Looking at the positives of being stuck at the airport

As you read below (last post), I was stuck at Chicago's O'hare airport for about nine hours. Why? You might ask.

At 6am, I received a text from the airlines. My return flight was canceled. I was scheduled to fly to LaGuardia and get a connecting flight back to Pennsylvania. The first leg of the flights home was canceled, purportedly due to weather conditions in Chicago. There were huge bands of thunderstorms coming through in the morning. It also led to a back up of incoming flights being delayed or outright canceled from other locales as well.

::sigh::

I get on the phone to the airlines to try to rebook another flight out. I am put on hold (I hate automatic systems........seriously!), and after 35 minutes on hold (using precious cell phone minutes) --- I lose my cell signal. ACK! I needed my phone for GPS directions back to the airport, so I said, screw it.

Got back to the airport, returned my rental car, and stood in a line about 3 miles long to get to the counter and rebook my flight. Tried hard not to panic, since I didn't need to be home that day to go to work. So, I knew I had plenty of time to play with. I just wanted to get home eventually. That day/night preferably.

After a very long hour or so in line, I finally reach the front of the line. They can rebook me out that afternoon to JFK airport. Umm, what about my connecting flight to Pennsylvania? Oh gee, they didn't see that part. Try again. How about a direct flight home? Sure, I say. It leaves at 630pm. It is currently about 11am.

Ok. I take it.

Now what to do? Well, guess what? O'hare is huge. Lots of things to see and do. It's like a humongous shopping mall. A Starbucks on every corner. Lordy, I'm in heaven!

Needless to say, I did a LOT of walking around, and just taking in the various sights of the terminals. Since I switched airlines, I had to first hike it to the right terminal. A nice long walk. No shuttle bus for this girl!

Then I went through security. I'm actually very impressed with how smoothly the lines run in the security areas. I opt to go through the standard metal detector, and decline the new-fangled body image scanner. No thank you. I don't think there have been enough studies on long term safety of the body scanners.

Off to hike the terminal and concourses! Starbucks - check. It's probably my 3rd cup of the day.

A sushi joint! SWEET! I stopped there for lunch. A very overpriced lunch. (You won't find good deals and bargains in an airport. They've pretty much held you hostage to their prices once you enter.) $13 for a mojito. $16 for a sushi roll. (Ok, it was pretty big, but that's very pricey!) $5 for seaweed salad. (Gotta have my greens!)

On my merry way after lunch. Snapped photos here and there. See last post for the pictures. Dudes! The light show on the concourse connecting walkways was awesome! I felt like I was in Las Vegas! And the glass art in the other connecting area between concourses? Amazing!

And can I just say, O'hare is one busy place. The seating areas for outgoing flights were absolutely packed. It became obvious after listening to several outgoing flight announcements that it seems to be the industry standard to oversell all flights. Every single flight listed seem to have stand-by lists. Every.Single.One. WTF is up with that? Is it the financial incentive to sell more seats than there are available to get more travelers? All it really seemed to do was thoroughly piss people off.

Canceling some flights but not others? Flimsy "weather" excuses, when you have planes obviously still taking off and departing in the weather? I also saw several that were delayed due to flight maintenance. I am definitely a fan of flying in well maintained planes, but should delays happen all that often for maintenance reasons? Are the planes that broken, that maybe they should be taken out of service until truly "fixed"?

Anyway....moving on.

After a while, I just couldn't eat, drink, or walk anymore. Thus -- shopping. Ok, so it still involves some walking. I bought enough items to end up needing a 3rd carry on bag. Luckily, with some very creative packing and layering of clothing, I was able to squeeze everything into my allowed two carry on bags. WHEW!

The flight actually departed on time. My seat wasn't oversold, although there were about 16 people on standby for seats. The plane was packed to the gills. Hurray for squeezing into the metal tube of death! Yes, that is what I think of airplanes. Metal tubes of death. Visions of crashes pass through my brain every time I fly. I religiously know where at least two emergency exits are on every flight I take. I read the emergency information card on every flight. I pay attention to the flight attendant's instructions on safely. I do, however, already know how to buckle my seatbelt. Of which, I keep on for the duration of the entire flight. Every single time.

And the seat as a flotation device? May I never see the need to ever use it. Fear of drowning is my #1 death fear. But darnit, I know how to use that blasted seat cushion as a flotation device, should the need arise!

I arrived home, safe and sound, and very tired. Can a girl get just a little more legroom on an airplane? Geeze. I could get a blood clot from sitting still for so long.