Tuesday, May 24, 2011

33BA - Day 7 - MIA to ORD to PEK...


Wake up just before 8:00. Plan on having breakfast in the lobby and taking the 9:00 free ride to the airport. A bit concerned that I wasn’t able to check in online and want to allow extra time. Just in case. Breakfast was complete chaos. I swear everyone in the entire place must have thought that 8:28 am sounded like the ideal time to eat. There were no tables available, so we had to sit on the couch and balance a bowl of cereal and plate of raisin toast.

We were apparently the only ones needing to go to the airport at that time, and it was only about a ten minute drive. We check in with minor complications, and I’ll never understand why any airline thinks it’s easier to check in at the kiosk if you have to have help multiple times from an agent. All it does is stress me out. Check our bags, and then head to the gate. Only we are really having trouble understanding what people are saying… English doesn’t seem to be the first language for the people working here.  Finally find the right place to go and we got the third degree about me having 2 bags and a purse (duh, I plan on condensing before I get on the plane). They even had us prove our suitcase was the correct size by shoving it in that little metal bin. Really?? I’ve never had to do that in all the times I’ve traveled. WHAT.EVER.

By now it’s been almost an hour, so probably a good thing that we were allowing so much time. Of course now we have literally hours to wait, and this is just for the first leg of our journey, heading to Chicago. We stop at Starbucks and I have the pleasure of sampling the “trenta” gigantic drink. Let’s just say that 31 oz of coffee is a lot to drink before a 3 hour flight.


We were supposed to depart at 12:35, with boarding around noon, so about 20 minutes before that we walked to Wendy’s to get lunch (baked potato and a grilled chicken sandwich). We aren’t back at the gate for more than a few minutes before we find out that the crew hasn’t arrived. You know what THAT means… delay. Grrr…. Not that I am in any hurry, but I just don’t like it when things don’t run smoothly.

Our flight ends up being delayed 30 minutes, and we are seated in the back of the plane, three rows from the end. The flight? Sucked. It was SUPER bouncy. We kept ourselves amused watching a DVD of “Two and a Half Men” and somehow we managed to land on time.

It takes about 20 minutes to get off the plane, and we have to walk quite a ways before we even see a board to check on our next flight. It’s not even listed so I ask a gate agent and we realize we are literally right there. Nothing to do but wait for 6 hours until our flight FINALLY leaves for Beijing. And an FYI, airports suck big time. We had to walk around for about 20 minutes just to find an outlet to charge our phones. Why???? Everyone travels with electronics, one wouldn’t think it would be that hard to find an outlet.

We kept our spot at the outlets until everything we needed was fully charged, just in case we couldn’t find an outlet later. We decided to wait as long as possible to have dinner, and wanted to go to a “sit down” place hoping it would take more time. We still had hours… and hours… until we would be leaving.

Finally just after 6 we decided to get food. I had walked the terminal earlier and seen a Chili’s, which seemed like it was going to be our best option. I ordered a salad and the “big mouth bites” as a celebratory “last” supper. Soooo tasty!!! Dinner took about an hour, and then we headed back over to our gate area, stopping to get some last minute stuff at one of the little shops. The last hour before we boarded the plane was spent checking Facebook and emails, and FINALLY getting J on the phone. Boarding started on time, and we were seated in the next to the last row on the plane. Luckily, there was no one else in our row, so if we chose, we could spread out.


So long burgers...



The plane took off a few minutes late and we were told that it was going to be a 12:45 flight. That’s a LONG time. We each had our own tv monitor, so the better part of the flight was spent watching tv. I watched the Glee Madonna episode, Blue Bloods, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Country Strong… We were served dinner early on, chicken and rice, bread, cheese & crackers, salad, a super tasty brownie.

1 comment:

  1. Oh my gosh. I can't even imagine being on a plane that long. I have only gone to the bathroom ONCE on a plane in my entire life. No way could I get away with it on a flight to Beijing apparently!

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