The Week I Spent in O'Hare One Day OR From Bad to Worse

The sordid tale began benignly enough. It was supposed to be an overnight business trip to Chicago. (Rosemont to be exact because the meeting was going to be at the Sofitel at O'Hare on Friday the 12th and be done by 5pm) so we didn't even plan on going into the city.

Some nagging little voice in my head told me "pack extra clothes, you know how winter travel is through O'Hare" and I ended up wearing a heavy sweater and my gloves which I never do when I travel.

I also told the hubby to make sure he got the Christmas crap put up in the attic while I was gone so the Bugger could finally park in her spot in the garage instead of sitting out in the driveway like she had for the last two weeks.

It was fairly cold in Rosemont Thursday evening after we had settled into our hotel rooms and walked around the corner to the steakhouse for our 6:30 dinner reservations. Yet it was nothing horribly out of the ordinary for a mid-January Chicago evening.

Things were progressing well the next morning and the meeting was suprisingly engaging. I texted the hubby early the next morning that I had no idea Christopher Lowell had been a concert pianist at age 7 and he responded that he was glad things were going so well. He didn't however, let me know it had begun misting in Anytown.

Lunch passed uneventfully and the second half of the meeting also progressed well. We finished almost an hour early, which is naturally, unheard of but most welcome. We gathered up our bags, I changed from meeting attire to VERY comfy travel attire, THANK GOD!!!, and we proceeded to O'Hare. All along unaware that it has been raining all day in Anytown with falling temperatures to boot.

We thought luck was on our side as we arrived at O'Hare and made it through security with enough time to get on standby for the earlier flight into Anytown, instead of the last flight in at 8:35pm. We get to the assigned gate and wait there for about 15 minutes, only to be told the gate has changed. We go to the new gate, only to find the departure has been delayed by about 15 minutes.

They then announce another gate change. We get to the new gate. After about 15 minutes, they announce another 20 minute delay. Then another gate change, then another delay. They do this about eight times until it is leaving at almost the same time as our 8:35 flight. Then they cancel the flight. Oh well, we still have our seats on the 8:35 flight. Oh wait, there is a gate change. No announcements have been made, we must be good to go. No, wait, that board says Hartford, CT, where did the Anytown flight go? Oh, you cancelled it but didn't announce the cancellation of the 8:35 flight?

Several people had been following us from gate to gate so we knew several of the faces by now so there were several of us vying for options. All of the airports within driving distance of us had been closed down due to the weather on that end. Chicago's weather was still basically clear. The next possiblity of a flight out to Anytown was scheduled at 11:35am because any earlier ones had already been cancelled. I had two other people flying with me (my father and an employee) and the strange little barely English speaker behind the computer in front of me told me that there were only two seats on that plane.

I told him that would not do and asked what our other options were. He looked at Kansas City and my dad said for the employee and I to go on and he would take the next plane in. I said absolutely not and the little guy said he could put two of us in a seat and the other in standby. We discussed the merits of this for a moment and decided to do it. In the blink of an eye, the little guy had three boarding passes for us and we were all three good to go on the 11:35am to Anytown.

All of those faces that had been following us around from gate to gate suddenly disappeared. Gone. Vanished. Rapidly. It's not even 8:30pm. I'm trying to convince Dad that if we rent a car, it's only an 8 hour drive home and I'm not all that tired at this point. I attempted to rationalize with him that if we don't get out now, it could possibly be a week before we get out flying OR driving. Obviously, he didn't go for it. Nor did he go for my line of logical thinking that said if we couldn't fly out the next day, we would want to try to drive so we should go to a hotel like all those faces that vanished so rapidly. That way we'd be somewhat rested and fresher if that eventuality came to fruition. Again, a no-go.

So, what do you do to pass time when you are a virtual prisoner in an airport? Go to one of the few restaurants in that particular terminal before they close and eat, even if you aren't hungry, even if you don't particularly like their food. (Note to self on this one.) Buy reading material BEFORE the bookstores close at 10:00pm. Even if you only plan a short, overnight, in and out type of trip, TAKE YOUR COMPUTER!!!!!!! You never know when you are going to get stuck in the airport. I will NEVER travel without mine again! Ick!!! Time would have passed so much quicker with it.

