{"id":294,"date":"2014-06-25T23:59:12","date_gmt":"2014-06-25T23:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/?p=294"},"modified":"2014-08-12T20:00:53","modified_gmt":"2014-08-12T20:00:53","slug":"scramble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2014\/06\/25\/scramble\/","title":{"rendered":"The Scramble"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>O&#8217;Hare Airport: The Ultimate Test of Patience, Part 1<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/image-3.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-295\" src=\"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/image-3-1024x768.jpeg\" alt=\"cot people ohare airport the ultimate test of patience\" width=\"604\" height=\"453\" srcset=\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/image-3-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/image-3-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/image-3.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Everyone has a horror story or two about travel, and I usually don\u2019t bore people with mine, but after 34 hours in the O\u2019Hare airport recently I feel compelled to \u201cshare the love.\u201d\u00a0 (The irony that this experience occurred in the month I am meditating on patience is not lost on me, BTW.)<\/p>\n<p>Andrew and I got up at 4am and drove to the airport, planning to hop on a flight to Chicago, and then take a connecting flight to Savannah, on our way to Hilton Head, SC for a long weekend conference and getaway.\u00a0 Things went according to plan from Eau Claire to Chicago, but we arrived to relative chaos at the O\u2019Hare airport which was jammed up after three days of bad weather.\u00a0 When we checked in at the gate for our connecting flight to Savannah, we were immediately told of a delay because our crew lacked one flight attendant. We waited. And waited. 2 \u00bd hours later a cheer from the passengers greeted the arrival of our substitute crewmember, and we started boarding shortly after. \u00a0I scheduled dinner reservations in Savannah, and texted friends we were to meet up with, informing them of our delay.<\/p>\n<p>With everyone seated, we rolled onto the runway, in a long queue of planes waiting to take off.\u00a0 And then we waited. And waited.\u00a0 The pilot gave us periodic updates.\u00a0 Some kind of trouble with weather, and then something with air traffic control.\u00a0 A fire.\u00a0 The control center had to be evacuated. After two hours on the tarmac&#8211;we were #2 for takeoff&#8211; the pilot\u2019s voice over the intercom regretfully informed us that we had exceeded the legal time we were allowed to sit on a plane.\u00a0 We would have to return to the gate, and deplane, and then re-board a little later.\u00a0 No one could believe it!\u00a0 Sure enough we turned around, headed back, and shuffled off the plane.\u00a0 Two more hours went by, and then they announced we were about to re-board. Finally. We all gathered our things, dug out our tattered boarding passes, and moved toward the gate.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/photo-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-296\" src=\"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/photo-2-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"cot people ohare airport the ultimate test of patience\" width=\"604\" height=\"453\" srcset=\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/photo-2-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/photo-2-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Suddenly our flight was cancelled!\u00a0 Really?\u00a0 <em>Really<\/em>?? We had a <em>plane<\/em>. We had a full <em>crew<\/em>. We had a room full of road-weary travelers. But what we didn\u2019t have was a working radar to guide us safely into the air.\u00a0 Details, details.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone launched into action, scrambling for a new connection, no easy feat in an airport crammed with fellow travelers on a similar mission.\u00a0 Armed with cellphones and dragging bags, everyone rushed to our airline\u2019s help desk, where the line snaked ominously down the terminal.\u00a0 Folks were surprisingly calm, joking about our shared dilemma, although you could tell the ones who had already spent at least one night at O\u2019Hare\u2014they had kind of a haunted look.\u00a0 I cancelled our dinner plans, and texted our friends and told them to go on to the restaurant and change the seating from 4 to 2.\u00a0 Andrew called and reconfirmed our hotel and car reservations. The airline booked us on a flight out the next afternoon, but told there was a good chance we could catch the last flight out at 7:20pm that night flying standby.\u00a0 We hurried across the terminal to the new gate, and grabbed a quick dinner before boarding time.\u00a0 We might not get to see the sunset at the beach that night, but at least we had a decent chance of walking along the shore under the moonlight.<\/p>\n<p>Our friends texted us from Savannah.\u00a0 The restaurant was A-MA-ZING.<\/p>\n<p>About 20 min before the evening flight was to board, it cancelled.\u00a0 In fact, we were told, no further flights would be leaving O\u2019Hare that evening.\u00a0 By this time, of course, every hotel room for miles was booked.\u00a0 We decided that since there was an early flight the next morning and we were numbers 2 and 3 on the standby list, our best option was to spend the night at the O\u2019Hare airport.\u00a0 We headed to \u201ccot city.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>What would you have done? Tell us below!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Click <a title=\"Cot City\" href=\"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2014\/06\/26\/cot-city\/\">here<\/a> to read O&#8217;Hare Airport: The Ultimate Test of Patience Part Two &#8211; Cot City<\/p>\n<p>By Lydia Floren<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>O&#8217;Hare Airport: The Ultimate Test of Patience, Part 1 Everyone has a horror story or two about travel, and I usually don\u2019t bore people with mine, but after 34 hours in the O\u2019Hare airport recently I feel compelled to \u201cshare the love.\u201d\u00a0 (The irony that this experience occurred in the month I am meditating on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[37,82,63],"class_list":["post-294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-patience","tag-stories","tag-waiting"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - 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