So I'm at O'Hare for about 5 hours today (Monday). My original flight to Minneapolis connecting to Portland got cancelled because of snow. I wait in this enormous line at Northwest. Once at the counter, I tried getting on the later Minneapolis flight, which was booked, and Northwest said I could take a flight tomorrow, or take a chance and see if I could get on the 7:45pm United flight. I decided to take my chances, because I need to be at my client site at 9am. So I walk over to the next terminal, in the snow, lugging my bag around, without my gloves and hat because I'm in such a hurry (I could have gone to the other terminal using the indoor passage, but time was of the essence and walking inside was way faster), and I get in this massive line for United. And it's the Premier line, too. (Little does United know that my Premier status ended as of February 28th. I don't think I made it again this year, after being on the company travel blacklist because of bad behavior - well, that's my theory, anyway) So I get there, and for as stressed as the lady is about all the people who are angry about the flights, she squeezes me into the 7:45pm flight. See, if you're nice to people, even when you're stressed, and you let them know that you understand their pain, they do nice things for you. By now, it's already 7:30. The lady tells me that the flight is delayed, and would probably be leaving at around 9pm.

So I head to the gate and grab some grub to munch on while I wait. Seems like there's a lot of delayed flights because O'Hare was packed. I looked at the monitors to see exactly what time the flight was leaving, and it just said 'delayed'. At about 8:00 there's an announcement that the flight hasn't left it's original destination yet, so they couldn't post up a time. Finally, they post a time of 9:30. I was starting to exhaust my pile of comic book in flight reading material. Later, they change it to 10pm. Then they said that the flight was coming in. Then they said that the flight was diverted to another city. Then they said the flight was coming to land. Then the time was changed to 10:30. I was left to reading the letters sections of my comics.

Finally I get on the plane. And I'm pooped! Someone near me (I did a smell check and it's NOT me) smells like ass. I feel like puking. I mean, it really smells like they've gone up someone's butt. And the dude sitting across me in the aisle is staring at me. Not blatantly, but I feel his eyes on me now and a again, and if I look at him, he doesn't look away. He maintains his stare and challenges me to stare back, or maybe say something. I look away and pretend that I find the 'Hemispheres' magazing life changing and interesting. And yet the eyes still burn into my side. What a freak. So I lean my head against the window and I pass out. And I wake up. Twenty minutes has passed and we're still on the runway. Not even wanting to process what time I'm going to actually LAND in Portland, I go back to sleep.

So here I am now, in the plane, after waking up to the sweet smell of the in-flight snack, something SO much better than the snack mix of bagel chips and pretzels. Nacho chips and salsa! Yum! And a sugar cookie! And that's not it! Cheese spread and crackers. A regular smorgasbord of yummy snacky treats. I scarf down the food. Now my tummy grumbles. I think I ate too fast. And the dude still smells. Back to sleep. Portland, I'll see you when I wake.

********

So I landed in Portland at 1:10am. Which makes it 3:10am Chicago time.

And there are no more king sized beds left in the hotel.

I am not a happy girl.

This sucks ass!

Oh well, tomorrow is another day!

Posted by Yano at March 4, 2003 04:22 AM

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