Plane, Trains, Buses and Fireworks II

Part 2

On my way out of Wisconsin, I joked with my colleague that I hated going through Chicago because something terrible always happens. I’ve never had an on time trip coming in or leaving Chicago. Like Ever. Pretty impressive record considering how many times I’ve flown in and out of Chicago. I’ve experienced everything from snow, broken plane toilets, broken plane, plane running into a cart, plane running out of fuel while sitting on tarmac and many other nearly impossible things that’s cause delays in my Chicago flight experience.

When I got to Chicago, I saw that there were some weather issues coming so I thought I’d be smart and change to an earlier flight to stay ahead of it. I thought I was so smart. I got the flight changed and ran to the gate just in time for them to close the door. BTW, don’t laugh at the people hauling ass through the airport. Every second counts so don’t be a dick and clear a path.

I got on the plane and the door was closed and I thought I was all good. What happened next was a fun 2 hour stay on the tarmac. I had actually fallen asleep during part of it and waking up thinking we’ve landed only to find that we haven’t moved. They had held all flights going into LaGuardia due to an impending storm. What’s funny is that the storm is in the path to NY, but both Chicago and NY were sunny and clear.

After 2 hours had passed, the pilots came over the speaker and said that they had been up since 5:30am and by law they’re not allowed to stay on the plane anymore. This was both scary (that our pilots have been up for almost 12 hours) and good because we’d get to go back to the terminal. Just to add a little bit of excitement, the pilot said that they have to leave, but we may not get to due to regulations. Luckily, this wasn’t true as I’m sure there would’ve been a riot. We were able to leave because they had cancelled our flight. The fun never seems to end.

In the announcement that the flight had been cancelled, they also gave out the number to rebook our flights. It was a mad dash for the phones as everyone was trying to get in front of the queue. My phone had died during the 2 hour wait so that was awesome. However, there was one bright spot for me. Tess and I had planned to spend the weekend in Chicago anyway and I would’ve had to fly back the next day. This would actually save me 2 flights. Score.

As I watch the passengers madly dial and put on hold, I was thinking about what some of these passengers’ stories were. Were they going to New York for work, vacation, meeting up with their long lost love or a dirty weekend with someone they’re not supposed to be with? This has always been a good way for me to past time. It’s really fascinating how many different stories there are.

I spoke with the lady sitting next to me during our wait. She was a very nice and friendly older lady from Minnesota. She was on her way to New York where her son lives. Her son was apparently very successful and has lived in several countries, most recently settling down in New York after meeting his girlfriend. The two of them were going to take a flight to London later that night for a vacation together. I was really hoping that she’d be able to make it, but after seeing how all flights were cancelled, I knew there was no way she was going to make it. Hope she was still able to have a good vacation after a delay.

I was lucky that I was on a work trip so I ended up just staying in a hotel in Chicago and it was all paid for. There are so many others not so lucky who either had to stay in crappy airport hotels or just found a corner in the airport. I went and checked with the agent that if I go ahead and cancel, I should be able to get a refund and she said yes because the flight was cancelled and they would not be able to get us out that day. After i got back and called about the refund, they said no, that's not going to happen. I was not able to get a refund because the airline said that the flight wasn’t actually cancelled cancelled. It was just delayed until the same time later so it still went (albeit 48 hours later), so no refund for me. WTF. That’s not a damn delay, that’s just the next scheduled flight, the original one did go away. I’m glad I learned this lesson on the company dollar.

As there were no flights from Chicago to New York, the same was true of flights from New York to Chicago. Tess was supposed to get on a flight the next day to come for our weekend in Chicago. As the storm didn’t move from the day before, the same situation happened with all flights being cancelled between New York and Chicago.

After finding out that she wasn’t going to be able to fly out to Chicago, she was amazingly resourceful in finding ways to get there. After exhausting several options, one finally came up. As is the case for almost anyone using this form of transportation, Greyhound buses was the last resort to get to Chicago now. A red eye bus ride that took 18 hours in cramp uncomfortable seats is more than anyone can ask. Her determination to get to Chicago to spend a weekend with me was simply an amazing feat. On the bright side, she was able to stop in cities that she would have never seen like Cleveland and Toledo. Yes, some bright side that is.

The journey seemed endless, but she finally made it to Chicago and to the hotel where we were staying. While the journey getting there was a massive struggle, we had a great time in Chicago. The weather was wonderful and we had an opportunity to do great Chicago things.

