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You've come a long way, baby...
...a long way in a long day.
Five am waiting for the shuttle bus, with the moon full over Manchester airport and the dawn chorus loud all around us.
We've been tripled filtered by security: at Manchester it was OK to leave my laptop in my backpack, but I had to remove my belt; on the first pass at Dublin I had to remove both belt and laptop; moving into US Pre-clearance at Dublin I could leave both laptop and belt where they were, but had to remove my shoes. We were then allowed to go and wait at Gate 404, where they were repeatedly paging a missing passenger (Gate 404: Passenger not found). This gave![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
durham_rambler time to fetch himself a Guinness (clearly we were not really in Ireland, because he was back within ten minutes).
The flight was fine: long, though with a favourable wind under seven and a half hours. When I was too weary to read, I watched a film (My Week with Marilyn) and when that was finished and we opened the shutter, we could see land below us, and I watched that as it became increasingly covered with water, and then we came to Chicago, a bristling clump of spikes by the lakeside.
Since we'd done the formalities already, all we had to do was collect our luggage and take the train into the city. We are staying at Club Quarters Loop, as recommended by helenraven, and also on her recommendation dined on fish and chips at the Elephant and Castle, the 'traditional English pub' downstairs. They certainly aim for authenticity: our Goose Island Green Line came in real imperial pints.
But first we went for a short walk. The hotel is very central, and we soon came to Millennium Park. First impressions suggest that Chicago is like the City of London, only more open, with more sunshine and far more tulips.
Later today, we take the train west. But first, breakfast.
ETA: All the pictures of Chicago.
Five am waiting for the shuttle bus, with the moon full over Manchester airport and the dawn chorus loud all around us.
We've been tripled filtered by security: at Manchester it was OK to leave my laptop in my backpack, but I had to remove my belt; on the first pass at Dublin I had to remove both belt and laptop; moving into US Pre-clearance at Dublin I could leave both laptop and belt where they were, but had to remove my shoes. We were then allowed to go and wait at Gate 404, where they were repeatedly paging a missing passenger (Gate 404: Passenger not found). This gave
durham_rambler time to fetch himself a Guinness (clearly we were not really in Ireland, because he was back within ten minutes).The flight was fine: long, though with a favourable wind under seven and a half hours. When I was too weary to read, I watched a film (My Week with Marilyn) and when that was finished and we opened the shutter, we could see land below us, and I watched that as it became increasingly covered with water, and then we came to Chicago, a bristling clump of spikes by the lakeside.
Since we'd done the formalities already, all we had to do was collect our luggage and take the train into the city. We are staying at Club Quarters Loop, as recommended by helenraven, and also on her recommendation dined on fish and chips at the Elephant and Castle, the 'traditional English pub' downstairs. They certainly aim for authenticity: our Goose Island Green Line came in real imperial pints.But first we went for a short walk. The hotel is very central, and we soon came to Millennium Park. First impressions suggest that Chicago is like the City of London, only more open, with more sunshine and far more tulips.
Later today, we take the train west. But first, breakfast.
ETA: All the pictures of Chicago.