I would have, however, known more of the horror story unfolding in Anytown if I had been in possession of my trusty Mac PowerBook, though. While we were bouncing from gate to gate, you must remember as I told you earlier, it had been raining all day in Anytown. As the day progressed, the temperature did not, it actually regressed. Any of you know what recipe rain and falling temperatures make might realize what is happening here.

That is correct. We are getting freezing rain in Anytown. Freezing rain is a peculiar creature. Sometimes its harmless and doesn't do much. Sometimes, if the ground is cold enough, it coats the ground in layers and makes the roads, sidewalks, grass and every horizontal surface as slick as glass. That happened here in Anytown in early December.

Other times, if the ground is warm enough but the air has cooled, it coats the things in the air, ie.; powerlines, powerpoles, trees, etc. This is what was happening in Anytown while I was stuck in O'Hare. By 7:30pm Friday night, my house, therefore the hubby and the boy, had no power. We live on a corner and the houses across both streets still did. My parents, who live about a mile from us in a much newer, much more expensive neighborhood with buried utilities, are without power at the same time. Our traveling companion calls her daughter and they have no power either.

Back at O'Hare, I am trying to find something to do. I am tired as can be, but I cannot sleep. Both of my traveling companions have gone downstairs in the American terminal, because they think it will be quieter, and are stretched out on the floor, snoring. I go back upstairs, and see no one. I am cold so I search out someplace warm. The only thing I end up finding is a covered radiator along the wall of a restaurant. I sit on it for about 10 minutes before I can't stand it anymore and wander off, looking for something else to do.

At some point in the night, after all of the gates have closed, all of the little "security checkpoint people" have closed up shop and gone home for the day and no new people and coming into the "secure" part of the airport, can they not turn off the damn, constantly droning, always annoying security announcements? As we were sleeping, okay, as my traveling companions were sleeping and I was moving from place to place in search of rest, solice from boredom or stiffness (or something) or just plain restlessness, the damn overhead announcements constantly repeated the same three or four things. "Remember 3-1-1," all about three ounces in one quart bag per one person. There was also the one about "Do not leave your baggage unattended." I got to the point I expected to hear "The white zone is for loading and unloading...."

I go to the bathroom and come back out and start searching for people, anyone because I figure we can't be the only ones foolish enough to have stayed there. I locate a few people, here and there. Most are sleeping, a few are working on computers, but none seem interested in talking to fellow prisoners as they have their headphones on and are listening to their iPods. iPods? Oh yeah! I brought my iPod. I run back downstairs and dig mine out. My dad is now sitting up in one of American's horribly, horribly uncomfortable bank of nasty, cracked, discolored, worn out chairs at O'Hare, again, snoring.

My other companion is awake, craving a cigarette. We go upstairs because I mention to her that it is snowing like crazy and if it keeps up like this, there is no way we will be able to leave. We both decide it is time to go to the bathroom. Back downstairs. Dad is back in the floor, covered up with his coat and his shoes are off. I dig a deck of cards out of my carry on and realize that my allergy and migraine medicine are in my checked luggage. Damn the luck because my allergies are absolutely driving me bonkers.

We play rummy and try not to look at our watches because it is only 2am. We plan on playing until 3am and then looking at the snow again. A fellow traveller who has been sleeping around the corner has awakened and comes over to talk to us. He informs us he is in the Army and because they kept putting standby passengers on the flight over he and his buddies, they were all officially AWOL. Seems they had been to Little Rock and were possibly headed to North Carolina? Don't really remember. Said it happened frequently when they traveled through O'Hare. Surprise,surprise, surprise. As I go there more and more frequently for work, I like it less and less and less.

My rummy partner officially whips my ass at 3am and we go back upstairs to discover it has quit snowing. We watch them de-ice a couple of airplanes. Why they are doing this right now, I'm not sure as nothing is going anywhere for at least three if not three and a half hours. We both go to the bathroom again and wander back downstairs again and finally, I try to get a little bit of sleep. The floor is VERY hard and cold. My coat is a short leather one. Really isn't good for a pillow or a blanket but I try it as both while on the floor and as a blanket while bent over the arms of the chair. Just as I lay down in this "quieter" area, the night crew, having no regard for the situation we stranded travelers are in, began doing what they always do and started vacuuming the floor, slaming the vacuum into the walls and furniture, polishing the floors and doing the same with the polisher, arguing with and cussing at each other, etc. What a horrible arrangement.

