What a day from hell Jeanne and I had today. Our day started at 7:15 am., when my aunt came to take us to the airport. Our flight left at 9:00 am., and we landed in Chicago at 9:00 a.m. How cool is that! Anyhoo, we tried to find a shuttle to the Convention Center, and finally settled on a taxi. Boy were we silly! Once the cabbie took off and got a few miles down the road, he told us he had only been driving a taxi for three days. Not only that, but he was calling his buddy to find out how to get to the convention center. At one point he messed up the fare box and reset it to zero. Okay, I had been watching and we were at $27 before it turned to $0. He reset it, starting all over at the necessary $2.50 and the additional $2.00. I was counting now in my head and deducting to what the actual fare should be. Jeanne and I did notice a sign in the back seat that there was a flat rate from Midway to O’Hare. To make a long story short, when we finally arrived at the convention center, we both handed over $40 per person and said we hope it covered him.
When we arrived at the Convention Center, Jeanne called our hotel about checking in and a possible shuttle. Since on their website they advertised a shuttle from the hotel to the Convention Center. We were informed that our room was not ready and would not be for some time and NO, they did not have a shuttle. I phoned them back pointing out that their website stated they had a shuttle service and that was one of the reasons we decided to fly and not drive. Tough – I was told that we must work our way back to O’Hare and call them and they would send someone to get us. More shuttles, more walking and more frustrations.
By this time, I was fuming and was seriously checking to see if the Hyatt or any other hotel across the street had rooms and could we cancel the rooms at our hotel. Joe, Jeanne’s husband, helped us get our room, and I didn’t want him to lose anything in the transaction. We finally decided to stay at our hotel, and with the help of Kristi and Vicki from Hanna, they were going to get us to our room. GREAT, problem solved.
It was still early, and our class did not start until 3:00 pm., so we decided to go up a crash the Copic class and visit with all our friends there. Of course, they were on lunch so we really didn’t interrupt the class. There we found the girls from Hanna, Bev Gerard, Leigh O’Brien, Sharon Johnson, Debbie Olsen, Joy Kennedy, Lori Craig . . . Well the list just keeps going and going! It was so much fun to see these girls, give them great big hugs and laugh for a few minutes.
We decided to give our legs a rest and crashed in the hallway outside of our classroom, and waited for our Ranger class to begin. Now lets talk about this Ranger class – All Things Adirondack. WOW what a class! Led by Tim Holtz,
we made 8 tags in 2 hours with all the different Ranger products.
We learned some fascinating new techniques and received tons of Ranger product. We were also given one of the new Tim Holtz stamp sets being released by Stampers Anonymous. Did you hear us scream with delight? Needless to say, it was a very exciting class and one that will long be remembered.
After our class, we met up with Kristi, Vicki, Bev and Candice, all from the Hanna Team, and we went to the Taste of Chicago offered by CHA, lots of great food from different Chicago restaurants. After we ate and socialized, we went with Kristi and Vicki to her van so that she could take us to our hotel. You now how I said earlier, GREAT our problems were solved. Well get this. Kristi had left the cooler plugged into the van. Oh yeah . . . Dead battery, deader than a doornail. Jeanne and I finally decided on getting a taxi and getting checked into our hotel. Once here, we brought up the issue about the advertising of the shuttle on the website. Since we are not the only CHA attendees here at this hotel, and not the only ones to complain, the hotel will be honoring the shuttle service. However, they will only get us to the Convention Center in the mornings. We still have to make our way back to the airport in the evenings and call them to come get us. We will be clarifying that one in the morning!
Now that I’ve babbled on and on, and honestly don’t even remember what I have typed, I think I need to call it a day. We are going to hit the convention floor early in the morning and I understand there are some new Ranger products that are a must see, including Distressed Stickles. I will be reporting back on these tomorrow!
