Act Three and Epilogue #2

The flight on the way back to Lexington was pleasant, and I listened to music, drank my soda, ate my cookies, and had a pleasant journey. This time they gave us a whole can of soda. I will say Delta values comfort--the seats, even on the smallest plane, were well-cushioned, and I wasn't pressed up against anyone, despite my size. The carrier I'm used to flying on the annual trip is a little cramped in comparison. The service was excellent this time, in all airports and planes. But I have to admit, touching down in Lexington was a great, because I was home. I let my family know I was back, went to my car, paid my parking fee, and headed home.

I took the nap I mentioned before, but didn't wake up on my own; my friend called when he got home and I hadn't gotten there yet. I was dreaming and sleeping quite soundly. I got ready, went over there, took him to the grocery, fixed dinner for YKWIA, and then we watched 'Grimm' and visited. It's good to be home, to be surrounded by your people. I did really well navigating Chicago and the airports at Atlanta and Detroit, but I never really felt in my element like I do here.

Despite how complex and utterly mind-numbing the travel was, it was a very good trip. The meeting was excellent; the travel went smoothly. I got some wine while we were at the store to give in thanks for a safe and trouble-free journey. I didn't even encounter more than a couple of red lights while driving to and from the airport. And I happened to fly out before snow hit Chicago and Detroit tonight. :)

The worst aspect about the trip was that because I wasn't on a remotely normal schedule, I forgot to take my meds yesterday and missed doses of insulin both days, which isn't good when you're largely subsisting on snacks, rather than meals.

One of the best aspects about the trip was that as far as the actual flying went, I was really mellow and relaxed, despite not taking my anti-anxiety medication at all yesterday or this afternoon. I am becoming a veteran of flying and navigating Chicago's transit system. Now if I were just better at all the walking I had to do, which today was over 14,000 steps and over 6 miles. :) Fortunately my feet feel comfortable, and while I do walk slow, I did it largely without back pain, which I attribute somewhat to my recent physical therapy. Even the small of my back just ached a bit. Now this morning, it was a different matter--everything hurt. But a hot shower did wonders and I walked off any stiffness later. I'm also getting better at sleeping when there's so much urban noise from traffic and the trains, primarily. You can always hear something moving in the night. But when I went to the hotel last night, had my complimentary cocoa, and headed up to my room, it was quieter than I had experienced all day, and I tuned out the background noise as much as I could.

Okay, I suppose I should go on to bed. I'm sure it won't take too long to fall asleep, as I'm pretty tired, although the nap did wake me up and hit a second wind. Tomorrow's there the grocery run and we need to run by the pharmacy and get some meds for A. I need to visit a family member who has been in the hospital for a couple of weeks. That night I need to work on game notes and a cover letter for a job.
Wow, it's getting hard to think and type. I need to sleep. Good night!

I'm on a layover in Detroit -- Act Two

We leave here in about an hour. This morning I got up at 5:10 am Chicago time, got ready and packed for the transit system, not the airport. Then I had some oatmeal and a soda for breakfast in the hotel restaurant. After I checked out, I just had to go across the street to the bus stop. The desk clerk had suggested taking the Blue Line downtown and transferring to the Orange Line from there; he said the buses could be unreliable. But that would take longer, and there's more traffic on the trains at that time of the morning as people head downtown on the Blue Line, so I decided to take the bus, which was just coming up once I crossed the street, so there was no waiting. The bus was lightly occupied, and I took it to the Ashland Orange station, got aboard the train with just about three stops left before the airport, so that worked well--it wasn't very busy. I had put laptop and CPAP bag into my bigger bag, expanding the case by unzipping the expansion. That way, I only had the rolling bag and my purse to deal with on the transit system.

One of my librarian colleagues had described the train to Midway as 'dropping you off at an.lot'. That's sort of true. It's a long walk from the station to the actual airport, and only once you get to the airport do they have, say, wheelchair services for people who can't walk long distances. I didn't need that, but I did park myself in that area because there were some chairs, and repacked my luggage for going through security, so the purse is in my rolling bag empty, the CPAP bag is back as it should be, and essentials such as wallet are in my laptop bag. This time I did a paper boarding pass, although I didn't apparently pick up the one for the connecting flight, but got it later from the gate in Midway so I could get on the Detroit to Lexington plane.

