I did blog this!
Having trouble coming up with a title, until I remembered that I’m wearing my “I’m Blogging this.” shirt and Meg came up to me a while back and said, “I checked! You didn’t blog this!”
haha Meg! So there!
So. Roll back to yesterday I guess it was (still not sure), and we got to the airport just in time for the guy to say “wanna be bumped to an earlier flight?” okay, sure. “It’s leaving in ten minutes.”
*gulp*
So I hustled through security, hopped on a puddle jumper second to last, forgot to kiss my husband good-bye, but it’s such a small place they could see me waving from my seat and I saw them wave back. 
The guy next to me slept pretty much the whole time. There was a lady corner-ways from me and up one row who was quite talkative, and I wished I’d sat near her until we were almost there and she still hadn’t stopped talking. I’d forgotten how cold ones feet get on a Dehaviland Dash. It seats about 60. You can hear each rumble, each air current and each piece of equipment. It was good though, as I went direct to Toronto, instead of Montreal first, and in under 2 hours. At least this way we didn’t have to leave the house at dawn.
Then we got to Toronto. yay! I smiled when I could spot the CN Tower. Then we got closer and closer and I was looking down and wondered if we were going to land on the highway or not. Apparently that was all normal. I got into pearson and boy is it gorgeous – especially the newer area. To get to my departure – since I was bumped, I was waaaaaay early – I literally had to go clear down to the other end of the place.
I finally found the United counter, for their were handling the Toronto-Chicago leg, and the lady said, Yeah, you ARE early… Wanna get bumped?” 
So I said sure, and walked down yet another endlessly long hallway to Customs. I have never seen a customs official in good humour.
“What are you going there for?” A conference.
“What *kind* of conference.” A home education one.
“A WHAT? Explain that.” I did and he stamped my stuff and waved me through. And then? I handed my blue slip customs declarations form (nothing) to the next lady, and she read that I was going to Pheasant Run in Chicago. “Oh, I’m from there, you’ll enjoy yourself.” She smiled beautifully. “OH Thank you!” I said.
I gotta say though, customs and security being a little slice of American soil – you can tell. There was about six security people at each station, everything looked old and gritty and the one lady had on plastic gloves and looked like she was just waiting for me to go through the metal detector and beep.
I made it through fine.
Then, you guessed it – another hallway until I found my gate (163). I sat there a bit, couldn’t figure out how to hop on the free wifi to email Ron. Spotted the phones a ways away from where I was, remembered I’d forgotten to eat. Then they started boarding the plane before I coudl figure out what I should do next. We actually left early and made good time – enough so that we circled over Michigan for a while because it was windy at O’Hare and they were rearranging flight paths. Ron told me later that he got an automated call saying my original flight was delayed, so he thought I was still in Toronto.
Meanwhile, on the plane, which was quite comfortable, I noticed that almost everyone was a businessperson (mostly men) and they had alternately a very thin new laptop or a cell phone of some kind. They all used them as soon as possible and shut them off at the last possible minute. We boomeranged off the planet. I got to watch tv as soon as I figured out that little black hole was not a screw and was indeed the jack for the headphone. (Of course I had to ask first.) It was an episode of the Big Bang Theory – the one where they hire this guy to play the drug-addicted cousin. (not sure why, missed that bit).
I took pictures out the window!
I soared above the clouds!
I spotted Lake Michigan and knew what it was!
I poured Coke from a can into a glass as we were banking around a corner and noted the level stayed level to me!
I could tell American Coke tasted different!
I thought it was weird when all announcement were in one language! We landed on time and I was in America. Wow. Flying above the city, I could see the park, the architecture of all the brick row houses, the HUGE old churches. Man, I want to see this city from the ground, it looks wonderful. I disembarked from the plane into a sea of people. I feel like in in the tv, I thought to myself. People and kiosks and selling and hawking and cell phones and currency exchanges and fabulous beautiful people, all colors and sizes. I went underground to the next section of the airport, to get closer to transportation out, and om the tunnel they have moving walkways with a neon display overhead.
Yes, I said “Frig, that, I’m a tourist and I’m taking a picture.” So I did. I embarked off the next escalator up, went out the doors into an obviously older section, then turned around and noticed I could not go back that way.
And that was the beginning of my adventure to find a way out of there.
9 Responses to “I did blog this!”
We await the next installment. Glad you got a more direct flight out of NB. That Montreal piece sounded kooky.
JoVEs last blog post..Dear phone provider…
Well, now you can say “I did blog this!” but it’s LATER now!!
megs last blog post..A Thank you.
So, what I got out of that is: America IS as crazy and over the top as it seems. I can relate – we felt that way re-entering from Hawaii, even though it is technically part of the US.
KrisBs last blog post..Announcements, announcements, annououncements!
“forgot to kiss (and hug) my husband good-bye” – you owe me one
Can’t wait to hear the rest of your adventures, and wish we could have been there to share them!
christines last blog post..and speaking of bills…
Speaking as a Chicago native, I can tell you that Pheasant Run Inn in St. Charles is a LONG way from Chicago! Will you have a chance to see that city from the ground on your way back?
I wish I had the chance to be there at the conference and hear what you have to say. Keep us posted!
CircleReaders last blog post..Feedburning Learning
Speaking as a Chicago native, I can tell you that Pheasant Run Inn in St. Charles is a LONG way from Chicago. Will you get a chance to see that city from the ground on you way back?
I wish I could be at the conference to hear what you have to say — keep us posted!
CircleReaders last blog post..Feedburning Learning
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I always smile when I see the CN Tower too. And only one language! Wow! Talk about culture shock!