Adventures in the Airport

I have been safely deposited in Utah. I hate traveling. And traveling while pregnant is worse. Having my sister in law to travel with helped a ton. I have to travel back to South Carolina all by my lonesome and I am not looking forward to it.

We had several adventures along the way...mostly just normal travel stuff like my bag going through security twice, running across an entire airport because we thought we were going to miss our flight, my baggage getting "lost"....and then we had our biggest adventures in the Chicago airport. And I just have to share.

First off, who has been to the Chicago airport? It is awesome. I didn't know that at first. We went to dinner, went to our terminal, and had over two hours to kill. We watched a lady in a super short dress bear it all when she bent over to pick something up. Ugh. Then we watched countless business men walk past. We were getting insanely bored when things livened up...they changed our gate! Yay. To across the airport. Yay.

I'm glad that happened though. Because it turns out there are some awesome things in the airport. When we were asking directions the lady told us "go down the hall, turn left at the dinosaur, and go through the tunnel." Dinosaur? I thought she was crazy. She so wasn't. Behold....the dinosaur.

The tunnel is even better. I have a hard time explaining it but...try to picture this with me. It's a tunnel. Duh. With colored lights on the ceiling. And there is very relaxing piano music playing. As the music plays, the lights turn on and off in time with the music. The walls of the tunnel remind me of a color palette like if I were trying to choose the perfect color for my house and I went to a home improvement store and they give you all those papers with varying shades of the same color on them. Okay, my explanation stinks. Here are some pictures instead....

Finally we make it to our terminal. And are disappointed that we still have an hour and a half of time to waste. So we text people our pictures of the tunnel. And I take multiple trips to the bathroom. And we talk. We meet the couple sitting next to us (who had just come back from a trip to New Zealand).

When there are ten minutes left before we can board the plane, I decide I'm super thirsty. The drinking fountain is so close I have been staring at it for a while and I realize I might as well get a drink. When I get to the drinking fountain, there is a guy standing there waving his hand over the top of it and looking confused. After a minute he turns to me and tells me it's broken. So I show him how to push the button. He washes his hands in the drinking fountain. Then he fills his coffee cup full of water and insists on giving it to me. Gee...thanks...

I thought now that he was done with the drinking fountain, the man would go away. But he didn't. He started asking my name, chatting about flights. He was Islamic, but he kept telling me he's a Christian and he's done with Islam. Then he asked if I was married. So I said yes, and showed him my ring. And then he asked for my phone number. So....apparently he digs pregnant married chicks.

The man was very insistent and I just wanted him gone, so I gave him a fake number. It made him very happy and he told me he'd call me and I could come visit him in San Antonio, where he was going to make a new life. Lucky me. At this point I start heading back to my seat, and he grabs my arm and asks me to come sit down and talk more. I just let him know I have a friend waiting for me. He says okay, then he puts his hand on my back and starts walking with me.

This is the point where I start getting nervous. I can't shake this guy! Luckily, as we are walking he must suddenly remember he has family waiting for him or something, because he tells me he has to go see his brother, but he will call me and we can visit sometime. So I say goodbye and he leaves.

There were five more minutes until we could board our plane and I'm anxiously waiting to get on. That guy had left me a little shaken and I was afraid he'd try to call the number, realize it was fake, and hunt me down. When we went to board our plane, Emily and I got separated. As I'm looking around to find her...that guy pops up and shows me where she is. Meaning he'd been watching me. So creepy. I was glad to get away from him.

Now I am here and happy and enjoying the time with my family and friends I haven't seen for six months. Despite the colder weather and having my husband in North Carolina, I'm having a good time. Yay for vacations and family!