Chicago/O'Hare stinks!

I started the next paragraph sometime while still in Virginia, I think it was Tuesday, when my daughter decided to be up at 5:00 a.m. and wouldn't go back to sleep. Now that I am home, and never got a chance to finish it I decided that I would write about the travel first, there and back, and then write about my time there. My travel had MANY ups and downs, but the time in Virginia was great and went very fast! So here it is. Enjoy and be warned about traveling with two children under three:


I have officially put Chicago/O'Hare airport as my least favorite. I know I haven't blogged in a few days but it's been a crazy time out here in Virginia and, while the trip did start out on a high note, it did not end in one (at least the first day of travel). The trip with the kids by myself started out so well. We did have to get up too early (5:00 a.m.), we made it to the shuttle, everyone was so nice and the kids did great sleeping on and off the whole time to the airport. One of the riders on the shuttle even got off with me at the airport so that he could help me with all of my stuff. Another passenger said to me, "You are my person of the day!" (Dealing with the kids? Dealing with a lot? And on my own? He never really specified why he said that.) But it made me feel good about how the trip was going, even though we really hadn't gone very far. Check in at the airport was a breeze because I used a skycap and he waved the $50 baggage over-weight fee if I gave him a larger tip, which I did gladly.


Now, since I had two kids to travel with and I needed both their carseats to travel with me, I checked one carseat and carried one onto the plane. So I was pushing a stroller with one child and used the go go babyz on the carseat (if you would like to see this wonderful device go to http://www.gogobabyz.com/). This was so handy and it made my trip through the airports so much easier!


Once we got through security at SeaTac (everyone still being so nice), we started to go to the elevator to go to our gates but the elevator was out of service so the lovely sign said that we had to walk to the end of C gates to get the elevator. Which was at the end of B gates and then at the end of C gates. It was quite a walk. We had a slight delay in Seattle but boarding and the plane trip into Chicago was pretty uneventful. And in hindsight, it was probably best that this is the flight that went so well considering it was the longest, because from the time we arrived in Chicago to the time we landed in Virginia did NOT go well at all.


I was almost at our new flight, just noticing the sign that said 'Richmond' on it when it flashed off, so that got me worried. When I turned the corner to see the signs that announce the times at the gate they changed the time from 6:37 departure to 7:30. It was shortly after 5:00 p.m. so I didn't think this was too bad, just enough time to get some dinner and board the flight. The kids were still doing so well considering we were up at five! But then we ate and came back to the gate and the time was now 8:00 p.m. departure. Then, when it got closer to departure time, they announced that the flight was changed to 8:45 because the first officer was still in Pittsburg, trying to get here (Chicago), and would be late. Then when we got closer to boarding it became 9:30, then 9:59 (because it's makes us feel better that it doesn't say 10:00?) and the final of 10:10. All of this time was still waiting for that first officer to arrive. It was horrible. The children were so over-tired, they mutinied and tried to abandon ship. There was little to do so I walked up and down the concourse over and over. They also have signs for a children's museum, which I honestly tried to find. I have determined, however, that they must put that sign in for parents hoping to find a distraction for their kids, but it is really just a fictional place to get parents to walk around and waste time. By the time they have walked around trying to find it, they have wasted enough time and their flight is usually ready. And Holley, I know that I didn't officially do any exercises related to the triathlon but I did walk all over everyplace, usually carrying one child and pulling another while wearing a heavy backpack. (which I realized was just about the same weight as my daughter when I hung it on the back of the stoller and she didn't quite hold the stroller down very well!) That has to count for something right? Anyway, we finally did get out of Chicago, I think it was actually closer to 10:30 that night and arrived in Richmond at 1:00 a.m., very thankful to not be getting on another plane.

Oh, and I almost forgot! Apparently I look Russian. While briefly sitting down with the kids and distracting them with food, this old lady came up to me and said "Russian?", (asking me if I was Russian) I said no, but she still held her ticket out for me, so here I was speaking ENGLISH to a little old Russian lady who could probably say all of five words of english, all pertaining to flying. She managed to say 'gate', 'fly', 'b13' (her gate number), 'this one' (now I translated this to mean she thought this gate was hers, which when I looked around it was. Of course I thought she said 'this one' for all I know she could have been cursing me in Russian, because I was a young Russian girl from the old country that forgot to speak the language or a stupid American I don't know.) I finally either answered her question or frustrated her beyond belief and she left.

More on the return trip later.