If this day was an animal, which animal would it be?...

...It would be Hammy the squirrel from Over the Hedge because of all the schedule changes with the flights to Tulsa and then the tram being stuck at the parking lot.

Back story: Another snowy Friday afternoon commute in Chicago where I have a flight planned! My flight to Tulsa was supposed to leave at 8:30pm. All day at work, I was checking the status of the other flights going back and forth to Tulsa. The flights earlier in the day were delayed for an hour, then two hours and then they were cancelled. Then, my flight showed as being delayed one hour. I thought about just changing my flight to Saturday, but never pulled the trigger. So, since my flight was delayed an hour, after I left work, I decided to go out of my way to Old Orchard to pick up a pair of jeans I was having hemmed when, on my way - what do you know - my flight status changed to being on time!

At that time, it was 7pm and I was further away from the airport than I was when I was at work...and did I mention it was snowing?! I made it to the remote parking lot at the airport around 7:45, but the tram was stuck! During a heated exchange with the parking lot attendant where I was demanding that I would not pay the $2 "under 1 hour" fee for the privilege of coming into the parking lot just to realize the tram wasn't working and that instead, I was going to have to go to the terminal parking lot (and pay double, by the way) in order to make my flight, the tram started working again. So, I put the car in reverse, found a parking spot, got stuck behind a dad and his kid on the escalator and thought I was going to miss the tram, but finally got into the terminal at 7:55 and was at the gate at 8:10. Phew - made the flight!

Yes, I've had some close calls at airports in the way past and even missed flights, but for the last several flights, I'm proud to say I've been there before they even start boarding! This was stressful and I'll stick to my new habit of getting to the airport a little earlier...starting today!

PS: Benefit of taking Friday night flight = seeing Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, looking like totally normal people, picking up their buddy at their airport!