Airborne Again—En Route from Chicago to New York to begin Phase Three of My Travels

Saturday, September 27, 2025

Chicago-New York

Airborne Again—En Route from Chicago to New York to begin Phase Three of My Travels

Today was an odd kind of day—but at least it gave me respite from the manic walking of the last 15 days that have caused me serious foot soreness. I awoke knowing that this was the day I’d be airborne again—from Chicago to New York. For some reason, flights now bring butterflies to my tummy—I tried hard to quell them but to no avail

With my packing all done, ML and I sat down to breakfast—toast with peanut butter and honey with decaff coffee. Then, by 10.30am, ML was loading my baggage into the booth of her car and we were off to the airport—a mere 20 minute drive away. She dropped me off at the Delta Terminal and was off after our long, affectionate and grateful goodbyes.

With enough time to spare to check in (myself and my baggage), I made my way to the gate for the end of Phase Two of my travels (after London and Chicago) and the start of Phase Three (Connecticut-New York). As it was a very short flight, nothing was served on board except for cheeselings and a non-alcoholic beverage—I chose sparkling water. The flight left on time, was a short 90 minute duration and dropped me off at Terminal 4 on schedule. My trepidation concerned getting to Terminal 8 where Llew would be arriving on his British Airways flight from Bombay, a good four hours later. I hoped the Terminal Transfers would not be too daunting or that I would not have too hard of a time with my large and heavy baggage.

I got myself a Smartcart (now costing all of $7) and made my way to the Baggage Claim where I picked up my two large pieces of baggage and, following signs, made my way to Terminal 8. It was actually much easier than I had thought although I had a hard time getting off as the car was crowded with passengers, each of whom was hauling their own baggage.

Once I got to Terminal 8, I discovered that there was absolutely no place to sit (meaning, no seats), as the idea is to keep all homeless people away—they corner the seats and either sit or lie down and sleep on them. I was in the Baggage Claim area which adjoins the International Arrivals Area. When I inquired about seating possibilities, I was told to go to Terminal 1 (the only place that has a proper Food Court with seating) or “make your own seat”. This meant that I could find a quiet corner and sit there (on the ground) until I was ready to leave. My cart came in handy for this and I found a quiet corner and sat myself on it for the duration. I managed to do a bit of blogging while awaiting Llew’s flight and actually the time passed by pretty quickly.

At 7.30 pm, Llew’s flight landed (a bit ahead of schedule), and we had our Reunion at the Arrivals spot, as intended. We boarded the Air Train, once again, and took it to Federal Circle from where we were able to get our rented Toyota Corolla from Budget (actually a quick and painless process). We informed Swapna that we had landed and with Llew behind the wheel, at 9.00 pm, we began our drive to Connecticut. We arrived at her place at about 11.00 pm and after our greeting of her, she showed us to our room upstairs. We kept all our baggage downstairs (it was much too cumbersome and heavy to climb up a flight of stairs) and took only those items we would need for the night.

We actually sat down with Swapna and Parth (who had not eaten dinner) and partook of her delicious special Navratri Meal—sadly, we had missed the lunch party she’d had that afternoon. But it was a lovely first meal and we enjoyed the camaraderie and the catch-up very much.

with dinner done, we made our way to bed. Our reunion had been much less stressful than I had imagined it and I was glad that we were in Connecticut, our former stomping ground, ready to begin a busy week of doctors’ appointments and meeting family members and friends.

Until tomorrow, see ya’…

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