The morning started out relaxing having woken up earlier than I needed so there was time to have a relaxing coffee while waiting for Jenny to get ready as all the bags were packed last night.
It didn’t stay relaxing for long. Rachael had headed out to work and didn’t get that far with a phone call letting me know that her car had stopped again and wouldn’t start. Luckily she wasn’t that far away. A quick drive to jump start her car and that extra time we thought we had had evaporated. Maybe I will get that relaxing coffee at the airport.
Ian and Anne dropped us off at the airport with plenty of time but with a couple of sporting teams (I loosely call them sporting teams as they were headed to the Masters Games in Auckland) ahead of us in the International connections line, that extra time again just evaporated.
We failed to get the upgrade to Business on the Sydney leg so the Qantas Club was out of the picture this trip. Maybe the American Express Lounge in Sydney will be more rewarding.
The plane was loaded well ahead of time and we started to be pushed off then an announcement came over the PA of holdups for the gates in Sydney so they would rather wait on the ground in Adelaide than circle Sydney in the sky. I could see our window of opportunity evaporating once again for the lounge.
Sure enough we arrived late into Sydney and even though our bags were checked through to Chicago, we only had enough time to get the shuttle from the domestic terminal to the International terminal for the gate opening for boarding. There were delays again so we probably could have snuck in 30 minutes in the Amex Lounge.
The flight across the Pacific was uneventful with a few hours sleep achieved but again we landed 30 minutes late in San Francisco. Hope we have plain sailing through Customs and Immigration as we only had 1 hour before our next connecting flight.
The process this time seemed to be very seamless and efficient with the new electronic processing and we were through and dropping our bags for the next leg within 20 minutes. A quick AirTrain ride from the International terminal to Terminal 2 and we ready for our final flight. There was announcements of being a full flight so it was interesting to see if there were going to be people “dragged off” but it never happened (after all we weren’t flying United).
The aircraft was a new Airbus A321 which was nice and roomy compared to others we have flown in including the 747 we came across the Pacific in. The flight map on the TV screen was a lot better with it being an interactive map. I think Boeing and Qantas need to lift their game a bit.
For once we actually arrived ahead of schedule in Chicago with it still daylight and still some warmth in the air. After grabbing the bags, it was a bus ride to Budget Rentals to pick up the car.
I would like to say that we had hired a cop car with a cop motor, cop tires, cop suspension, and cop shocks but I had only booked a standard car. Apparently they were running out of standard cars so we got upgraded to a black SUV, so maybe we need to get black suits and sun glasses after all.
After 24 hours from the time we left home, the eye lids were starting to get a little heavy but it was still too early to hit the hay, so a stop for some food on the way to the motel at Culver’s in Bolingbrook which also happened to be a geocaching event ticked a couple of boxes. It was good to catch up with some local geocachers. I think we took the prize for the furthest travelled to the event.
Finally after 27 hours from home, we hit the sheets at the Sleep Inn at Tinley Park. Tomorrow we make the drive to Ohio.