Then there’s the flight back! Just joking. The flight back was fine, just a slight delay. Way to be consistent Chicago.

South Australia - Clara Valley

This weekend, Tess and I went on a weekend trip down to South Australia to tour the wine valley in Clara. There are several wine valleys in South Australia near Adelaide. Clara was about 1.5 hr drive north and a good distance away from the city.

Before leaving for the wine valley, we stopped off at a food market in the middle of the city. This was a must do in Adelaide. The market was wonderfully full of fresh food and meats. There were freshly baked pastries and every type of cheese imaginable. There were sausages as different as the number of stalls there. Sadly, we couldn't take too much, but we did manage to grab some great olives, a few slices of very delicious Italian cured meats, a few pastries, and some hot roasted peanuts (beer nuts) that was incredibly delicious. Never had fresh hot roasted peanuts like this before and y'all know I like the peanut.

It was a gorgeous drive once we left the city. It's amazing how quickly things change from city to rural in Australia, and it's especially evident here.

We had a booking for lunch at a winery, but we were in the area early so we decided to stop by a winery first. We first went to Taylor Wines. Taylor is a large producer of wine here in Southern Australia. We got to try a few different types of wines that we didn't typically see in the bottle shops, but for the most part, not that exciting as it's a lot of wines we typically drink anyway.

It was time for lunch and we went to Skillogalee Wines and Restaurant. We decided to do a little bit of wine tasting before lunch. The wines here were not too bad. A Riesling that was great. After tasting all they had to offer, it was time for lunch. We had a wonderful table outside looking at the vineyards. It was a perfect afternoon with the sun and plenty of cloud cover. We shared a bottle of the Riesling and had a great lunch. The service was pretty inattentive though. After lunch, we took a short stroll around the vineyards.

Now it was time to get serious on the wineries. I'll just list them.

Kilikanoon Wines - Wonderful wines here. Bought quite a few bottles. They had vines all over the valleys as well as getting some from France.

Sevenhill Cellars - This was a pretty interesting place. It was traditionally run by Jesuits. They started by producing the wines for the churches around the area. Now they have a cellar door for people to come in and taste. The wines were not too bad and very reasonably priced. Nice underground cellar that you can walk around.

During our visit, there was a senior/year 12 formal taking pictures there. Nothing of interest here really, just that they look so incredibly young and I was that creepy old dude watching them holding a box of wine.

It was getting late and the other wineries have all closed by now. We decided to go to the hotel and prepare for tomorrow.

The next day, we got up relatively early and was on our way. There are the other wineries we went to.

Annie's Lane - Like Taylor's this was also another massive winery. One thing about these massive wineries is that there are so many wines to try. This was all good as we were the only people there so it they were very attentive and we had great pours (I know you're suppose to spit it out, but I think that's wasteful so I was good and tipsy after just one winery). Got a couple bottles of Mascote. Great for a warm summer day/night. Very refreshing and a little bit sweet. Can't wait for this summer to drink this one.

Tim Gramp Wines - This was a small boutique winery unlike Annie Lane and Taylors. The wines were pretty good in my option, but they had the worst person selling the wines. Generally, they're nice and knowledgeable. They typically talk a lot to get you interested. Not this one though. It's a one answer per question limit for her. We got a couple bottles here because it was good, but I'm sure I would've picked up more if she was more friendly.

Clos Clare - This was another small boutique winery. This was a bit opposite of the Tim Gramp experience. I thought the wine was ok at best, but the person working there was great. Very friendly, approachable, and knows his stuff. We got a bottle just for that. I think after sitting this one for a while it'll probably be great.

After this we had time for lunch before heading to our last winery. Lunch was quite good at Cygnets at Auburn (name of town). Tess got a chicken pot pie which was especially good.

Eyre Creek wines - This was another small boutique winery. A very nice couple owned the place. They were not winemakers, but they did grow the grapes. I thought that whole dynamic was interesting. There were those that just made the wine, some that only grew the grapes, and some that did the whole operation. Never thought about all that when I'm drinking the wine.

The wine here was a hit a miss. There were some very delicious ones and some that were not really ready. We got 2 bottles at the end.

One great service that all the small boutique wineries did was ship your wines for you. No matter who you bought them from. They all said that the last place you visit would do this for you. This was such a great idea as there wouldn't be any way I would carry so many wines on a plane. Hence the wine shopping spree. The shipping was only about $11 per case which was awesome as well.

This will be a great winter with dinner parties and great wines!