What's more fun than taking a vacation with your best friend???
Nothing!
Jess and I headed to San Francisco mid-summer to visit her new niece and sister. I love a cute baby, so I was all about it!
She did an awesome job booking the flights, arranging our week long parking, and being up for just about anything.
I'd love to say that our trek out there was easy and boring, but easy and boring doesn't make memories and I have A LOT of memories :)
Before I get into the fun details, can I just tell you how much I h.a.t.e. charging stations at airports. Ryan and I were actually in an airport that had no outlets and only charging stations, which would be fine unless everyone else in the whole airport needs to charge something.
So this is where I was {among strangers} as we waited for our super delayed flight to board. SO annoying!
A one-stop flight from Philly --> Chicago sounded awesome! We would get into San Fran pretty late, but then have the whole next day to start our adventures. So, we got to Philly with plenty of extra time and then waited and waited and waited and waited....until 4 hours after our initial leave time.
We were happy to finally get started :)
And since our flight left 4 hours late, our next flight had gone on without us. We were given a hotel voucher as we got off the plane and b lined it to the hotel call kiosk {it was 11am and we were getting tired!}.
The hotel voucher was for any amount, so I quickly scanned through for the most $$ hotels to book. They were all full. And so were the mid-priced ones. And so were the sketchy ones BECAUSE there were major conferences in Chicago that weekend AND a concert series AND bad storms that kept travelers in town AND that meant NO vacancy.
Ummmm...what?!?
We went to baggage claim to talk to Edgar about our little hotel situation and he kindly {and he really was an airport angel} said that we would have the best luck....going upstairs to sleep where it was quiet and dark.
BAHAHA. I laughed in his face.
But he was serious. And in that moment I realized we were going to be sleeping in the Chicago O'Hare Airport. Just the 2 of us {and 100 other people who couldn't find a hotel}.
Then, when waiting in line at the baggage claim info desk for pillows and blankets, we were told that the security check-in was going to close in 10 mins and if we wanted a cot and safe place to sleep we should go 2 terminals away RIGHT.NOW.
And that's when the panic set in. I didn't want to sleep in the baggage claim area and I had NO idea where Terminal 3 {was that it Jess?} was! When we got our bearings we ran, probably a mile, to Terminal 3. It was no ordinary run either - try running with overstretched jeans and 15lbs of carry-on luggage. Yeah, lots of fun :)
But we made it!! The last 2 in the terminal before they closed security.
We set up our beds in cot city and settled in for the night.
Good night friend...sleep tight on your squeaky mini-cot
It's the first time I've slept in an airport before and hopefully the last.
They so kindly yelled at everyone to wake up promptly at 4am - WAKE UP! AIRPORT IS OPEN! TIME TO GET UP!
I will say they gave us a little toiletry bag with some toothpaste and toothbrush, which was AMAZING! I need to brush my teeth 2x a day so I was dying at this point!
After we "freshened up" and adjusted our real clothes turned PJs turned real clothes day #2 we got Starbucks and waited for an early flight into San Fran.
Everything went smoothly until we arrived at SF and was told by the baggage claim guy that our bags might be arriving OR they could be somewhere else.
Me: So where are our bags?
Luggage Claim Man: I'm not sure, can we send them to you?
Jess: No.
That's my favorite line from the whole trip! Jess is so sweet and flexible, but she was putting her foot down when it came to our luggage - you go girl!
3 minutes later we saw them roll onto the conveyor belt and with a scream and run we grabbed them and headed out!
I'll thank Edgar from Chicago for making this happen. He switched our flights during our little pow-wow and I know for a fact made the luggage switch happen too. Thanks Edgar!!
15 mins later Jess' sister arrived and we got to meet sweet Demi!
SF we have arrived!
1 comment:
Wow! Not a story I'd ever want to live but definitely one that is worth retelling. I am sure you guys will laugh about your night in the airport for years!
Funny thing about Chicago - Ryan was stranded there for three days last October during Hurricane Sandy. He met the owner/president of the company he currently works for there and it was because of that fateful meet-up/dinner that they called him a few months later and offered him a job out of the blue. We are very happy he got stuck there!
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