First Days Away

So things started a little rocky leaving from Chicago. Nobody informed us that the public transit ran on the Sunday schedule for Labor Day. So we headed to our 6:30am flight about 4. It was supposed to be a 45 minute L-ride. Thing is the orange line wasn’t running. Ok, no problem we will take the bus as informed by a friendly guy who had just gotten off work at a downtown club. Well, turns out the bus doesn’t go to the airport on Labor Day early but we ended up taking it anyway. We got close to the airport and by this time it was 5:30 with-in an hour of our plane leaving. I flagged a cab and got dropped off at the Southwest terminal and went to check in. Time was now getting tight as to whether we were going to make the flight or not. Luckily southwest had a short line and I was quickly to the front of the line only to find out that our flight was now being operated by ATA and that we needed to check in there. ATA had a long line and we then found out that we use a kiosk and still check our baggage. Matt and I did this and dashed for the plane. We made it time for the final boarding call. I caught a little sleep on the plane and was refreshed and ready to go when we got to DC. We headed out to Bethesda for a drink at the Rock Bottom. This turned out to be quit a stop. What was supposed to be a quick stop quickly changed? I ended up meeting a guy named Gerry Lee from Galway, Ireland. He was full of knowledge and stories. He bought us our drinks and even called a friend who might have work for us helping at banquets and events around Ireland. We are supposed to check in once we get to Dublin. After this we stopped by the coffee shop to check in with our families and grab a cup of coffee. Of course my PC wouldn’t pick up the signal so I ended up taking a nap while Matt spent an hour or so emailing, blogging etc. He had to point out several times that had I simply bought a Mac I wouldn’t be having these problems. From here we headed to Chinatown to meet our couch surfing host. For those of you not familiar with the site, you basically stay at people’s houses, apts, etc. on their couches for free in hopes that someday people can do the same on your couch. This was my first experience with anything like this and I was a little weary. We met Lori at a Thai restaurant were we talked and got to know about each other. Matt and I picked up the tab and then headed back to her place. She lived only several blocks from Capitol Hill. We continued our discussions and called it a night. The next day I woke up, enjoyed a cup of coffee and headed out. After a quick tour of our nation’s capitol it was time to head to the airport. We went back to Lori’s, got our backs and jumped on the metro. This time we got there checked right in and were ready to be on planes and in airports for the next 12 hours. It should be quit a trip, and the anticipation is now building.