Security was very tight at Midway and I got patted down a bit more than in Lexington because I had a heavy sweater that obscured the scan, and a necklace that showed up on it. She also swabbed my hands with something before letting me go. I got my shoes back on and everything back together--liquids, CPAP, laptop, bags. Then I ditched the sweater into the rolling bag because I was sweltering. So now I'm chatting with a guy at the airport, waiting to board.

I'll check in later.

Prologue - Act One

So, I'd done lots of things to get prepared for the trip, but I had lots of little things to do beforehand, everything from taking the trash out, returning a library CD, and doing a libation to the Gods for safe travel, but knew I needed some sleep. So I went to bed at 8 pm Wednesday night, determined to get up at 1:30 so I'd have a couple of hours to do everything I needed before I'd normally be up. And it worked. I didn't sleep well, as I was worried I wouldn't get up in time, but I actually got all the plants watered and the rest of my list at home completed, left a little earlier than what Google told me to so I could return the CD, get gas, put a cheque in the bank--that sort of thing. While at the gas station getting gas for $1.93 in Lexington per gallon (It's $2.69 or so here), I got a drink and a blueberry cheese danish sort of thing. Not ideal, but I didn't want something heavy, and it was cheap, and I'm trying to go as cheaply as possible. Then I drove around a good portion of the city (I live on the opposite end of town from the airport), parked in oeconomy parking, and went through security. I'd checked in using the Delta mobile application, and so spent the day scanning my phone rather than a piece of paper, which was convenient, but, I had to have my phone out an awful lot, and it was hard to juggle. I may just check in tomorrow the old-fashioned way, particularly as I have something to hold the ID and boarding pass to make it easier to keep up with.

It's always a joy to be behind me at a TSA checkpoint, as I have to take out liquids, CPAP, laptop, take off my shoes, and load my various bags (I had three, as one didn't count as it was medical supplies only). When I went through the body scanner, I guess they couldn't see my lower left arm well in the image, because they patted down just that lower arm. Weird. I gathered my stuff, put my shoes back on, and went to the gate, where I gate-checked my rolling bag for free when they requested volunteers. I noticed many people were not volunteering. It's a small plane, and I like gate-checking, although I didn't realise they would check it on to my final destination, and my liquids and other minor conveniences were in there, so I spent the day without a comb, eye rewetting drops, or lip balm, for example, something I'll keep in mind tomorrow when I pack.

The flight was pleasant and went off without a hitch. It was very dark, as they fly with the cabin lights down and no one really turned on their own personal lights. We arrived in Atlanta about the time the sun finally got up. I had a soda and a cookie packet there in the dark. Once we disembarked, I grabbed a drink and some pretzels and went to the next concourse, where I had an hour and a half layover until the Chicago-bound plane left. There was a mechanical delay, but we left on time and arrived at Chicago on time. I learned that one person can charge their phone (my seatmate did) while on the flight, at least on the 717 we were on. I was in the O'Hare airport, and meant to call YKWIA to let him know I made it okay, but then got distracted redistributing things into my purse and purchasing my 1-day (24 hour) transit pass, wound up taking the train to Division, where I lugged bags up many stairs to a world of newspapers blowing everywhere, oriented myself by the sun to be heading south on Ashland, and then caught the bus to a stop right across from my hotel. I got here at noon, conveniently, as that was when I could check in, and my meeting was at 12:45 CST.

I checked in, actually was able to use the key they gave me for the elevator (I had trouble the last time I stayed at this hotel, and had had to rely on the kindness of strangers to get me to the room then). I washed my face, located my comb, used it, and called YKWIA briefly to let him know I was alive. He was concerned, and had called the hotel already. I hadn't expected it to take two hours to get from the airport gate to the hotel (quite a while, yes, but not quite that long), so I apologised for not contacting him sooner. Then, somewhat more presentable, I took just my purse, put on a light jacket (it's all about the layering, as many Chicagoans are wearing their winter coats today; I had a heavy sweater over a thinner shirt, and had been sweltering in the airports and on transit, so it felt good. But I was happy to have that little layer of jacket.

