Currently: O'Hare Airport

I've flown dozens upon dozens of times, mostly through O'Hare or LAX. I'd been warned about TSA lines, so I downloaded the MyTSA app, figured with a 10-20 security line wait I was good, and Nick dropped me off at O'Hare at 7 am for a 9:15 flight.

Oh dear god. This airport was not this bad before, I swear. I got there and walked into a wall of people. I had to ask "What airline is this for?" to the longest line, only to be told, "All of them. It's for dropping off luggage."

I checked in, got in line, then was told it should have printed out the luggage tag, then had to go back to the counter.

"Is it always this bad?" I asked.

"Well, it's the weekend," said the woman at the counter. "All these flights are taking off at once, and it gets... busy."

"That was super diplomatic," I said.

She smiled and said thank you, and directed me to the end of the luggage line, which had gotten longer.

I made friends in line. There was a woman from LA who was worried about making her 8:00 flight, and a student from St. Maarten who was willing to tell me all about how much he does not like it there. "At least your violence is interesting, and causes discussion," he said. "Nothing to discuss there." Mostly we complained about how much the line to just leave out luggage was not moving, but I weirdly got a chance to show off my airport skills by giving advice on what to do if you miss your flight, or how to skip ahead in the security line when you need to book it.

The security line was no problem. I had to walk further but I got to go right through, and they threw me in an expedited security line because it was open.

Currently I'm at the gate, hoping the LA lady made her flight since I don't see her here, and I'm Watching two women try to catch a sparrow who's decided to hang out in the seat next to me. I swear my airport experiences at more interesting than most people's.

If you want to see more of my California adventures, I'm on Instagram at @thereandbackblog and I'm tweeting at @gothereandback. The sparrow next to me is also tweeting.