The Windy City

I finally got to see downtown Chicago! Before I get into that, let me back up. I got back into Chicago late on the 6th, and the 7th was my birthday... Didn't do anything special, but that was alright, since I got to be at home the three days before, and had a super time there. =) I did have to work - I had a standup, which means reduced rest, which means you get paid during the little sleep you get. We went to Lincoln, Nebraska and stayed at the Holiday Inn, which I really like. The best part was that they gave us some brekkie in the morning, even though it was super early. Got back to my apartment at about 8:30 Sunday morning, laid down to take a little nap, and woke up about 20 till 10, just in time to get dressed and walk to the church around the corner to check out their 10am service. It was alright - I went again yesterday to give it another try. It's good stuff but I don't really feel like it "fits." But it's close, and it's solid, and there is diversity and lots of friendly people. Slept for much of the rest of the afternoon... it was beautiful. =)

Monday I was back on call, and didn't get called. I had Tuesday and Wednesday off, so Monday night I flew up to Milwaukee to see the girls. There are 4 girls from my training who are based there, and since Milwaukee is close and the flights were free, I thought, why not? There ended up being cancellations and major delays, but I got there! Jess and G-Love (Gerard) picked me up and we went back to Jess and Steph's new apartment. It was a crazy couple of days moving and shopping but fun to see everyone!

While I was in Milwaukee, Jason (my friend who is a flight attendant out of Colorado Springs) text messaged me and said he had layovers in Chicago, and that we should hang out. So on Wednesday night, we met up at the train station and headed on downtown for some dinner and fun. It was really neat to be in the big city, especially with all the huge buildings and lights at night. We walked around a bit, then found Pizzeria Uno, home of the original deep dish pizza. It was amazing. I hadn't eaten pizza in forever anyway, but wow, this was probably the best pizza I've ever had. Delicious, tasty, fresh, and not greasy. THANKS JASON! =) After dinner and some really good conversation, we walked off somma those calories and explored the city a little. It was so pretty at night with all the lights, and my highlight of the night was seeing the train (you know, like in the movies)... I know, it's the simple things! Jason humored me and pretended like he was excited about the train too. =) While we were walking Jason saw a huge light above the street beaming down, and said they must be making a movie. When we went to check it out, we spotted a City of Gotham Sanitation truck... the new Batman movie! Couldn't see much, but another little thrill. We walked around some more then headed to the train to go home. Jason was awesome and walked me home... got to bed around 2am. It was the most fun I've had in Chicago so far. Definitely good times!!! Lucky for me, I didn't get called the next day, and Jason didn't have to report until 2pm. I was soo thankful for the sleep. =)

Friday morning I got a 4:15am wake up call from Crew Support, for a 5:15am show for a Dayton turn. The guy that called was cool about it though, and said that even though the show was 5:15 I had two hours to get there (which I know, but a lot of the time they try to pressure you to get there earlier). I told him that it takes me an hour to get to the crew lounge from my front door, but I'd be there as soon as I could. I jammed and got there by 5:40. There were a couple awesome things that morning. I checked online to see who I was flying with so I could find them, and saw that I was on the 700 working with Dauna from my training! I was way excited about that. Also saw that I was flying with Chad again, the FO from Australia. On my way to the train I called Dauna and asked her if she could grab my manual out of my locker. I let her know what was up (she'd been called for the trip at 6pm the night before) and she said she'd get on the plane and do all the security and first flight of the day checks. When I got through security, I called Crew Support to check in. I talked to the same guy who had called me, and he was surprised that I was there already. The gate agent was happy that I was there already, the pilots were happy that I got there when I did, and since I got there a couple minutes before they were supposed to board, the passengers didn't know the difference. I said hi to my crew, put my stuff away, and thanked Dauna for doing all the grunt work while I was getting there. It was just one of those feel good things to be able to get there and not have to cause a delay. We flew to Dayton and back, and were done! Everything was good - I was the lav keeper, i.e. the aft flight attendant. On the way back, when I made my Welcome announcement, the guy in 17B said something that cracked me up, and I had a hard time keeping going with it. You gotta have fun with those sometimes right? After our trip, I got to hang out with Dauna at the airport for the rest of the day since we were on ready reserve (where you sit at the airport in case they need you, and if they call, you have to be able to be on the plane within 20 minutes). RollsRoyce was there, and I saw Marcky right before we were off to go home.

Friday night I went to hang out at the Pavillion with RollsRoyce and Toni, that was a lot of fun!! We were tired but decided to go down to the Cabana Bar and hang out. Not too long after we got down there this guy Sam from India offered to buy us drinks. We hung out, talked with him and some others that were there. It was alright, better than doing nothing! I don't know about the other ladies, but I'm getting kinda tired of guys giving me their numbers, or asking me for mine... Definitely have a collection. Soo if you're looking for a guy to hang out with in Chicago, let me know! I got the hook-ups! ;-)

We all had standups Saturday night, so knew we wouldn't be called during the day. We slept in and then watched Music & Lyrics - so cute! In the afternoon I went back home, then up to the airport. I was supposed to meet up with Laura Foxworth off of her flight from London, coming back from her 10 year class reunion in Switzerland. I ran around the airport for an hour and a half but never found her. =(

Reported for my trip at 8pm, then went to the F concourse to find my crew to Charleston, West Virginia. My Captain was pretty cool, and the FO was a younger guy. In the morning when I went out of my room at the hotel, I walked into the hall and heard PARTY LIKE A ROCKSTAR blasting! I listened and heard that it was coming from the FO's room. He didn't strike me as someone who would listen to Shop Boyz. =) We were delayed getting out of Charleston because United oversold us by 5 people, and no one would volunteer to get off the flight. While we were waiting we jammed out to our Captain's ipod over the loudspeaker. Fun stuff. Everyone was hyper about making their connections when they finally were able to board - not our fault! I got to try to keep them calm... I was glad to be done Sunday morning! And that brings me back to being back in Chicago and going to church. More to come...