Details, details

Alright, time for another little vacation. I thought I was done traveling for the year since I spent about 5 days in Phoenix in January and 6 days in NYC in April. But I have been wanting to get out to Chicago sometime this year to visit my brother, his wife, and their little boy Kolin. Thanks to a lovely SW airlines fare sale, it became feasible. I bought my round trip ticket for the bargain price of $120. That is seriously cheap in my opinion.

So I'll be heading to the Windy City the weekend of September 25th. Do you remember when I read Loving Frank? It was such a great book - if you haven't read it and have any interest in Frank Lloyd Wright, I highly recommend it. It's an intriguing read - very scandalous. Just be sure to read the end part in privacy. I cried in the waiting area of the airport, waiting to board the plane. Can you say embarrassing? Anyways, my friend Adrianne did a FLW tour in Chicago and said it was great; my sister-in-law said she would come along with me, so that is definitely on the itinerary for this trip. Can't wait to figure out which one of these tours we will do. I think there is also an architecture boat tour that you can do, so maybe we will check that out as well? I haven't really done any touristy stuff in Chicago for a couple of years, so hopefully I can squeeze a few things in on this trip.

So here's a little random fact about me (as if you didn't get enough info yesterday). I suck at buying plane tickets. Theoretically, I should be the most detail-oriented person ever. And I am in some ways, but not with plane tickets.

One of my best stories was when I went to visit my study abroad girlfriends in NYC. I swear to God I bought a plane ticket that would arrive at JFK. I knew I had to find my own way out to the Long Island Rail Station that is close to where my girlfriend lives, so I had done all this research on how to get from JFK to Penn Station to Smithtown, Long Island. This was back in the day when my itineraries included connections (these days I buy direct flights most of the time). I got on the first leg of the flight to Columbus, OH, glanced down at my boarding passes and said - 'Oh my God, my next flight is flying into LaGaurdia!!!! I thought I was flying into JFK!' You should have seen the looks on the faces of the people sitting around me. They were probably thinking - who is this idiot and how does she not know where her final destination is. That's what I would think if I overheard a fellow passenger say something like this.

Luckily I had some helpful seatmates on my flight from Columbus to LaGuardia who were willing to point out LaGuardia on my pop-out map of NYC and said the help desk should be able to help me get to a Long Island Railway Station. The help desk people at the airport were very helpful and I managed to end up in Smithtown with no trouble at all.

I wish I could say this is the only time something like this has happened. But it's not. I can think of at least 3 times when I've bought tickets on the wrong date or flying into the wrong airport or something like that.

This time, though - I double and triple checked before pushing purchase. I think I got it right this time.

Oh, and I won't be checking luggage. After the last debacle, I don't think I will ever check a bag again.