Due to the fiasco with VIA Rail i.e. no wheelchair spaces being available on the intended train back to Toronto, one decided to rebook the flights to Chicago allowing us to fly from London (Ontario) instead.
After a short stay at ones cousins, an accessible taxi took us to London (Ontario) International Airport. The staff seemed really helpful for such a small airport and quickly came up with a solution as to how to get Superbunny onto the aircraft unlike the drama we had at JFK. The flight was delayed around an hour due to bad weather conditions and busy airspace in Chicago meaning one thing, Tim Hortons!
Once one had boarded the plane and started taxing, we we informed that we couldn’t take off for around another 25 minutes due to staffing issues at Toronto Air Management. After an hours flight, we landed at we landed at O’hare where the drama began!
One asked for Superbunny to be brought to the aircraft door, however, the ground crew went and found a manual wheelchair, one asked again for said wheelchair for which the manual wheelchair then showed up.
After finally being reunited with Superbunny, the thing wouldn’t turn on. This time we assumed that London had disconnected the battery after specifically told them not to as we have an inhibitor plug.
This resulted in us getting down on the apron on one of the worlds busiest airfield whilst 5 guys baggage handers standing around looking as we tried to reconnect the battery. After a short while, the ground staff saw us struggling and offered to help.
When we reconnected the battery, one realised that the joystick had lost it’s resistance rendering it undrivable! As such, one went on a mission to complain and file a damage report and attempt to receive some compensation for the inconvenience and cab fares that we had missed at both airports.
After the claim was filed and O’Hare had figured out how to use their computer system, one was escorted out to the taxi rank. An accessible taxi showed up around 9:45pm, we were on the homestretch or so we thought!
We arrived at The River Hotel, went to check in and, as we found in Ireland, they didn’t read the notes on the booking confirmation regarding an accessible room for which they had none. The only way around it was for them to transfer 2 of us to another hotel which one were reluctant to do. Out of the blue, a Canadian woman (who was slightly drunk!) overheard our conversation and realised that her friends were staying in an accessible room and kindly volunteered them to move rooms for which we accepted.
Tomorrow, we plan to explore the John Hancock Tower!