook. I called the handy dandy number from my message, and was told the 100p flight was supposed to be a go if I could make it there. So I booked this flight (change #2). I then called my dad and let him know of the plan change and we headed out to the airport. I checked in, went through security, and then 30 minutes before departure, they announced this flight is canceled too. Naturally all the passengers headed upstairs to try and rebook. While standing in line, I decided to pull out my iTouch and see if there were any flights that might get me to Chicago that day. I located a direct flight to Chicago that was supposed to depart from Tricities at 430p. I put a hold on a ticket hoping that I could just get a refund from my canceled flight and book this one. I finally get up to the counter and the lady tells me the flight I want might be full. Thankfully the one thing our little airport has is free WiFi and I had already booked the ticket, because sure enough my name was on the passenger list and I got the last seat on the plane (change #3). The very nice lady, even transferred my flight info over and I didn't have to pay anything extra. While this may seem like the end of my adventure, it really is just the beginning.

My 430p flight, yeah, it didn't leave until 730p. And then when we landed in Chicago we sat on the runway for 2 hours because all the gates were full and there was no where to deplane. Fortunately I sat next a really nice guy and we now know each others entire life story (including pets, parents, siblings, jobs, and shoe size) after spending close to 5 hours sitting next to each other. Let's just say I was so glad to finally get off the plane, meet my friends (whose flights from Nashville had also been delayed), call a taxi and get to the hotel. 
For the next 5 days, I sat in lecture from 7a to 6p and then took a 2 hour practice test. Needless to say my brain was on major information overload, but according to my scores, I should pass my boards without any problems.

The plastic covers the seat
Instructions for plastic changing!
What I saw of Chicago included the airport, my hotel, the inside of a couple of sketchy cabs, the mall near by, and the hotel shuttle. I did manage to come across something I had never seen before and I had to share it. I'm not really sure what to make of it. These are the toilets at O'Hare. The plastic changes when you wave your hand over the top sensor. Very strange. Hopefully it's new plastic coming out and not the same circle just going round and round!!!! Chicago my first impression was not too great. I hope to come back soon and change my opinion and see more of what you have to offer. But for now just allow me to say GO PACKERS!!!!!!

1 comment:

Erika said...

Yikes! What a traveling adventure. I absolutely HATE to fly out of Tri-Cities. It seems like I always end up on a cancelled flight. Our most recent cancelled flight was for "scheduled maintanence" except for no one told us until we got to the airport. Sigh.

Hopefully you can make it to Chicago again and see more than the airport sights. I've only been in Chicago for like two hours and all I saw was traffic and I ate a delicious deep dish pizza. I didn't like the traffic, but I loved the pizza...