Sleeping at O'Hare

Friday night was fun with a side of bizarre.  I met my sister Linda in Chicago.  She was there to attend a workshop Saturday at the O’Hare Hilton.  So my daughter, grandson, and I went in to spend Friday

afternoon and night with her.  There is a spot where the end of the CTA’s blue line, the airport, and the Hilton merge. So for about 14 hours, I was staying there at this unusual intersection of Chicago Transit, international airport, and upscale hotel.  I can see, under certain circumstances, this could be very convenient, but I’m enough of a small town person to find it strange, maybe even disorienting.

However, this is not the first time I’ve spent the night at O’Hare.  A few years ago I was flying back from Tucson.  The plan was to fly into O’Hare, and then I would catch ground transportation back to South Bend.  However, the plane was delayed and I ended up missing the day’s last bus to SB by about five minutes.  It seemed silly to go to a hotel at midnight and then try to get back to the airport by 6:00 AM, so I just decided to try and doze in the waiting room for ground transportation.  It turns out I spent the night with a few other travelers and a number of homeless people.  I spend an hour in conversation with a homeless woman who smelled from a lack of consistent bathroom availability.  She implied to me she could find shelters, but she wouldn't be able to drink her wine if she stayed in them.  There was something charming and dangerous about the live she described to me.

I’ve written before that one of the benefits of travel is the way it reminds us that there is so much in the world we don’t know or understand.  And yet I’m part of that world as are the people sleeping in the O’Hare Hilton and the waiting room at ground transportation.  Sometimes, I just don’t know what to make of these deep and strange connections.

(The picture above is a generic shot of walking from the CTA train into the airport.)