So, here I sit at O'Hare...

I've been sitting here since 1:00 PM. My flight was supposed to leave at 1:25 PM. It is 3:25 PM, and I have no clue when we might actually depart.

On the plus side, at least I am sitting in the terminal - better than being stuck in the aircraft sitting on the apron.

On the minus side, while the day started out fairly well, from the time I actually headed off to the airport, it has increasingly sucked.

The problems began right as I started to drive to the airport. I made a wrong turn, which ended up causing me to lose about 15 minutes. Then I encountered brutal traffic on I-88. I had visions of missing another flight - no fun!

When I arrived at the terminal - exactly an hour before departure - I found that the line to check baggage at the counter was incredibly long. In my opinion, too long to allow me to get checked in and actually have me and the bag make the flight. So, I went outside to the curb side check-in. I ended up standing in line for 20 minutes, and thought they would tell me that I was too late to check in, or at least too late for my bag to make it. But, I got lucky and they checked my bag and gave me my boarding pass.

As I started my normal ritual of emptying my pockets in preparation for going through security, I realized I had forgotten to put my SOG Flash I combo blade knife and my Leatherman Micra in my suitcase. Given how late I was, and given the absence of a mailing station anywhere in sight, I had no choice but to throw them both away - $60 worth. I briefly thought of trying to sneak them through in my briefcase, but decided that the cost of the knives wasn't worth the potential consequences if I got caught.

I raced over to the gate - at the end of concourse C which was quite a hike. By the time I got there I was drenched in sweat. I had expected to see passengers already boarding, but such was not the case. It turned out that there was a mechanical problem and United was checking to see if they had a part. After about thirty minutes, they announced that they did in fact have the part, and the installation was estimated to take an hour and a half, but could take less.

I decided that I would take an hour to walk back to security and ask if there was a place to mail stuff and if so, if I would be allowed to rummage through the trash to try to find my knives.

The only two highlights of the trip both occurred at this point. As I was walking back towards security, I noticed the aircraft captain was walking right ahead of me. I sped up a bit and asked him when he was planning to get back to the aircraft figuring as long as I got back before him, the flight wouldn't leave without me. He told me about 30 minutes, and actually offered to write down my cell phone number and give me a call! I didn't take him up on the offer, but I was very impressed. The other high point was the TSA person I ended up talking with. He was very nice - telling me where I could find a place to mail the items, telling me he would allow me to rummage through the trash, and even offering to let me slip back through the security line to look for the stuff. Unfortunately, my only option for mailing was in the hotel on the airport, and I decided I didn't have enough time. So, I headed back to the gate. Sadly, the repairs ended up taking over two hours so I would have had enough time to recover my stuff.

Oh well, at least I am now on the plane headed home. On the plus side, I am sitting in seat 6F of an Airbus 319 which is a great seat. It is a bulkhead seat in economy plus that has an incredible amount of leg room and even has a cut out at the bottom of the bulkhead to allow me to place my small duffle bag. On the negative side, the seat behind me is occupied by a five year old boy who is kicking my seat and next to him is his 18 month old sister who is an ear shattering screamer.

I thought the worst of the day was behind me as I got off the airplane at Jacksonville around 7:30 PM, but one more unpleasant surprise still awaited me...

As I pulled my suitcase off of the baggage carrousel I noticed that it appeared that my bag had been opened. I was a little suspicious, but was extremely tired, so I decided I'd deal with whatever when I got home. After I got home, I opened to bag to see if anything was missing. Nothing was missing - in fact, there was something extra in the bag: a note from the TSA informing me that they had examined the contents of the bag. "No big deal" I thought; until I noticed the strong smell of lemons emanating from the bag. That's when I noticed that the bottle of Crema di Limoncello (technically Villa Massa Liquore de Limoni Crema)that had made it all the way from Italy to Chicago unscathed, had broken, and the contents had leaked all throughout the suitcase. I had made a point of having my shirts laundered just prior to returning home, and half of them were now soaked in the sticky liqueur, as were much of the other contents of the suitcase as well as the bag itself. Ironically, the half-empty bottle of regular Limoncello that I had brought for the team to sample in Chicago, as well as the full bottle of regular Limoncello that was the other half of the gift pack I had purchased for Jeanie was still intact. If a bottle had to break, I would have much preferred once of those, so Jeanie could have tasted the Crema. Jeanie was a trooper and helped me get stuff out of the bag and into the washer while I rinsed off various non-clothing items. I don’t know for sure that the opening of the bag by the TSA was the cause of the bottle ending up broken, but it sure does seem like that could be the case.

Any way you look at it, it was a personally expensive, stressful and frustrating trip, and I was glad that I was home and it was over.  There were two other highlights to the trip: 1. I was home with my sweetie, and 2. she did like the Limoncello.