The Trip to Chicago

I’ve flown to Chicago before but it’s always been with Northwest Airlines. It always leaves NAIA around 8 then goes to Narita or Nagoya then from there it goes to Detroit then Chicago. This time I was flying to Hong Kong via Cathay Pacific then straight to Chicago via United Airlines and this is the first time I’m flying with them.

Like before I never sleep the night before the flight. This means from Manila to Hong Kong, I was asleep. After I checked in, paid the terminal fee (ugh), went through customs, waited at the gate, boarded and took my seat, I was immediately out like a light. I even forgot to place my carry on baggage to the overhead bin. I don’t even remember the plane taking off. When I woke up, we just landed in Hong Kong. Time elapsed: 2 hours. Wow, it was like time traveling but without the damage to the fabric of time.

In Hong Kong I was still woozy and was very thirsty. After getting a boarding pass for my connecting ticket, I immediately went online to get in touch with Jaye so she knows we landed safely. Fortunately, I had some US dollars with me. Unfortunately, I didn’t know any restaurants in HKIA other than Popeyes and Burger King. When I reached Popeyes, it was already closed. I ended up eating in this Italian restaurant serving sandwiches. It was like a cross between Subway and Potbelly.

No more Popeyes =(

It's cool that they have these plugs where you can charge your stuff. The problem is they only have the HK type plugs and the converters cost an arm and a leg.

Free Duty?

Next was the long and boring flight to Chicago. It was forgettable since I was seated beside Mr. Smells like an Old Man with Flowers and in front of Ms Laughs at Everything (on te onboard flight movies). The flight itself wasn’t bumpy and they showed more movies here than in Northwest flights. They first showed Toy Story 3 then The Grown Ups then Letters to Juliet and another movie where I was asleep already by the time they were showing the opening titles.

First glimpse of Chicago... or maybe this was Detroit. :S

We arrived in Chicago and immigration was fast. The luggage carousel was also super friendly as it spitted out Crispin and Basilio (my two luggages) almost immediately. Then came the scene I’ve been playing and writing for the past two months: how I’m going to meet Jaye at O’Hare. I’ve always had this romantic scene where Jaye meets me at the gate then I rush to her with a hug. Did that happen? Of course Jaye and I always write our stories with a twist – I came out of the immigration area with my luggages but no Jaye in sight. I checked the other gates and she wasn’t there. I sat down and just rested in one of the chairs instead. A couple of minutes later, she arrived THEN I got my hug. It turns out O’Hare is bigger than we thought and she got lost in the maze of terminals.

We took the cab back to downtown and seeing everything again brings back a lot of memories, good and bad. I saw a sidewalk where I slipped and hurt my arm which was bad. I saw Jewel-Osco which was good. I saw La Salle St which was…uh… boring.

Either way, it’s good to be back. When I stepped down the cab and brought down my luggages, I couldn’t really believe that I’m actually here again in Chicago. Then the wind picked up, blew my luggages down and frazzled my hair. Yep, it’s Chicago’s way of telling me welcome back too.

Our first picture at the airport