Sister's Trip
After several months of planning the weekend of my much anticipated sister's trip finally had arrived! After running last minute errands until late into the evening, my sister and I got up earlier then normal to brave the icy roads to Chicago's O'Hare. The plan was to hop on a plane and in less then three short hours we would have left the cold, icy, Midwestern weather behind and we'd be able to soak up warm 80 degree weather. We'd have most Wednesday afternoon and all of that evening to shop, eat, and enjoy some of our favorite spots. We both love Disney Spring in Orlando. Have you been? It's an intoxicating mixture of Florida weather, Disney atmosphere, shopping, restaurants, chocolate, and entertainment. They have everything your heart could ever or would ever desire. Oh, you need hand painted shoes with Buzz Lightyear and Woody on them? They have it. Could you really go for an amazing ice cream sundae that costs the same amount as a tank of gas? Look no further! Bath bombs? Yep. Light Saber? uh-huh. Princess make over with more hairspray and glitter then you'd find in any 80's nightclub. This. is. your. place. A restaurant where dinosaurs move and roar at your while you eat. GURL YES! I'm telling you, if you need something and they don't have it, then honestly it's not something you were meant to have.
Where was I? Oh yes, driving to O'hare. Well here I am less then an hour away from the airport, driving cautiously, but still 60 mph or faster. When my sister Katie asks "What terminal do we need?" I said I’m not 100% sure, check my email.
Let's just pause right here. Let's have a moment of silence for our trip. May it rest in peace.
My inbox contained an email from our wonderful airline informing us that our flight had been canceled, and we had been rebooked onto another flight. Our flight number was 929 scheduled to depart at 6:30.
(So here is a preface to this story. When I bought our flights I originally bought tickets for flight 929 that departed 2/20 at 6:30 p.m. But after some discussion with Katie we decided to pay an additional $32 per person to move to a flight that would leave at 11:09 getting us to Florida earlier in the day.)
So, that's a bummer. Right? Well stinker, but nothing we can do. Let's just make the best of the situation. There is an Ikea on the way! Lunch and a way to kill several hours. SWEET! Early afternoon rolls around and we head to the airport. Wait in two security lines. (not long only 40-ish mins) While we wait I call the airline to ask ever-so-nicely for my $68 dollars back. You know that extra we paid for the earlier flight? You know so we could get to Florida earlier? I politely make my request. Get put on hold. Agent comes back 6 times to let me know that she is working on getting the money refunded she would right back. She comes back and says that fee isn't refundable unless we cancel our entire ticket? (WHHHHHATTT? So NEVER using this airline again, by the way). I ask for a supervisor. The supervisor comes on and explains that our flight had been cancelled and we were rebooked for flight 929 departing at 6:30 pm tomorrow.
Hold UP.
Tomorrow?
Me: "No sir, you mean tonight at 6:30."
Supervisor: "No ma'am. You are booked on a flight for tomorrow."
Me: "But tonight's night is 929, departing at 6:30"
Supervisor: "Yes, so is tomorrow's flight."
AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH
Freak out. Total Panic happens. We head to the flight desk and ask for a supervisor. We explain the situation. We can't arrive at 10 pm on Thursday night, we were booked to come back on a flight departing at 6 am on Saturday! During the next hour the two of us concocted a million different plans on how to get to Florida. Rent a car and drive. Drive home get my sister's car and drive. Drive down but fly back. After we that hour by some miracle and honestly the grace of God, we left the airport with all of our prepaid travel plans refunded (in 5-7 days). And the new plan to stay in Chicago, but still have our sister's trip. Minus the Sun. And rollercoasters. And warm Butterbeer. As my sister said "Powers' sisters making the best of crappy situations since 1983." Go us!
Shout out to Groupon for a Chicago City Pass, and to Hotels.com (FYI if you use this site DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT trust the star rating, actually read each review. There were reviews that mention beg bugs but still gave 5 stars? -FISHY-).
Over the next 3 days my sister and I enjoyed a tour of the Fright Lloyd Wright Home and Studio,The Field museum, and The Institute of Art. We discovered a totally delicious Mexican restaurant called "Flacco's Taco's". We shopped at outlets, and my sister helped me pick revamp my wardrobe. (I figured out while I was packing for the trip that half of my clothes are too big, and the other half are stained) We laughed, and I cried some. We gathered up a few more pieces of our broken childhood, and healed some more. We experienced big city life, beautiful art work, amazing sculptures, a renewed sense of independence. In a way I am thankful that we didn't make it to Florida. While we would have had fun, riding roller coasters, and drinking warm Butterbeer. Our failed trip was a messy, lovely, unforgettable experience.
