Back on the road again….this time to head home.
While it’s been great fun attending the Intertnational Dublin Writers’ Festival and the South Dakota Festival of Books, as Dorothy reminds us…there’s no place like home.
If only traveling the 1,100 miles from Sioux Falls, SD to Buffalo, NY were as easy as clicking my heels three times!
I did my part in getting to the airport two and half hours before my flight time. Unfortunately, that flight time got pushed back an hour and a half, which meant—-you guessed it—- I was going to miss my connecting flight in, of all nightmare airports, Chicago.
Twenty minutes after a ticketing agent searched my few-and-far-between options, I was booked on a flight from The Windy City to the Queen City on a different airline. If all went well, I would be landing in Chicago 30 minutes before my newly booked flight departed, and arriving in Buffalo only about a half hour later than my original flight time.
Perfect, right?
Nope. Not in Chicago.
Since I was flying to Chicago on one airline, and changing to a different airline to get to Buffalo I would be arriving in one terminal and departing from another. In most airports, no big deal. In Chicago it can be anywhere from a 1.5-to-3 mile deal, depending on the terminals where you’re arriving and departing.
When I asked the ticketing agent if she thought I could make it in time, she pulled up a map of the Chicago airport—-comprised of four terminals, nine concourses and 191 gates—- looked me in the eye and asked, “Can you run?”
Visions scrunch-sleeping in an airport gate chair flashed through my mind as I simply smiled and walked away.
Ninety minutes after my original flight time, I boarded a plane headed to Chicago O’Hare, rosary beads in hand that we would arrive no later than the forecast 8:20pm. If all went well, I would have 40 minutes to make the 2 mile trek to my Buffalo gate. Dressed in lovely flats and lugging a full sized shoulder bag and a retractable pullup author banner were definitely going to play a part in my MPH speed!
The plane landed spot on time. I flew off and out to the launchway where I had to wait for my banner, that I’d gate checked. Thankfully, it was a small plane, and while my banner was the last to show up, it was only a few minutes before I was on my way from Concourse G to Concourse B. Hallelluia, there were in the same terminal!
If you’re old enough, you might remember a Hertz car rental commercial where then-Buffalo Bills All-Star Running Back, O. J. Simpson was dashing throught an airport, leaping over crowd control barriers and bounding through terminal hallways to make it to his car.
Yeah….that wasn’t me.
I definitely hustled—-bobbed and weaved through slowly strolling groups of people—- keeping that uncomfortable airport lounge chair punishment in mind if I didn’t make my flight.
Just as I was giving myself the desperation pep talk, " I am Woman I Can Do Anything!” I spotted my gate in the distance. Making a final push, I made it to my destination in just under 20 minutes, just enough time to get my seat assignment and board the plane.
While we sat on the runaway for a half hour before taking off, and finally arrived in Buffalo at 1 am, I made a plan to start shopping around for a pair of ruby slippers.
I’m thinking that the next time I travel, it just might be worth it to try clicking my heels three times to get home.