Planes, trains and automobiles

As this post suggests, I have made a safe return from my recent trip to the Windy City. My luggage, apparently, enjoyed itself so much that it hung around Chicago a little longer and took a later flight. I am anxiously awaiting our reunion. To pass the time, I am offering some observations from my travels.

• I don't know why I continually request a window seat when flying as sitting by the window stresses me out. I'm not really afraid of flying -- I'm fine once I get in the air -- but I am afraid of takeoffs. This fear is intensified when I am staring out the window watching the ground beneath me disappear. I finally had to turn away and focus on my magazine. For some reason, reading about Tori Spelling's much publicized rift with her mother was strangely soothing.
• When I was a kid, it was well known that airlines placed strict weight requirements on stewardesses. It appears those rules have been thrown out the window. The flight attendants on both my flight to and from Chicago were full-figured. Way to go airline industry! Now could you please give me my free honey roasted peanuts back?
• The one thing that I wanted to do while in Chicago was go to the top of the Sears Tower. The original plan was to go on Tuesday but it was pouring down rain so my friend and I decided against it. Boy am I glad! As it turned out, a train on the line we would have taken to downtown Chicago ended up derailing. As much as I like adventure, crawling out of a pitch black, smoke-filled, rat-infested tunnel would not have been my idea of fun.
• My friend, a Chicago native, graciously accompanied me on the cab ride to O'Hare this morning. As he talked, it struck me that cab drivers must be privy to a lot of interesting conversations as people have the tendency to talk as if no one else is in the car. I imagine they have more than a few stories to tell.

As I was typing this, I received a phone call that my luggage is taking a cab ride of its own back to my home. As displeased as I am that it went on such an unsupervised excursion, I am just thankful that my luggage will be back home where it belongs.