89 Days in India: Am I special or what?

I felt special this morning, maybe it's because everyone treated my like I was special, or maybe it's because I am special.

I slept great last night and after a shower and a cup of coffee I went to the lobby of the hotel and got on the shuttle back to O'hare airport. I was the only one on the shuttle this morning, either everyone is sleeping in today or I slept in today. No matter. The driver looked at me and told me his name was Francisco and that the drive would take 8 minutes to terminal 3. During the 8 minute drive Francisco was very talkative with topics such as sports and weather. The drive was great, Chicago looks like a beautiful city. Most of the trees were bare but the few that still had leaves showed all ranges of colors between yellow and red.

Because my layover was longer than 12 hours I had to check in again. There were about 8 agents at the first class check in but only two for International First. While it's nice to be treated 'special' I'm still not used to being called Mister.

Once through security I was absolutely amazed. I've traveled through a lot of airpots including JFK, LAX, SFO and MIA but Chicago O'hare has to be one of the biggest I've been in. At least in terms of walking everywhere. The terminals seem to stretch on forever. And the crowds of people, walking, running, standing in line, staring at information boards, looking lost. So many people, it was hard to see the numerous stores and restaurants through the dense population of the airport.

My first stop was the Admiral's Club as my parents will be going there in a couple of weeks. It's pretty nice. Large, quiet clean, lots of offerings including coffee, tea, booze and snacks. They even have very clean restrooms and showers. After a quick walk around I headed down to the end of terminal K and entered the Flagship lounge. It's nice. It actually looks like a smaller version of the Admiral's Club. The differences are subtle though. The FL has a self serve bar and breakfast buffet and has much less people than the AC. On the downside it has a very small restroom, something I wouldn't have expected for us 'special' passengers. So far I've sampled the sushi (not bad really) and the coffee which is just okay. The fresh fruit though is outstanding.

I've been sitting here for the past 30 minutes talking to another passenger headed to Delhi. He's from India and has been sharing a lot of good information about arriving, clearing in, getting money and so on, and a lot of other great tidbits of info too.

I've only been at the airport an hour and a half and feel like everyone this morning from my shuttle driver to the agents during my check in and at the clubs have all gone out of their way to make me feel 'special'.

Sorry for the blurry photos, I had the camera on the wrong setting....