It doesn't pay to be honest

--> So it's our last morning and the car is coming for us at 8:30am for an 11:15am flight.  Should be plenty of time...or so we think!  We are all packed, and as before the trip, Donna has packed all my breakables so they are very secured.  My number of bags has grown from 2 to 3 and they are all pretty heavy.  My big bag has my vacuum-packed sausage and Prosciutto that I have been told I can now take home as long as it is vacuum packed.   Donna's 3 have grown to 4.  It's a little over a 30 minute trip to the airport, so we still have over 2 hours to get through security.  No problem.  HA!  The first thing we discover is that the driver (it turns out all the drivers) drop you off at terminal 3 and after 10 minutes wondering around trying to find AA we ask someone and they tell us we have to go to terminal 5 and the only way to get there is by shuttle.  We drag our luggage to the shuttle stop and ride over to terminal 5.  We get in the very long security line only to learn that this is only the first of 4 lines we have to go through and they all move at a snails pace.  

We are informed that you can only have one carry on so we have to repack Donna's fourth bag, a backpack, into her and my carry-on and now they barely close.  Next stop ticket agent.  Another long line, but because of my Platinum status we get to go to the shorter line.  Yea for status!  Next is main security and this line is moving slower than molasses in mid winter.  We make friends with all the people around us because we are in this line for almost an hour.  Someone tells us that the last time they went through they got stopped because they had little scissors and I saw a sign that said no nail clippers either.  Love to know how I could use those as a weapon.  I decide not to take any chances of then needing to go through my luggage and decide to throw them out.  Finally we make it through that line and then have to get in another line to wait for another shuttle to take us to the gate.  
It is now 10:40.  We get to our gate and there is no plane. The 9:50 flight to New York hasn't even boarded yet.  At 11:15 a BA flight arrives at our gate and our flight information disappears.  About 10 minutes later we are told that when the New York flight leaves we will board from that gate. At 11:00 still no plane.  At 11:30, still no plane.  At noon they start queuing us up, but still don't see our plane. 

At 12:15 or so we start the boarding process, but instead of boarding a plane we go down the jet bridge to another shuttle.  They pack us in this shuttle like sardines and there is no air in the shuttle.  It felt like a train car taking us to a concentration camp.  A good name for it would be the holocaust shuttle.  It starts driving us down the Tarmac and we notice a piece of luggage lying in the road.  Everyone starts wondering, could it be mine.... We drive right by.  We all watch that lone piece of lost luggage and the a little vehicle drives up to it.  The driver looks at it and then drives off.  Two more vehicles do the same thing.  Next there are three vehicles that all stop by it, look at it and drive off.  We are all fascinated by this and keep watching to see what will happen to this poor bag.  A couple more vehicles come by and don't even stop.  Our fascination is halted only by the fact that they finally let us out of the holocaust shuttle to board our plane.  We never saw the luggage moved and it could still be there today for all I know.  Once we are on the plane things get more normal, but we are still not going anywhere and my comfortable layover in Chicago has evaporated.   We finally take off about 2 hours late and the rest of the flight is uneventful. 

Ten hours later we land in Chicago and every one is scrambling to get off the plane in hopes of making their connections.  They have a system in place to fast track those US citizens with tight connections and it move fairly well.  Remember my sausage.  Well we decided it was safer to declare that we had it instead of them thinking we were trying to smuggle it in.  The first customs guy I come to asks what I have and I tell him.  I also say that it is vacuum packed and we were told it was okay to bring in that way.  He nods at me marks on the form its vacuum packed and away I go.  The next stop the guy again asks me about the sausage and I again tell him it is vacuum packed.  He takes my luggage opens it up and says you can't bring this in.  I said yes I could, they told me the law had changed.  Even the first guy I stopped at here in the States agreed.  This guy says,” well you can't" and he takes it all out and throws it in the trash.  I start arguing with him and he could care less.  Minutes are ticking by and I am getting nowhere so I just say FINE!  Grab my luggage and head out of the customs area.  I'm seriously pissed, but know there is nothing I can do about it without missing my flight.

I made it back to terminal 3 headed to my gate and headed home.  If I had bought less and buried in my luggage, I would have probably had some really good stuff to share with my husband when I got home.... Lesson learned. 

Even with all our little (and big) problems it was a trip I will always remember as being one of the best trips ever!!!