We had lunch before our meeting, and it included sandwiches with mozzarella, arugula, and roasted pepper. We had an absolutely wonderful meeting, mostly on outreach, and I had a brilliant outreach idea that wouldn't work in my present position, but I might be able to partner with someone to do. I was afraid it would fade; I wrote it all out. It would be easily fundable as well. Part of the meeting could have been webconferenced, but the participatory exercise really couldn't have been. I'm very glad I came, even though it wasn't a direct flight.

After the meeting, a few of us walked to an Italian restaurant a few blocks away called Francesca's, which was excellent. I was tempted to get the salmon, but instead went for a lentil salad and a Napoleatano pizza. None of us could do desert. We walked back. Throughout my stays here, my rock of a landmark has been the St Basil Greek Orthodox Church, which is on the corner of Ashland and Polk. The library we had our meeting at is on Polk; the hotel is at Harrison and Ashland. So it really has helped me get my bearings. A couple of years ago they were using all this scaffolding, but now it seems in much better shape. It's beautiful. [I love the varied architecture in Chicago, and not just the stuff downtown. On the way over on the train I saw an esquisite Turkish bath.]

We got back to the hotel, grabbed some complimentary hot chocolate, and I've already told you the rest. I guess tomorrow will be Act Two. Wish me luck. I've got to get up at 5 am, eat breakfast when they open at 6 am, check out, catch a bus by 6:30 to get to Midway Airport by 7:30. My plane leaves for Detroit at 9:19 am CST, on a smaller plane. Then I'll have another hour and a half layover there before arriving home sometime around 3 pm our time. Whew!

Epilogue of a sort (What, you wanted it in order?)

Today marks my somewhat annual trip to Chicago. I say somewhat because I actually came here in March this year, and so its twice in this calendar year, but that's merely coincidence because the fiscal year runs from May to April, so it's actually two fiscal years. My trips have varied: one was in the middle of December, one would have been November but I was hit by a car and unable to attend, then we didn't have one until a year around through to April, then we had one in March, now this one. And each time, on my trip to the windy city, the temperature is in the 40s during the day. There is a bit more wind this time than in the past, but generally it's been very steady, which is unusual. This trip is also sandwiched between unseasonably warm weather (it was in the 60s here yesterday) to snow (Saturday may have anywhere from flurries to 10 inches, depending on the model. Weird.)

As of 9 pm CST, I had been up 20 hours straight. I was so tired, and I've walked over 11,000 steps (that's over 5 miles for scale), and while thankfully I have ultra-comfortable shoes, my feet are a little swollen, tired, and hurt a bit. I put some of the Thann Aromatherapy Wood scent lotion from the hotel room onto my feet, raised it up, and then went to pains at first not to fall asleep because I wanted to blog, but finally decided that if I could just listen to some music for about 45 minutes with my feet up, I'd feel better, and if I fell asleep, that would have to be okay, too, so I set three alarms for tomorrow morning for 5 am and one for 10:30. I overshot that by about an hour, but hey, I'm awake (I got cold, as I'd fallen asleep on top of the bed covers), I carried this laptop through two airports, on a train, and on a bus, and by God I'm going to use it.

So let me start my day properly....

Not the most reassuring story to see when you're less than a week out from flying

Delta flight skids off LaGuardia runway, stops feet from frigid waters

A Delta airplane slid off a runway late Thursday morning at New York's LaGuardia Airport, its nose busting through a fence before skidding to a halt mere feet from frigid waters.

Delta Flight 1086 briefly circled New York City due to issues with snow and ice before touching down shortly after 11 a.m., passenger Jared Faellaci told CNN. Almost as soon as it did, those aboard realized something was wrong -- the aircraft's wheels seemed to have little to no traction, sliding for about 20 seconds.

"You didn't feel the wheels take," Faellaci said. Then it was a matter of "where we are going to end up," he said.

About 4,500 to 5,000 feet down Runway 13, the MD-88 veered to the left and mercifully stopped on a small embankment.

Bizarre story of the day

18 human heads found at O’Hare on last leg of final journey

The heads were shipped from the United States to Rome for medical research, and they were then shipped back again to be cremated, Paleologos said. She said she didn’t know the name of the cremation service or where the heads began their journey in the United States.

Question...don't the Italians have heads of their own to examine? Why couldn't they dispose of them there rather than ship them back? I feel sorry for the poor worker who discovered the contents of the shipment, who may have taken the whole thing with aplomb, or may be bibbling in a hospital somewhere. :)