Travel Day Home From Portugal
We set the alarm for 1:30, but we were both up before it went off. I think we both were afraid of oversleeping and did that thing where you wake up every couple of hours to check the clock to make sure you’re not late. We had gone to bed at 8:00 so having gotten about 5 hours of sleep we didn’t actually feel too bad. Our flight was scheduled to take of at 5:00a.m. I didn’t think we would need a full 3 hours at the airport prior to the flight, especially since we weren’t checking any luggage, but thought we should still give ourselves 2 1/2 hours from the time we left the hotel. We walked out of the hotel at 2:30 and made the 10 minute walk to the airport. The airport was dead and we probably could have left the hotel at 3:00 or 3:30 and still would have been ok. There was nobody going through security when we got there which made it a super breeze and not stressful at all to pull out our liquids and laptops. Even though it was super early, I think I would do it again to avoid the crowds. It made it super stress free.
We flew to Amsterdam and had a 4 hour layover so it was nice not to be rushed or stressed going through passport control or navigating the terminals to our gate. Passport control in Amsterdam was pretty smooth. There was a line, but it moved at a steady pace. They have machines that you scan your passport while it takes a photo before you allowed to pass through. We got to our gate with 3 hours to kill. Tom watched videos while I started a book I got from Libby, “If I Stay” by Gayle Forman. I had picked up the sequel to the book at a garage sale last summer, so I’m glad I was able to get this from Libby so I can now read the books in order. Boarding was smooth and we were both able to carry on our backpacks and didn’t have to gate check them. We were once again well fed on both flights.
In Chicago other than waiting on the plane for a bit for them to fix the jet bridge so we could deboard, it was the easiest exit from an international flight. There was nobody in the Global Entry line so we just walked right up to the kiosk, showed our face to the camera, and got the green light and went through. Since we didn’t check any luggage we were able to walk right out and make our way to the bus pick-up spot. The bus pick-up spot has moved since the last time we took the bus. It is now located in the new Multi-Modal Facility that you take the airport train too. I think this was actually way more easy and convenient then walking to the old Bus Transit Center. Good improvement O’Hare! We did have to wait about 40 minutes for the bus, but we didn’t mind sitting outside to wait.
The bus dropped us back off at Gen Mitchell International Airport at 5:05p.m. where my nephew, who is staying with us this summer, picked us up.
It was such a great trip! We really enjoyed Portugal. There’s a good possibility we’ll be back again.
Stats Of The Day
Steps: 8,154
Geocaches: 1 Virtual (at the airport)
Total Kilometers Driven For The Trip: 1,491
Tolls: 44.59 Euro
Total Hours Awake Traveling Home: 26 hours – time to go to bed
