I drove to O'Hare yesterday in the middle of the day to catch a flight to Las Vegas. Traffic was awful - all backed up around the O'Hare exit. Worse, all of the main parking lots were full. I had to park in the economy lots before once so I still thought I would make it. Well all of the economy lots along Bessie Coleman Drive had "full" signs saying to proceed to parking lot F. Kept driving and driving and finally got to lot F. The shuttle bus came right away but seemed to go maddeningly slow on it's long trip to the shuttle train. The train stops at terminal 5,3,2, then 1. I was flying United out of terminal 1. When I finally arrived and tried to use the self check-in machine it said I was too late and offered to put me on stand-by for a flight leaving 2 1/2 hours later. I took the boarding pass but still thought I might be able to check-in at the gate. Of course the security line was impossibly long. I hustled to the gate - unfortunately B22 the farthest B gate from security. I got there before they had closed the doors but the agent said I was too late.
The next flight was leaving from gate B1, as far from B22 as you can get. I stopped at the customer service counter and asked if I could get "confirmed" on that flight. They said nope you have to stay on standby unless you want to be confirmed on a later flight which goes through L.A. So I waited, and waited and waited. They called a few names for standby as they were boarding the plane. Not mine. At the very last minute with no one left to board they called my name. Naturally the overhead luggage racks around my seat were full. I found a space a few rows back. There was already a guy in my seat (a middle seat) so I showed him my boarding pass and get checked his ticket and moved over to the window seat. I should have just kept my mouth shut and taken the window seat. Finally got to Las Vegas about 8 hours after I left my house. But the estimated 1000 people in the taxi line moved along pretty fast.
The MGM is huge - over 5000 rooms. I grabbed some dinner at Wolfgang Puck's in the hotel and then walked down to the Eiffel Tower for some night shots.
2 comments:
Sorry about the problems. It must have been frustrating! When Don and I went to Vegas a number of years ago, we literally got lost in the MGM. We circle and circled for a good 30 minutes trying to find our way out of the hotel. We asked people, but we still couldn't find our way out. Finally, we saw the door and bolted :D I don't ever want to go to that hotel again! :) Have fun. These shots are great, BTW!
GOsh....I just hope the rest of your trip was better.....!!!
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