(Originally written April 21, 2008 about 5pm Chicago Time)
It was rather sad leaving my childhood home behind, but time to get back to Phoenix and life in the desert.
The buses from Plainville to Bradley International Airport were all on time, though I damn near got killed by the first driver who couldn't be bothered to wait until I was seated before careening down the road. He wasn't running late. He just seemed to be in a hurry and a homocidal mood.
The other drivers weren't quite so... how should I put this... insane. Yes. That's it. Insane. I arrived at Bradley intact, checked my one bag, and headed for the joy that is the TSA.
I have a few things with me that we can't find in Arizona, mostly foods that just don't seem to exist there. While I was able to bring most of them on board, I very stupidly didn't check the Ken's cocktail sauce I was bringing back for PJ. Didn't even think about it, really, until the TSA folks ransacked one of my carry on bags and confiscated the sauce. Goodness knows, we can't have cocktail sauce on board an aircraft. I might try to maliciously flavor something.
Bradley is a nice airport. It's relatively small, but it's comfortable and well-run from my experience. After having my weapons of mass deliciousness taken away, I found my gate and took a seat, fired up the computer, and got onto the internet within a couple of minutes. Emailed a few folks, checked messages in a couple of accounts, and visited a couple of websites I've been out of touch with for a few days during this nearly all-offline trip.
The listtle plane we flew out on didn't much care for winds either on take-off or landing. The rest of the ride was reasonably smooth, but those were parts of the flight were a little scary, and I'm usually a pretty relaxed flyer.
Got to Chicago O'Hare and of course had to go from gate C-3 to B-18. (find map). Even with the moving sidewalks, it's quite a hike and I only had about an hour.
When I got to my gate, the signs all said it was a Lufthansa flight to Dusseldorf. Of course, there was no one around to ask about this little problem since I was going in quite the opposite direction, I don't have a passport, and my German is, well, non-exisitent.
I found a check-in kiosk, picked up the phone, and spoke with someone who confirmed what I'd been seeing on the screens throughout the airport. I was at the right gate even though every indication, including the German-speaking passengers waiting there, indicated otherwise.
Finally, someone showed up at the counter -- a Lufthansa representative. I approached the desk and before I could say anything, she said the United flight was indeed leaving from that gate and United reps would be there shortly.
According to the big board which has finally been corrected, boarding for the United flight I'm supposed to be on begins in 9 minutes.
Guess I'll have to wait to put on a black suit with a black tie and shades and parallel park a car with a 180 degree slide. Oh, well.
By the way, I'm not posting this from Chicago. Oh, no. I'm writing this in Notepad to post later. Why? Because as big as this airport is, they make you pay for internet access and you have to pay for at least a day's worth of access. Sorry, but I'm not doing that just for half an hour's access after traversing two concourses to get to my mislabled gate.
All that aside, this is a minor inconvenience. I can deal. For now, though, time to put the computer away and get ready for the last leg of my trip.
