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Sunday — September 6
Just so you’re not kept in suspense — we’re home! Here’s how our unplanned travel day unfolded.
Up at 5:00a, we quickly got ready and went down to have breakfast. Service was swift (we were the only ones partaking of the breakfast buffet); the food was good. Thanks to the meal vouchers from UA, we didn’t have to pay a dime. At 6:30a, we were on the hotel shuttle to O’Hare, fingers crossed for a smooth flight and on time arrival in DC.
A line up of aircraft follow as we taxi for take-off.
UA flight 606 pushed back on time for an 8:37a departure. Once the doors were closed, Mui hopped into the row behind me to give himself a little extra legroom, leaving the two seats in the exit row to me.
Lucky guy! There’s no seat in front of him!
The flight was uneventful. By the time we finished sipping our sodas, it was time to bring our seats upright for landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. A few more minutes, and were on the ground at 11:15a.
The Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial welcome us back to DC.
With a half-empty aircraft and seats close to the front, it took us no time at all to deplane and head to baggage claim. From our conversation with the gate agent at O’Hare, we knew that our luggage was being transported by AA — go figure; they wouldn’t take us, but they did our bags!!! Anyway, the UA baggage claim agent confirmed that our two pieces were on the AA flight due to land at noon. We could have made arrangements for the luggage to be delivered to the house and left at that point. Instead, we decided to have lunch at the airport and then go home with our bags.
After browsing the directory of eateries, we settled on the Cibo Bistro and Wine Bar. As it wasn’t quite noon yet, we were the only customers and had no problems being seated at one of the concourse tables where we entertained ourselves watching travelers going about their airport business. I ordered the “pancetta wrapped grilled shrimp” served on a bed of Caribbean rice. It was quite good, but not nearly as good as Mui’s “calamari salad.”
Lunch at Cibo’s; a good way to pass the time while we wait for our bags to arrive.
Left: Pancetta wrapped grilled shrimp; Right: Calamari salad.
Our timing could not have been better. When we made our way back down to baggage claim, we were just in time to see our bags come down the chute and onto the carousel. Two minutes later, we were heading to the taxi line. The mid-day Sunday traffic was non-existent and we were home by 12:45p.
By the way — something I meant to include in yesterday’s post. When the UA agent at O’Hare was rebooking us, he noted that there was a good chance AA had refused to honor our tickets because they were award tickets worth only $80. I guess AA would rather let two seats go empty than get some amount of money for them, no matter how minimal. Go figure! In any event, we’ve learned our lesson — if we’re traveling on award tickets, we won’t accept a transfer to another airline should the occasion arise in the future.
I loved reading about this trip, seeing the photos and videos, even two years later. I can see already that we haven't planned enough time for the Canadian Rockies as we return home after six weeks on the road, and will have to think about another trip north to that area someday. Beautiful, beautiful story.
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