I set up camp in Chicago's O'Hare Airport Several times. This is when I first arrived and could not check-in for my flight. (BTW - that's hot chocolate I'm drinking)
10:00am Susan Earls calls me when I'm dropping Luz off for her flight at O'Hare and asks if I could fly to Charlotte, NC since I was stranded in Chicago thanks to Hurricane Rita. She said I would fly out that night.
11:30am I check my e-mail and find out that my flight is at 3:30pm! I hurry to pack and finish up with business at the hotel in Libertyville.
1:15pm Leave for O'Hare
2:45pm Finally get through all of the lines to check-in for my flight and I find out that my ticket was not sent through final approvals and I have no ticket and cannot check-in. I call Rita.
3:00pm Make my first pit stop at Starbucks for some hot chocolate and set up camp in front of the American Airlines ticket counter (see picture)
3:15pm Rita calls back and says that my flight has been approved and I get back in line for my flight.
3:25pm I get back up the the ticket counter and I can't check-in for my flight because it is too late so I get bumped to the 3:30pm flight on stand-by.
All afternoon and evening... wandering through the aiport, checking out the shops, pit stops for more hot chocolate, people watching, chatting on the phone, watching the airport CNN coverage of Hurricane Rita, I get a massage, blah blah blah
7:30pm My flight is delayed
8:30pm My flight is delayed again
9:30pm My flight is delayed again and moved to a different gate
11:30pm My flight boards and it too full so I don't get on and I am bumped to the 6:45am flight.
11:40pm I walk up to gate G2 where my flight is scheduled to leave and set up camp again.
All night... watching CNN (Hurricane Rita... blah blah blah... destruction... blah blah blah... death... blah blah blah.... aftermath of Katrina... blah blah blah), sleeping on the floor (which btw if you were wondering is NOT COMFORTABLE!)
4:00am I walk over to the K terminal to find food and found some Boston creme filled donuts :)
6:30am I actually get a ticket and board my flight :)
9:30am Land in Charlotte, NC
10:00am Get to National Car Rental counter and find out that I have no reservation. I make one and pick up my car
10:30am I call Rita to tell her my contract number so that she can call and get direct billing set up for my car rental
10:35am Rita tells me that National will not let us set up direct bill after the car has been picked up and the contract is signed and she tells me to sit tight for a minute
10:45am-11:15am I sleep in the rental car in a random parking lot in Charlotte
11:15am I head back to the airport to sign a new car rental agreement
12:00am I finallay arrive at my hotel and go to bed
I have dubbed this site as "Hotel Hurricane" since I am a Hurricane evacuee, my project specialist is Rita and my cutover support is Katrina. I think I'm off to a bad start already. I really hope that things get way better!
My family is safe in San Antonio. Thanks Grant! Your family is amazing to take them in :)
5 comments:
Glad it all worked out, finally.
Most of the worst of Rita, the hurricane, looks like it will be farther east toward Louisiana or Sabine River. That was a close one.
Glad to see you are safe, Bon! I went up Pike's Peak Saturday since there are no scare of hurricanes in Colorado. I wish all Texans luck getting home if you aren't there already.
So.... how many times have you seen "The Terminal"??
Bwahaha!
Bon Bon, You had it worse than we did on the way to San Antonio.
Jahn... The running joke now between me and Grant is that my name is "Viktor Navorkski" (Tom Hank's character from that movie)
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