Let the adventure begin, maybe.

Well, the start of our latest adventure went off without a hitch. Our flight from Denver to Chicago was on time and a fairly full plane. Once arriving in Chi-Town, the airport was somewhat empty, seemed a little less crowded than the other times we’ve been here. We had two hours between our flights so plenty of time to find our gate and relax. Or so it seemed.

Right away there was an issue. Looking at our tickets, we were to catch our Aer Lingus flight to Dublin at gate M7. Easy enough, just look for a departures board and go to gate M7. After a short 10 minute walk, we found there was no departure board, a least not down the main aisle in Concourse C.

Continuing on, we found a side aisle that had departures listed. This board said our departure gate was T5, not M7. OK, where the hell is T5? We now had to find an airport diagram showing all the gates. Back towards the concourse center.

Another 10 minutes pass and we find a diagram of the airport. T5 is not a gate but actually a terminal, Terminal 5, we’re in Concourse C of some unknown terminal. A friendly pilot, yes, a United pilot, sensed our frustration and told us to get to Terminal 5 we needed to either take a train or bus or something like that by going down this corridor. Since there was no sign stating this I wondered if he really was a pilot or if his job was to direct people down a narrow corridor where his strong-armed friends were waiting. If I was by myself, I might have been worried but I had Collette with me and knew her Navy Seal training would come in handy if anyone tried anything.

Down the corridor we saw a sign that indicated that you can take the shuttle bus to Terminal 5 by going straight down the corridor; or you could turn right; or you could go up. We turned left and saw another sign that said to catch the bus to Terminal 5 enter here at Gate 1. Found it! Easy!

Once at the terminal it was an easy walk to find our gate, M7, oops, now it was M9. About 200 people were crammed into this small boarding area so we went to Gate 11 to have a seat, still had 20 minutes before our flight.

Meanwhile, back at Gate 9 where they had the TV on, our beloved president, Don Don, was making history, again. Seems his initial comments on the Coronavirus, it will just go away, was incorrect. Now, because it has spread throughout the US, he was banning all flights from Europe (except the UK) from entering the US. People went ape-shit! Of the 200+ people standing in the room, about 130 of them descended in mass on the desk to cancel their flight. Apparently, the prospect of spending a month or more in Europe didn’t appeal to them. Good for us, lots of seats available to stretch out. Bad for them, now their vacations were shot and they had to find a way home.

Well, we made it to Dublin and only 2 hours late. Before we could leave Chicago, they had to unload all the luggage and take off the ones for those people who were not flying. Easy process, just takes about 2 hours. Fortunately for us our next flight, the one to Morocco, doesn’t leave until 5:00pm giving us plenty of time to clear customs, collect our bags, have lunch and check in with RyanAir.

All in a day’s travel. I wonder if history will remember our president as Don Don “The Extreme” or maybe not remember him at all? BTW- for those of you concerned about us, Morocco has 6 reported cases of the Coronavirus and 1 death, an 89 year old lady who traveled from Italy. They haven’t banned air travel, instead they will have tourists fill out a questionnaire and if suspect, have them checked for symptoms. Now, that’s a novel idea! Why didn’t we think of that about 2 months ago?

End of Day 1. Can’t wait to see what Wall Street thinks of this latest development. We may all be going back to work by the time this is over.

But for now, let the adventure begin!