Travel Adventures By Amanda

Remember how I said I love West Coast travel?  I do, except when it comes time to wake up on Day 2.  On the second day, I'm always up before dawn.  Chris and I are typically early birds, so back the clock up two hours and we could easily be up at 3 a.m.  We managed to sleep in until 4 a.m.  I like to enjoy a cup of coffee within minutes of rising.  I looked around and didn't see a coffee maker.  I've been down this road before: no in-room coffee maker, lobby coffee isn't set out yet, room service takes forever to bring coffee.  Dang fancy hotels.  Sometimes I just want a Courtyard Marriott with a mini-Keurig.  Was my thus-far perfect stay at the St. Regis about to be ruined over my inability to get coffee?  No, it was not.  We called for room service.  It arrived within minutes.  A large pot, two cups, and biscotti laid out beautifully on a tray.  Now we could relax and sip coffee until breakfast....

Our day began at 3:40 a.m.  Alarms are not my thing.  I often don't use one and when I do, I'm usually awake before it goes off.  Not on this day.  We were boarding at 5:15 a.m and needed enough time to stand in the bag check line.  Checking bags is also not my thing, but because we had our backpacking and hiking gear, we each checked two bags.  Thank you Southwest Airlines for allowing us to do that without charging us $100.  Our flight was MEM to OAK with a layover in MDW.  We were in MDW long enough to enjoy a leisurely Irish breakfast, which was surprisingly good.  I don't have high expectations for airport food or service, but I was pleased with my meal and we had excellent service.  I've never flown through MDW.  I liked it.  Small airport, very clean.  We stopped to enjoy the memorial to the Battle of Midway.  I love that airports now have art and history displays.  This was one of the better ones I've s...