Chicago - getting home and final thoughts

We easily navigated the bus and train back to the airport but, according to my watch, we were inside the "get to the airport two hours before your flight" window.  I rushed the kids towards security, ignoring their cries to stop for a bathroom break.  I had seen the mess t security when we passed it on the way out of the airport that monrning and was worried.  But, surprise, no line at security.  We made it to the gate and check in with the customer service agent.  We set up our little encampment and I fed the children.  And we waited.  I told Big Boy that he was not allowed to wander because they would be boarding soon.  And we waited.  I looked at my watch.  What is taking so long to board this plane.  I texted my husband, who was working at BWI Airport and he said we were on time.  And I waited.  Then, I discovered that my smart phone, which I normally refer to as my 'genius phone' because it is so darned smart, fell down on the job.  Somewhere along the lines, I had changed a setting and instead of resetting to local time, I was still on EST.  I had a whole extra hour.  we didn't have to run.  we could have looked for deep dish pizza.  Ah well, now we have a reason to go back.

I had been told that you cannot go to Chicago without getting some famous Nuts on Clark Popcorn.  I stopped by their airport store and grabbed three plastic buckets to go.  And, I can say, even though I balked at paying $20 for popcorn, it was very, very good. 

We boarded our plane easily as there were plenty of unsold seats.  The flight was relatively smooth but we had one of those landings where you feel the plane being slammed down on the runway.  We landed in the middle of a storm at BWI and were told that we could not get off the plane because there was another plane sitting at our gate which couldn't pull off because of the storm.

Apparently, the planes can take off and land during lightening and rain but the grounds crews cannot be outside during lightening so planes cannot push away from the gate until the lightening has left eh area.  This was what we were waiting for.  We entertained ourselves by texting my husband to do something to get us off the plane.

We finally deplaned and were home by midnight.

Final thoughts, regrets and other

We loved Chicago and will surely got here again it he near future.  The city was very clean at least the areas we visited were.  The locals were friendly and helpful to this single mother with two children in tow.  The public transportation system was very easy to use and was a little aged but was clean. 

In hindsight, I would have pre-ordered our transit passes.  I would have saved money by not getting them at all but I would still spend that extra money just to not to have to worry about having the correct change.

I overestimated how much I would use the public transportation.  I thought that things would be spread farther apart than they were but we ended up walking most of our trip.  On the othe hand, if we had gone to Wrigley field, we would have needed to take a bus.

I regret not budgeting enough time for the Children's Museum.  I think we may have to take a trip just for that.  I also wish we had tried an authentic deep dish pizza. 

My biggest regret, not related to Chicago but to travel itself is that my phone battery does not last me all day when I am spending a lot of time googling and looking at maps in a distant city.  I need to keep some battery for emergencies.  My old phone had a removable battery and just prior to it getting stolen, I had ordered a spare so that I could swap it out as needed.  The new Driod 4 (perfect in every other way) does not have a removable battery.  I think that for next trip, I will throw our old trac phone into my bag for emergencies.

The kids and I thoroughly enjoyed our trip and as our time in Chicago seemed to be winding down, Big Boy kept asking if we could "come back tomorrow".  Which, if you think about it, would have been cheaper than spending the night and paying for a hotel.