How Would *You* Spend 10.5 Hours in O'Hare Airport?

Anyone who knows us, knows that we are obsessed with getting bumped when we travel. While most people strive to get to their final destination as quickly and painlessly as possible, we rush to volunteer to give up our seats in exchange for some free tickets. And we've been having some great success at it. This vacation was no exception, but we really learned that it is totally unpredictable. Based on how full the flights were, I would have put money on getting bumped on one of our outbound flights, but no luck. And on the return, I would have bet that there wasn't a chance. When I checked the morning of the flights there still appeared to be lots of seats left.

But luck was on our side. Not only did we get bumped...but we got bumped TWICE. Yep, that means 6 free tickets. *****Happy Dance******

It also meant that we had a lot of time to kill in O'Hare Airport. But we found plenty of things to do...

Did you know that they even have a "Children's Museum" there?
Take a look behind Soren and you'll see that we weren't the only people needing to kill some time!

We managed to find an uncrowded corner for a little nap...

And the snooze time wasn't just for Soren!

Funny how a spare 10 1/2 hours gives you the time to read all the random placards around the airport...

And closely examine the enormous Brachiosaurus skeleton at the end of the concourse.

Since we had such a long delay (and also, because we asked!) United was kind enough to give us $42 in meal vouchers!

And it seems that the restaurants are prepared for restless kids since they kept a supply of Crayons on hand. Did you know that you can do more than just color with Crayons? They are great for balancing tricks. (Check out Soren's tongue...such great concentration!)

There are lots of pretend phone calls to be made.

And endless variations of luggage cart races...

Did you know that if we folded Soren up he would be an acceptable size for a carry-on? You may read that as a cost-cutting tip in a future blog post here.

And of course, you can always slowly inch up to other interesting looking passengers...

... and see if they have any fun things to share.

Also, United in their infinite kindness, upgraded us to FIRST CLASS for our 4-hour flight home. Awesome.

Doesn't Soren look like he's settled into the luxe kind of travelling quite naturally?

The delays meant that our journey home was almost 20 hours long door-to-door. A long day for sure. But actually kind of fun. And certainly well worth it.