Woke up during the early morning to see a thunderstorm outside. (not a lot of point in closing the curtains when you’re on the 30th floor, and it’s nice to wake to the sunrise.

Decided to skip hotel breakfast today, in favour of sleeping in a bit & getting to the airport in plenty of time.
No luggage scale (mine died sometime during lockdown) so I was hoping that it wouldn’t be overweight; Didn’t feel too heavy, but I’m out of practice with judging that.

At the airport I had a moment of terror when the scale at the check-in desk said “29.0”, but it turned out to be pounds, not kilogrammes.
Security was very chill, and the TSA folks were relaxed about … pretty much everything.

Got ‘breakfast’ at a bar/diner where they were just changing between menus, so I got a burger.
The thunderstorm seems to have gone away, but it’s raining hard out there, and the sky is grey.

Fell asleep a lot on the flight to Chicago.

Picking up the suitcase & getting to the international terminal at Chicago was easy enough. Then the lines started.
Kiosks not working. Huge line to check in, and equally huge line for the folks who just needed to drop off a bag.
Slow moving line through to security. There was a very apologetic first time traveler immediately ahead of me, and I couldn’t think of a way to say that the actual problem was her travel partner who apparently hadn’t told her shit about what to expect or prepare, and who somehow needed five or six trays while not understanding the idea that he could move the fuck down the line to free up some space for everyone else.

They seem to be rebuilding everything at Terminal 5. Construction all over the place, lots of airside things are shut, and there’s even less room.

Boarding. Where to begin?
Couldn’t understand the announcements, and there was no significant seating or space near the gate, so no way to hang around and watch to see when boarding was starting. Ended up joining a long-ass line to the gate on the assumption that eventually it’d get me onto the plane.
Crying children, a second line for a different flight parallel to ours, indistinct rapid fire announcements, and I think I maybe got to the gate ten minutes before the designated takeoff time. It’s a somewhat empty flight, so my block of four has a person in each aisle + two empty middle seats for us to dump our crap into.
Entertainment system is just as flaky as the flight to Chicago; Touchscreen interface but no touchscreen means you cannot navigate back once a selection is made, the controller in the seat arm is very twitchy and might just make the decision for you, and it remembers your place, so a shutdown won’t take it back either.

So be it; I have my e-reader with me, plus some Books & TV Episodes on the phone. Plus I’m kinda tired, having already fallen asleep once.

The plane eventually took off maybe an hour late, but they think they can make it up. Or something.

During the drinks service, I saw one of the cabin crew activate a call bell to attract the attention of someone at another drinks cart, then do some sign language to request a few extra cans from their stock. 😁

OK, so that flight could be described as “rough as fuck”. Turbulence for a number of hours, and the ‘stay in your seat’ light stayed on for a decent chunk of the trip.
In Dublin now, waiting on flight number 3.