I determined that all large airports should have a storefront that is open 24/7 that charges a set fee for a set number of hours and provides a locker for your stuff and a recliner, blanket and pillow for you. It seems like a no-brainer to me especially when you are stuck in an airport in situations like this.

We noticed the night before the restaurants began opening at 5am so at 4:30am. my smoking traveling companion HAD to feed her habit and went out to smoke. Evidently she froze her ass off so she started to come back in after one very quick cigarette. However, they don't open the gates that early. So, she had to get in the long security line and wait until the gates went up to go back through the screening. We kept telling her it was time to quit. She smiled, agreed, and later went out for another.

After we all stood in front of a bank of monitors watching the departure and arrival listings and seeing all of the departures for the early Anytown flights and anything around Anytown cancelled, we were even more dejected. I then spent quite some time waiting for the restaurant to open watching the Weather Channel show what was hitting Anytown and what else was in store for Anytown. Blech!!! But, I didn't want to be stuck at O'Hare any longer.

Breakfast is served. I really wasn't hungry. But what else did we have to do? I had an order of toast and hot tea. I had been sitting on the radiator again, trying to warm back up. American needs to warm its terminal up some!!! The toast wasn't very warm, it was hard and the butter was hard and cold. My companions didn't fare much better with their Country Breakfast. By now we are going on our 13th hour at the airport knowing we have at least 5 1/2 more before there is a possibility of getting out of there. I start texting home, not knowing there is no electricity, not wanting to call that early and wake everyone. I want to know what to expect at the airport. I get impatient and text 5 times in 30 minutes, but to no avail.

The bookstores finally open. I buy water, gum, pistachios and "The Time Traveler's Wife". We go to our gate and I start reading. By now, it's about 7:30am. I get about 25 pages in and find myself jerking back awake and almost dropping the book. I get up and go in search of my form of caffine, soda. I know I won't find any Cherry Vanilla Diet Dr. Pepper or even any Diet Dr. Pepper so I settle for Diet Coke. Though I really don't like it, it's better than coffee and by this point, it's caffine or pass out.

Gee, we have a gate change. This seems eerily familiar. Oh and look, there is a 30 minute delay. I start to get a little panicky, I am REALLY sick of this airport and don't want to be stuck there any more. I hear rumors of the airport in Anytown being completely shut down. I ask at the desk and am stonewalled. "Power might be down now but could be up by the time your flight left so we would have given you bad information." I text the hubby again.

Familiar faces start to drift in. They look refreshed. I look rumpled and grumpy. "You stayed here all night?" they exclaim! Yes, downstairs, I sigh. "Wow, I went to the Doubletree. Cab fare was double getting there and getting back, but it was worth it. They even gave me toiletries so I was able to have a shower." Aw shaddup!!

While talking with these guys, my phone rings, its the hubby, he explains the no power and that he had left his phone in the other room so he didn't realize I had texted him. I ask him to call the airport and call me back. Those that left for the night and I discuss this. One has a sister who lives 3 hours north of Anytown and we consider flying there if its okay there and driving back to Anytown. He calls her. Yeah, things are okay there. The hubby calls back. Anytown's airport reported it was currently without power and the utility company, when called, said they had no idea when they would be able to get the airport back up and running. Yikes!

My phone rings again. Its the hubby again. He calls to tell me that my great Aunt Hannah called our house because she couldn't get ahold of anyone at my parents house (Mom couldn't hear the one non-electric phone ringing upstairs) to tell me that great Uncle Roland had died that morning and that I needed to tell Dad. This would be my dad's dad's brother. He had been in ill health for several years so this wasn't entirely unexpected, but what timing!

Another gate change. Egads!!! Are they going to do this to us again? I can hardly take the suspense. I'm also exhausted. Wow! An overnight business trip isn't supposed to be so exhausting. Wait, what's this, they are actually going to board us. The three of us aren't sitting anywhere near each other but we don't really care. We are all on the airplane, hopefully with our luggage, about to head to Anytown. It is still touch and go if we will actually take off though. We are backing out, waiting our turn to taxi, taxiing down the runway and we are in the air. No offense, but O'Hare, at this point, I don't really care if I ever see you again! What do the Sopranos say? "See ya sucka!!"