The Windy City

3:28am I awoke to my phone ringing. My eyes could barely open. "Hello..?" I whispered, "Good morning, Guadalupe we have a trip for you..." That is how my Monday began. It was a 3 day trip, with a report time of 6:00am. Luckily, I had my bags already packed from the night before. I quickly got dressed and was out the door. Once I arrived to the airport, I went down to the crew room for check in. As I checked in I found out I was working the lead position. I smiled, reminiscing the first time I ever worked lead and how terrified I was with all of the responsibility. Now, it had become second nature. 

I then met with my crew, and we quickly did a briefing. I checked that they had their required items, and then we headed over to our gate. As we walked up to the gate, the gate agent looked at me frantically and asked if they could board early due to all the "specials" on the flight. I looked at the pre-departure briefing sheet the agent had handed me, and sure enough: 4 wheelchairs, 1 unaccompanied minor , 1 cabin pet, and 2 armed passengers. I assured her as soon as we finished our safety checks and briefed with the captain they could start boarding. The flight was San Francisco to Chicago, an easy leg for the first day. The flight was smooth and went by pretty fast. We had no issues besides the Internet connection going in and out throughout the flight. I was excited for our layover in Chicago, we had 18hours, enough time to finally get to explore the windy city. The bean was what I was most excited about, el frijol, with the reflection of the city. It seemed so romantic and unique.

As soon as the crew stepped out of the airport to walk to the shuttle which would take us to our hotel, we were greeted by the harsh Chicago air. According to the captain it was 15F. I had never been anywhere that cold my entire life (since then, I have :)). My face, ears and hands burned. It was the same sensation you get from touching dry ice. It was so shocking to imagine that people actually lived a normal life in this freezing weather. We were barely able to make the walk from the airport to the shuttle. I couldn't wrap my mind on people actually going to work with the temperature being that low. Once we arrived to the hotel, I went up to my room and was immediately hit with exhaustion. The early wake up call, and not having a full night rest had me looking at my bed like it was heaven sent. I decided to take a power nap. That power nap turned into sleep, I was out for at least 3 hours. When I woke up, all I wanted to do was wash my face and brush my teeth and go back to sleep, but I knew I would be so upset with myself for letting such a perfect layover go to waste. I forced myself to get up, freshen up and layer up. I took the metro into the city and off I went. I was full of excitement. As soon as I got to my stop, I quickly exited and pulled open the map on my phone. As I headed towards Millennium Park, I could see the very top of the bean shinning through the trees. I gushed in joy and started walking faster. There it was, so shiny and mighty. The park itself had other events going on, which I thought was pretty cool. I walked around until my feet were tired, and then I headed back to take the metro to my hotel. 

Since then, I have seen the bean a few times. I have been lucky enough to show other coworkers the grand centerpiece for their first time. I have indulged in the, oh so famous, deep dish pizza Chicago is know for. I have seen the unique infrastructure, especially one parking garage near the river that was circular, very tall, and appeared to look like a honeycomb. I have seen the majestic Chicago River, such a vibrant shade of blue and green. Chicago has a lot to offer. It was my IOE flight, when I graduated training. Back in grade school, I had to do a project on Illinois, so the state holds a soft spot in my heart :)  

xoxo,

Guadalupe♥️