Disembarkation Day
Another beautiful day in San Diego.
We are in Group Purple 2. Our meeting time in the Galaxy Lounge is 8:15 AM for an 8:30 AM departure.
I was, of course, up way
early and up in the Marketplace Buffet at 7:00 AM. I got my usual table and had my usual breakfast – Ellen came up a
bit later. We were able to get our
breakfast in a non-crowded, non-chaotic way.
We went to the Galaxy Lounge at our appointed time,
hugged it out and said goodbye to Marina Bregles
(Shorex), and then proceeded to the busses.
The ride to the airport was short – SAN was only four miles away – and
the bus dropped us off at Terminal 2 West for United Airlines. SAN has a lot of outdoor ticket agents –
skycaps sort of. We got in line for (I
had pre-checked our bags online) and inquired about an earlier flight. He didn’t have that kind of information so we
went inside the terminal to a full service agent.
We explained our need to get
on an earlier flight and after tapping a few keys and staring at the screen, he
said he could get us on the 10:40 AM flight (it was pretty close to 9:00 AM
now). I explained that we have special
seats and he said he was able to get Economy Plus seats at no charge (he called
it an upgrade but I had already paid for them).
We got exit row seats 20E and 20F (middle and window), which would be
just fine. These seats were the last two seats left on the plane - I guess the steep price for these seats deterred people from purchasing them.
The TSA PreChek line was just a few feet away but it was moving very slowly (only two screening lines). There was also a drug sniffing dog moving along the security line. We didn’t get through the TSA line until close to 9:45 AM. Fortunately, Gate 44 was not that far away and we got to the gate just as they were boarding. We are in Priority Group 2 and we boarded without any issues – my backpack was in the overhead department and I had the window seat (at least for takeoff). I have a good view of the starboard engine and wing.
United 1840 – a B737-800 – was scheduled for departure at 10:40 AM and pushed right on time. The takeoff is very similar to LAX – the plane takes off over the Pacific and then turns back to start the flight path to ORD. The visibility was good and there was a lot to see.
The pilot said that the first 30 minutes of the flight would be bumpy and asked the flight attendants to stay seated and start their serving process once smooth air was found. I did not really find the climb out to be overly bumpy.
We ate the small bagels (lox and
a dab of cream cheese) that we got from the Bistro the night before. I had my usual two cups of coffee and glass
of orange juice. It did the trick.
I spent the whole flight
checking the plane’s route (United provides free Flight Aware information on
its app), looking out the window, and generally just relaxing. The flight took about four hours (including
taxiing and ground time). The flight was
generally smooth until we got a little closer to Chicago and then the pilot
said we were going to hitting some “Chicago potholes” (aka storm clouds). The 737 maneuvered around the dramatic storm
clouds and kept the plane relatively chop free.
The flight path took us
straight into ORD from the South (no big circle over the Lake) – the pilot
didn’t even mention that we were on approach to ORD (I could tell because I was
tracking the flight) and the plane landed at about 4 PM. I actually stayed in my seat the whole
time.
We parked in the C Terminal
and had to cross under the tarmac (the New Age lights are still there but the
music was off) to get to Baggage Claim.
Our bags came out pretty quickly and the cab that I called showed up in
about five minutes. He took a slightly
different route to our building – using the tollway for a lot of the time. There was no $6 surcharge for this ride.
Dova and Danny moved our cars
to the Linden remote CTA lot, which will help us tomorrow.
Overall, a good cruise – despite the rainy weather.
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