Keep Calm and Carry On.....Literally

Day One

No one really cares for a boring story, do they? Well, dear friends, you will not be disappointed today! (Warning, it’s a long one….but a tale worth telling is a tale worth telling!) 

Last night we stayed with my brother and sister-in-law’s at their home which is closer to O’Hare. THANK YOU MARILLA AND MIKE, WE LOVE YOU AND APPRECIATE YOUR HOSPITALITY! *HUGS* [Most of] our alarms went off as scheduled. We were out the door within about 15 minutes of when we thought we should be gone….pretty good for this group (at least the Bondioli’s…we’re hardly on time….better brush up on that this week).  Marilla very graciously drove us to O’Hare, we made good time, no traffic, told her we need Terminal 3, international flights. We pull up to Terminal 3, unload all the luggage…and said a very heartfelt thank you to her with lots of hugs………however something just didn’t seem right. There was next to no one lining up on the curb of this terminal. Kelly thought maybe we should double check that Terminal number. Sure enough….. We needed Terminal 5! So, quick as a flash we loaded the van back up. We tried to make it light hearted by pretending Marilla was picking us up from the end of our trip by “talking” about all  the amazing things we’d seen in London….and how the trip seemed to go by in the “blink of an eye”….“Seemed like just moments ago you we’re dropping us off to leave!” Laughing aside, we were all thinking….”ok this is fixable….but let’s be better on top of things….you know, ‘cause that will just work out better in the end probably”. I mean, I do remember Terminal 5 from sometime earlier this week, do you think I remembered that now? Nope. 

The road exiting Terminal 3 appeared to be a never-ending street of “ha-ha you’re NEVER gonna be able to make that U-turn you so desperately need to!” But, we managed and made it to Terminal 5. This was the right place people, how did we know? TONS of people everywhere. Ok, no worries, we made it to the curb, whew. Inside we checked our bags with the loveliest of American Airlines employees, seriously she was extremely helpful and very nice. But seriously, why can’t the four of us college educated adults figure out which way to swipe our passports? Only god knows I think. Ok, checked luggage…check. Move on to security line. Another very helpful AA employee tells Geno his roll on carry on is too wide. Without going into detail we played a suitcase version of clown car/swap….except with clothes instead of clowns….and let me tell you the first attempt at “moving” clowns failed, now this suitcase was too wide….In the end, let’s just say that one person’s (we’re going anonymous here all the way) luggage pack of underwear (yes, underwear because that’s what was on top and easy to grab) was carried onto the plane graciously in one of the other couple’s carry-ons. The Bondioli’s and the Kons’ have now reached a new level of friendship : “I will carry your underwear, whatever it takes!”

Ok, get through security no sweat. Find a Starbucks, because, you just have to, period. Get some caffeine and food, make a few last minute texts, calls and head to the gate. By now it’s 8:15 and our 8:55am flight is probably boarding so Kelly and I hoof it to the bathroom pronto! We’re NOT missing this flight! Ok, we’re good, they actually haven’t started boarding yet! We casually fall into conversation, we can breathe easy…we made it to the gate!!! Oh, how silly we were…….It’s getting close to 8:45…and nothing. Ok….board just changed flight to 9:15am. Alright, that explains why were not boarding. But then, you see, it’s now 9:15 and nothing. Well, let’s sit down, because Murphy’s Law states if you sit down, you will then immediately be then asked to board your plane. Yeah, for some reason, Murphy’s Law was as broken as an airplane engine this morning. Was our engine broken?….well I think technically no…but there were now some announcements coming from the AA staff that the “engine has now finally checked out ok” UM WHAT? I love how this is all said extremely no big deal, which, how do i know? Maybe it is, but maybe it isn’t, right?  Still nothing is happening and now there is a significant line of people standing at the check in gate desk, all looking not very cheery. Matt decides to check it out. Immediately Kelly notices the woman sitting behind her is FULL ON SOBBING. Ok, now I’m ignoring that part of me that’s been saying “you know it’ll be fine, it’s not worth worrying yet when you don’t know what’s going on really” and starting to pay attention to the part of me saying “Uh, is what I think happening going to really happen? Cause yeah, that can’t happen. We’re due at Warner brothers London studios tomorrow at 10am…I’m going to be sitting at a Hogwarts table in THE great hall……don’t you people know that?????”

Meanwhile another lady walks back from the desk area and is near us and we hear her casually tell some other passengers that apparently they just put some “sealant” on the wing that they weren’t completely satisfied with….and they have heat lamps on the sealant now. [All of this story is true, seriously] Kelly and I look at each other like, ok don’t panic…….yet. Or……should we? IDK? Panicking is not on the itinerary…so let’s stick to that..

Matt comes back to tell us, they are desperately trying to get us on this plane and out of here…because guess what? London Heathrow exacts a flying curfew. That’s right. If we can’t make it to London by 11pm, no deal. WHAT? Still, we are all cool as cucumbers, good job us! Plan B is that they will get us a new plane that will take off at 4pm, because it will then land after the curfew is over, in other words…Tuesday morning. Ok. well, thats not horrible. It’s certainly not what we want to do, but we could sleep on the overnight flight, and get there Tuesday morning early. Alright. Maybe. We have some wiggle room with the tour if it maybe needed to be later Tuesday. 

Then the announcement finally comes: “Ok, we need everyone to listen carefully: (you could hear a pin drop) we want to get you on THIS flight. Everything is fixed, it’s 100% good, but we can’t take off until all the sign offs are legit, all the T’s crossed. Which hasn’t occurred yet. To make this go, we have to be wheels up by 10:15am or it’s a no go with the curfew. We are going to board you now, because if we don’t, you won’t make it. BUT, if the sign off doesn’t happen or the boarding takes too long…..no dice. She literally said we have a 50:50 chance…..so…….GO! 

No one panicked, everyone was calm, orderly, quiet….quickly we all got on the plane…..all of us saying mentally…please work!!! They’re loading the baggage…. we’re buckling in….no word yet…….then the wheels start moving back! We’re going. Wheels were up at no kidding you…..10:13am. 

And yep, we Kept Calm and Carried On….the whole time.