Usually the journey home isn’t something to look forward to at the end of a holiday. In this case, however, we had arranged to meet the Christiansens during our 4 hours stop over in Chicago. Bethany had especially been looking forward to seeing Caroline and had made her a necklace for her birthday.
Our flight from Tampa to Chicago was at 12:40pm so we left the house just after 8:30am.
Here are a few pictures of the house – inside and out.
While looking at maps of the area and after our drive down Longboat Key, I had decided that we would drive along the bridge round Tampa Bay instead of going through town. Luckily this was also the fastest way and the route selected by sat nav.
From Venice we drove up the Tamiami Trail and onto the I-75 and followed directions to the airport along the I-275.
After paying the toll for the bridge we set out across it. It was long and very high and looked stunning in the sun.
All too soon we were driving off the bridge and towards the airport. We followed signs to car rental and dropped off the car.
Our bags were checked straight though to Zurich so we had nothing to worry about in Chicago. We all downloaded the United Airlines entertainment app meaning we could watch films and TV shows using the onboard wifi. This definitely made the time go quicker for Bethany.
It was a bit strange seeing a plane coming in the land at the same time as us on the parallel runway.
We had arranged for the Christiansens to meet us at domestic arrivals and then drop us off at international departures. As we walked out Christal and Caroline were waiting for us. Jim and Annemarie were in the car circling the airport waiting to get the ok to pick us up.
They took us to a bar / restaurant just off the airport called Harry Cary’s. The Chicago Cubs were playing baseball and they had tv screens so we could keep up with how the game was going. We had cocktails and something to eat and spent time catching up. I also managed to offload all the chocolate and sweets I had brought from Switzerland for the girls.
All too soon it was time to say goodbye and head back to the airport for our onward flight. There were lots of hugs, kisses, a few tears and promises to visit again.
We cleared security and headed to the departure gate. We had to get our boarding tickets and our hand luggage size and weight checked as we hadn’t checked in at Chicago. A number of people had to have their hand baggage checked into the hold as they were too big. Luckily all ours passed the weight and size check.
While we were waiting a plane in special livery taxied by. Pity we hadn’t seen it a day earlier – May the fourth be with you!
The flight home was uneventful and we even managed to get some sleep. It wasn’t as comfortable as our last flight back from Chicago as we didn’t get upgraded this time.
There were some lovely views across Chicago as we left.
All our luggage arrived back safely and we were met by our taxi driver who brought us home. Another exciting holiday over – time to start looking forward to our summer holiday on the Greek Islands.
Crouch Family On Tour 