It was Monday, Sept. 3rd - my last day in Chicago. We were all packed and ready to go to the airport. Now, before I get into the disaster, here's a little background: my uncle was dropping my family and another family off too two different airports. My family's flight was at 5 p.m and the other family's flight was at 3 p.m. There are two airports in the Chicago area: O'Hare and Midway. They're about one hour away from each other. From the house that we were staying at, the airport is roughly 45 minutes. Now, let's get into what happened.
Us two families were ready to leave, eight people crammed in a van. As my uncle was driving, we talked to each other. Suddenly, we started to slow down until we were stuck in back to back traffic. It was so bad that we weren't even moving. We thought it was just the lanes trying to merge later on because there were around six lanes at this point. So, we just sat there, until people started getting out of their cars. I was confused at this point and realized my uncle had turned off the car and we've sat in the same spot for about 45 minutes. At this point, we had less than a mile left until Midway airport. It wasn't until my dad got out and went to see what happened. There was a mini flood blocking the road, preventing cars from going through. The other family had their flight leaving soon and were calling to see if they can get a different flight, while I sat feeling nervous and stressed for them. I was texting a friend, telling him what was happening while I sat in the car. As the clock hit 3 p.m., I started to get nervous because our flight was at 5 p.m.
I lost track of the time because we sat there for so long and I was too worried about what was going to happen. My uncle finally managed to get into the farthest right lane and cut through the line from the side and that was when I saw it. The flood stretched along the road and there was a big construction car wading through it so cars are able to drive through with no problem. Slowly but surely, my uncle was able to cut through lanes and drive through the flood, continuing our now very rushed journey to the airport. When we arrived, I looked in shock and fear. Why? Because to get out of the airport, the lane was back to back traffic because of the flood. I started panicking at this point because we didn't know if we were going to make it to the airport. My parents were on the phone checking if there were seats available on other flights or the following day. There was a chance that we could take, which was that we could go on standby for the next flight and hope for a seat. In the end, we decided that we try to make it to the airport and our 5 o'clock flight, which was very unlikely because it was now 4:30; we've sat in the car for 30 minutes.
I'm sitting in the car, listening to music when the car suddenly starts zooming across the highway. It turns out we slowly made it through the traffic and the flood and are now racing to the airport while it was heavily raining. The luck we had, but it doesn't end here.
Fast forward the car ride to O'Hare airport. We reach right at 5 p.m. and rush to get tickets. This is where I start getting frustrated because if you are a minor, your ticket does not get sent to you, like adults. You have to go to a counter or kiosk to get it printed. We rush to the kiosk and try to get mine and my brother's tickets printed, but it doesn't let us, so we quickly walked to an open counter to see if we can still make it to our flight. The woman helping us called the gate and asked them. I stare anxiously at her. I'm thinking in my head, "What if we don't make it?"
I see my dad and uncle waiting to see the verdict. The woman informs us that it's too late to make it to the flight. So what do we do? We walk to the next line and try getting tickets for the 8:30 flight. What happens? We get put on standby. We say goodbye to my dad and uncle and walk quickly through security, which was empty. It wasn't until we reach the gate where I found out that our original flight, the 5:00 flight, was delayed. We would've made it on that flight and been home by 10:00. But no, we were stuck with a slim chance of getting on the next flight. I was tired, hungry (none of the food was good), stressed and frustrated. My mom and two cousins were already planning what we were going to do if we didn't get on the flight. There were five of us, so if two seats were available then my cousins would go home and my dad would pick my brother, mom and me up and we would stay the night at my uncle's house. At some point, I started wishing that was what would happen.
I started doing my homework and before I knew it, 8:30 rolled by and everyone had boarded the plane to Atlanta. I was sitting there anxiously waiting to hear our names. Very faintly, but still audible, we hear them being called and we rushed to the desk to get our tickets. I have never been so relieved. We were finally going home. I told my mom, while we were waiting, that if we didn't get the seats, I was going to start crying. I know it sounds dramatic, but after what happened, it made sense to. We get on the flight and started our journey home. Does it end there? Nope.
After we grabbed our bags from baggage claim, we waited 30 minutes for the Peachy Parking bus to come and pick us up. It was one in the morning. We then dropped my cousins off to their house and drove home and went straight to bed. We didn't even bother unpacking. By now, it was two in the morning. As soon as I hit the pillow, I was out like a light. What a day it had been.
