Travel Adventures

If you've read through my Bucket List page at all, you might have noticed a trend that a lot of items revolve around travel. Have to admit, I'm slightly addicted. I came to this conclusion once again this summer. After a 4 month trip over four continents and numerous new cities and countries, I came home to humble little small town Alaska. It is always nice of course, to be home for a bit, but it never takes long before the travel urge comes upon me. Several weeks after being home, I worked an early morning shift at the airport. I entered a commercial plane from the rear through a catering truck. It was one of those random times where the lights were actually off on the plane and no one else was on, besides the 3 of us who just entered. At that moment, standing in the back facing forward past all the rows of empty seats, I took a deep breath. And the all too familiar aura of airplane flooded my senses, I don't even know what it is, or how to describe it. All I know, it brought a smile to my face. I realized then that if an cold, dark, empty plane can bring me such happiness, I must be addicted to aircrafts, airports and travel.

One of those travel items on my bucket list is to book a flight for the next day. Well, I can now scratch that one off. At the end of August I headed out to the Lower 48 for a friend's wedding. Usually when I leave the state, I try to make it worth my while, so I figured I would stop in a different state on the way to the wedding and another state on the way home. What I didn't count on, was a friend texting me randomly as I was getting ready to leave AK that I should come to Chicago. For a baseball game of all things. Now, let me be very blunt. I love sports, almost all sports, but baseball is definitely NOT one of them. However, the person doing the inviting I like a lot. And I like her family. So, I tossed the idea around in my mind for a couple days.

I was chilling in OK visiting other really awesome friends, all the while, I kept checking flights, prices and the status of my passes. Finally, I decided to just do it. I only live once right, and this family is only in the states once every 4-7 years (or something like that). Why not!? Just a booked a flight with miles and just went.

Arrived in Chicago in the early/middle of the afternoon, then had to wait for 45 minutes for my bag to show up at baggage claim. Rode the metro to downtown and got off right at Wrigley stadium. Had to wait a little bit for my friends who were driving up for the southeast part of the suburbs. We had pizza at a local place before heading into the game. Now remember, I don't like baseball but the company was great. Even made a new friend and it was actually a somewhat exciting game.

Wrigley Field

great company at the baseball game

Also got to spend the next day chilling with the family. We hung out at the house, playing games, singing, had lunch at a gyro place, ran around and played an intense game of Assassin at a nearby park. Even changed my ticket out and went to church with them Wednesday night. I had an 5am flight out the next morning, so since we were an hour away from the airport, I told them to just take me at midnight instead of getting up at 3am for the drive. Figured I'd get into the airport and find a place to sleep for a couple hours before my flight. Buuut.... arrived at the American airlines terminal and it closed from 10pm-3am. So, in a quiet empty terminal entrance I laid down on the cold, hard tile floor and tried to sleep. Not exactly what I was hoping for, was counting on a somewhat comfortable, at least softer, bench to lay on. And they painted the side of the post I was laying behind while I was sleeping. Crazy.

Not my favorite to only get 3 hours of intermittent sleep at night, especially at the airport, but I still think it was worth the crazy trip. :D