JetBlue All You Can Jet -- Day One

AYCJ -- Day One -- of 30.

30 days of travel? Really? What have I done? And what made me want to do this? There were a couple times today when I asked myself that question. But all in all, it was a good day.

The first time I questioned my own sanity was when the first of 4 alarms went off between 6:15-6:30 this morning. (I am not, by nature, a morning person). I even told my mom the night before, if you're up at 6:30, call me... just in case I'm not up. And she did. Thanks mom! I woke up and in my groggy first moments, had thoughts of... wait, what am I doing today? 30 days traveling? Really? OMG. And WTF! Why am I doing this? But then I awoke fully and started getting ready to go. I figured missing the very first flight would not be a good start to the 30 day travel plan.

My first flight from Long Beach, CA to Chicago, IL was fine. I even got my AYCJ luggage tag! It didn't seem like there were very many people flying out of LGB using the AYCJ pass. Or if there were, they were being very quiet about it all. The flight was very full, I was in a middle seat, which is never the seat of preference. And one man next to me was... how shall I say... above average in terms of width in relation to height. But I concentrated on eating my snacks and clicking around my Direct TV screen, checking the weather, the news, and seeing what Judge Judy was up to.

A flight attendant (not from JetBlue) once told me that flight attendants really really like when the passengers have things like TV's to watch during the flight, because then passengers often stay quiet for hours! TV -- our big distraction. And I'm sure it's true. Just think, at home, you think nothing of clicking around your TV for 3 or 4 hours. And on JetBlue, you do that, and, hey look, you're in Chicago!

So, we landed 30 minutes early in Chicago, and isn't that just typical, we couldn't find a place to park. We sat on the tarmac for several minutes, then pulled in to the gate, still a bit early. All was well.

After picking up my checked bag, I headed for the "trains to the city". Chicago is one city that has a subway system (the blue line) that will get you, in one train ride, from the airport, to downtown. (It shouldn't be that rare for a city to offer this ... but it is.) I love being able to take public transportation at times like this, but, since a trip to the airport almost always includes luggage... after today I wanted to research who invented escalators... so I could thank them. I have never been so happy to see escalators in all my life. But mostly there are stairs.

I have a sore left shoulder. So I wanted to use my right hand to lug the biggest (35 lb) suitcase up and down the subway stairs. But, being weighted down with a carryon and a purse, strapped across me like a pack mule, I also wanted to hold on to a handrail. That meant I had to go up and down stairs on the left side of the stairway. The wrong side. Which frankly is one of my pet peeves when people do that, because it completely screws up pedestrian traffic. But I couldn't explain to everyone, "You don't understand, I have a sore shoulder."

So I just waited for the crowd to subside and made my way down stairs, up stairs, down stairs, up stairs. I had to transfer to second train to get closer to my ultimate destination. At 5pm. Rush hour. Everybody just wanted to go home from work and there were a few of us, trying to maneuver ourselves and our luggage, onto and off crowded trains. I was sweating, tired, and just ready to land somewhere! I'm doing 30 days of this! OMG and WTF!

This post is too long already and I'm tired! But to sum things up, my day ended well. I'm in a hotel room that's more like an apartment, in a lovely area of Chicago's near north side. I walked to a wonderful exhibit of Alexander Calder mobiles, which always make me smile, and it was even free night at the museum (which I had discovered when researching my trip). Stopped and picked up some wine and some food to eat, came back to my room, took off my shoes, put my feet up, enjoyed a lovely glass of wine and thought, okay, there it was, I made it. Day one of 30!