Episode Two!

This summer has not gone according to plan. The first indication of plans going awry was the the Hair Barrett incident. Ahhh I hear you say….worse can happen, get over it. I agree but as I indicated in Episode One, there is more, much more.

I sat at the gate waiting to board the flight to Chicago O’Hare where my transatlantic flight was departing at 18:45. On arrival at the Domestic Terminal in O’Hare all I had to do was make my way to the International Terminal by monorail. I had allowed myself plenty of time, three and a half hours to be exact.

According to my boarding pass, boarding for the Chicago flight was to begin at 14:45. I looked up from my kindle and checked the time. It was 14:50 and no sign of the plane at the gate. A muffled, barely understandable announcement came over the intercom informing all, the flight was delayed due to bad weather out of Chicago.

An hour later the flight finally arrived and all passengers were assured the turn around would be done as quickly as possible. By the time the flight took off I was down to one and three quarter hours lag time between flights. I didn’t panic though! No I didn’t….I ordered a glass of wine inhaled it to ease my rising panic and then proceeded to gulp it!!!!

Of course on arrival, my flight docked into the furthest gate out in Terminal One. Thankfully my bag had been checked through. I grabbed my carry on and sprinted towards the monorail.

On reaching the International Terminal the queue deemed perusing the Duty Free out of the question. I removed my hair barrette and joined the queue. I sailed through security this time….things were looking up!

I checked the monitor for my gate and to my dismay discovered it was at the furthest end of the International Terminal. Oh well, at least I was getting plenty of exercise. According to my calculations, I had walked at least five miles so far.

I groaned inwardly when I rounded the corner and caught my first glimpse of the gate area. It was packed. Not a seat to be had. Oh well, I told myself, there was only twenty minutes to boarding.

Did you think I was going to tell you boarding was delayed? Well it wasn’t! Boarding began right on the button. I got to my seat, put my bag in the overhead and settled in. I always book a left side aisle seat as close to an exit as possible.

A sudden uncomfortable crowded feeling came over me. I looked up from my kindle to discover a very tall woman hovering over me, glaring. “You are in my husband’s seat,” she said. “No,” I replied, "This is my seat." Between the jigs and the reels, I asked to see her husband’s ticket. His seat was one row behind in the centre. I got up from my seat to allow very tall disgruntled muttering woman into her window seat. I realized as the disgruntled muttering continued this was going to be a very uncomfortable seven hours!

I looked behind me and saw very tall disgruntled woman’s husband sitting in the centre aisle seat. I reached back and tapped him, “Would you like to switch seats once the head count is done?” He nodded in reply. I got the impression from his half hearted nod, he would have preferred to stay in his assigned seat. I on the other hand decided better him beside very tall disgruntled woman, than me!

There is a third episode to this saga. If my broadband stays with me long enough, I hope to get it posted by the end of the week.  Fingers Crossed!!!!