My 2,090.3 mile journey to Chico, California

So it begins my 2,090.3 mile journey to Chico, California. This is just so happens to be my first flying trip in 30 years!

My reason for going, well my son and future daughter in law are getting married on May 5th. I’m so happy for them, they met online playing World of War Craft. It all took off from there, before I knew it my son moved to California and made his new and exciting life.

Fast forward about 6 years, and here I am a packing and preparing for a wedding.

Trying to decide what to take and what to leave behind for a 6 day stay in Chico to Lake Tahoe.

So much has changed since I flew 30 years ago. I had to do a lot of reading and looking up airport regulations for each airline.

The whats you can and can not take. The amounts for your carry on and so one. After getting it all figured out, I’m sure the next time I fly it will all be different. I just hope it’s not another 30 years that I get to fly again.

The best thing I did to help me with my packing. Was purchasing a hand-held scale to weigh my luggage.

You most certainly do not want to go over the limit with your bag. If so, your better off just taking a second check in bag. That way you are able to take more, or bring extra back with you.

I searched high and low for the right luggage for the best price. If you’re in need of luggage I recommend you order it from Macy’s. They have fantastic sales on their baggage. I will only buy from them from now on.

They have the largest selection, size and type you could ever need. As well as cost wise, they were less expensive than Amazon.

I bought an Airport Essentials Backpack from Think Tank, you can read my review through the link. For my camera gear carry on.

4:30 am and checked it a the Mossinee, Wisconsin airport waiting to board Untied.

Our Central Wisconsin airport may be small, but it’s very nice and not much waiting in line to check in. I happened to get lucky because upon checking in, I was randomly chosen to get the TSA pre. Meaning I didn’t have to have my luggage gone through, this was a real blessing for me. Other wise I would have had to take out my camera gear and looked over or handled.

If you’re a frequent flyer you can purchase TSA Pre that will save you time and stress. It’s $85 for a 5 year membership. This especially helps speed through security through the big airports.

All aboard, seated and ready to go!

My have the planes changed, talk about feeling like you’re in a tin can. Close quarters that’s for sure, they certainly did cram everyone in.

My plane 30 years ago was very roomy and not claustrophobic by any means. But I guess they just want to get in as many as they can.

Off to Chicago I go! The flight from Mosinee to Chicago was a mere 45 minutes. It seemed as though the plane just got up, it came right back down.

O’Hare Airport also know as the Chicago Airport located in Chicago, Illinois.

O’Hare is the 4th busiest airport in the world it handles  over 79.8 million passengers a year. It has four operating terminals and 8 runways. It most certainly was a very large and busy place.

I had a three-hour layover so once I found my next flights terminal I was able to take a look around. Lots of places to eat, drink and shop. Think of it as a very big mall.

If you’re a people person, that’s the place to be. People from all over the world and all walks of life going back and forth.

The long moving walk way was fun and it did save a lot of time and walking through the long cor-adore.

Then thee was the reproduction long neck dino! He was built to scale and so much fun to walk around and under him.

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Time to board the big airbus for a four-hour flight.  Sacramento, California ready or not here I come!

This was a much bigger plane, three seats across. But still very cramped and rather uncomfortable.

If you ever decide to take a long flight spend the extra money and purchase the economy plus. You’ll get an extra 5 inches of room, believe it’s worth it!

The scenery was so beautiful on the way to California it took my breath away. Seeing those mountains really touched my heart and began calling me home. My home is Wyoming, so when I see the mountains my heart begins to melt.

After that long flight is was good to be on the ground again and in Sacramento.

While waiting to pick up my luggage I got to look around at the art displayed. The suitcases stacked up to the ceiling was a very clever idea, loved that. As well as the metal sculptured birds and bugs outside.

This journey to California was my first time being there and it happened to be in their green season.

When I left Wisconsin there was still some snow on the ground in certain areas. So it was a nice change going straight into summer weather.

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