April 1, Thursday:
Got up early to go to the medical center for my last Hepatitis shot before the trip. From there I headed off to work for a full 8 hour shift. It was a crappy day at work for many, many reasons, which did not make the time move any faster. A couple people told me to "put things in perspective". I found this highly unhelpful as true perspective said that I could be elsewhere doing more significant things... Finally got home and pulled an all-nighter finishing up the packing and cleaning my house.
April 2, Friday:
Headed to the airport just before 4am having already been awake for over 20 hours. Had to wait through a massive line for full service help at the check in, all the while not even knowing if it would help. Finally got to the front of the line and they did indeed connect the two legs of my journey, but the lady still tried to charge me a baggage fee until I pointed out that the flight was international. She wasn't overly helpful. Security was frustrating. They took away the "expert traveler" line in favor of one long queue. I had to wait forever behind a huge group of people who couldn't find their butt with both hands until I finally made it up to the front and passed through in 30 seconds. I had significantly less carry-on than usual which certainly expedited things. Got to the gate with only a little time before boarding so didn't get breakfast as I'd planned. Tried to sleep on the plane, but only dozed slightly as the guy next to me insisted on holding his newspaper all the way open the whole flight and repeatedly knocked into me as a result. Was very, very glad to arrive at O'Hare.
Hopped the El to downtown Chicago. The line had some delays which made it take longer than I'd hoped. Should have done some planning for lunch. Ended up just wandering around a while until found a place I could tolerate. Stopped in at a nearby Walgreens for some last minute stuff. Headed back to the airport and waited there for Britney to arrive. Boarded the flight to Ft. Lauderdale. Much better seatmates this time and an aisle seat. Didn't even try to sleep, but read instead. Had a conversation with my neighbor that wasn't tedious, which was a surprise.
Arrived around 11pm. Had to pick up my suitcase, but Britney didn't, which was weird. The airport had a bunch of "old time" faux store fronts so we picked a likely one that was a little sheltered and set up camp. It was a little like being a homeless person stuck in a Victorian theme park. The situation was not conducive to sleep and, on top of that, throughout the "night" there was a succession of noisy cleaning machines, a screaming child, and a lady screaming at her boyfriend over her cell phone.
April 3, Saturday
Set the alarm for 5am, but gave up on sleep around 4:40am. Tried to freshen up in the nearby (thankfully, spacious) bathroom and made myself as presentable as possible. Rechecked my suitcase and passed pretty quickly through security. Flight was less crowded than the others and went smoothly. Arrived in Haiti and passed through immigration. The baggage clam was pretty chaotic. My bag was one of the last to arrive which was a little worrying. Was met by our hostess, Beth, and then headed off to the guest house. By this point I had been traveling over 24 hours and awake about 48 except for some light dozing.
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