Saturday, August 25, 2012

Running Away From O'Hare


(Note: I wrote this while waiting for a plane at the terminal in Chicago O'Hare.)

I hate Chicago O’Hare.  I’m sure everyone has disdain for this airport at least a bit but I really hate it.  In July upon returning from Ireland, my wife and I had a 7 hour layover at O’Hare before a 10:30 pm United flight to Minneapolis.  That layover became much longer as the flight was delayed until 12:30… and then eventually cancelled because “the pilots were too tired.”  We were given a room for the night and meal vouchers (for next morning of course because everything was closed by then), but we were quite frustrated and exhausted after being up for 27 hours.  It took almost an hour and a half before we got from the gate’s desk to our hotel room and lied down for the night, getting only 3 hours of sleep before arising at 5:30 am to catch our new 8:45 flight.

With all that said, it was with much hesitation that I again booked a flight itinerary that stopped through O’Hare.  This past week I helped my brother-in-law and his girlfriend move from the Twin Cities to Ann Arbor, MI.  Since we drove a U-Haul truck there, I needed a one-way flight back home.  Sure, there were direct flights from Detroit (the nearest real airport to Ann Arbor) to Minneapolis, but United flights connecting through O’Hare were a third of the price.  Although I was shaking my fist in the air the whole time, I booked the cheaper option through O’Hare. 

Today, stepping off my flight from Detroit and into the C concourse just brought back every bad memory of the bad experience in June.  Mean coincidence had my arrival gate be just steps away from the gate we wasted our lives away waiting for a flight that wouldn’t happen.  In another twist of fate, my United flight today is co-numbered as an Aer Lingus flight – the airline that we took to and from Ireland back in June.  (On writing this, I’m also realizing that the random quiet-ish spot I found to write today may be the departure gate for the flight that did finally take us to Minneapolis back in June.)  

I should probably get something to eat or at least get up and walk around, but I want to avoid experiencing this crap airport as much as I can.  The quality of food is poor at best.  For example its Applebees or McDonald’s isn’t just worse than their respective non-airport locations, but they’re even far worse than other airport locations.  That isn’t to mention that O’Hare charges exorbitant prices for food, even much more than at other airports.  Oh and good luck not waiting in line.  O’Hare is so crowded with people because the number of flights, and the number of passengers, has far surpassed the load that the airport can actually handle.  Just a few minutes ago when I was walking around, one could barely get through the terminal because of the amount of people in line for McDonald’s.  It stretched from one side of the terminal to the other, being eight lines (or eight people) thick.

So why do I write this rant on O’Hare?  And why do I write it while at the terminal?  Because I’m ready to get home and run.  Even with lending a hand in moving, I was able to get a run in during the five days I was away from home.  While in Ann Arbor, my brother-in-law and I did a 2 mile run to the Big House, Michigan’s football stadium, and back to his apartment.  Still as nice as the run was, it wasn’t like running on familiar turf back home.  It wasn’t normality and – as nice as it was to run with someone else – it wasn’t my self-exploring (and contrasted with O’Hare) quiet run like at home.

Although I haven’t stepped upon home soil again, I’m already feeling like I need to embrace my “home” running as thoroughly as I can.  Of course having just moved to the Twin Cities area just in July, I’m not yet fully used to all of my running routes or the local running scene.  I was thinking of doing it before my trip to Ann Arbor, but now I’ve decided I must register myself for at least one fall race in the area.  It’ll give that extra spark of feeling even more comfortable with running in my new home.

Until then though (and even after that), I’ll just be hating (or still hating) O’Hare.

(It should be noted that because of O’Hare’s plane traffic being over capacity, my flight to Minneapolis was late on arrival.  Why?  Because we sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes waiting our turn to take off.) 

No comments: