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450 reviews
It's time for a work trip to Alabama, y'all! I have been lucky to have visited various countries…but I haven't been to the south very much.
Alabama is not a place that screams "tourism!!!" to the rest of the US, but I am glad I got to see it.
Above you will find a picture of O'Hare's runway. It was a national holiday and a Monday, but luckily it was not very packed at such a busy airport. I finally have precheck, and it is so crazy that I don't have to take my shoes off anymore. That makes me feel like a VIP. Sad but true!
You know what's not very VIP? Terminal 2 at ORD. It really feels abandoned, like people remembered to fix up other terminals…and then left this one to rot. It is not as busy, since it's home to some smaller regional jets and the like. Even so, it felt so depressing here, with a variety of outlets that wind up largely not working (the ultimate tease) and low ceilings that made me think of LAX and/or an era of perestroika. The gate featured some younger men on (I think) a business trip, total "bros" loudly talking. Even my music couldn't drown them out. But the real piece de resistance was the nasty carpets and torn chairs. We are a world class airport…let's act like it.
Now it's time to board! The jet bridge wasn't super backed up, which is a rare treat.
Once on, I was mildly disappointed that such a small jet didn't have cushiony seats. I figured those would be some of the last to update into the "slimline" (more like ironing board!) seats. Even so, it felt clean and modern, so it was all good by me.
Sorry about the blurriness. I feel a bit sheepish when I take these pictures sometimes, if others are nearby (and they were, in this case). As you can guess, the foot in image 3 is not my own, though the backpack is! The college-aged man sitting next to me didn't take up tons of room, but he was very tall and lanky, hence his shoes in my space. It was fine - despite economy class getting less and less comfy through the years, this plane had good space and preserved our basic dignity. Pardon the dust specks on it, but the phone holder in picture 4 is a godsend. It is such a great way to watch things on your phone and can be configured basically any way you want/at any angle.
Finally up in the air!
Such a view never gets old^
The beverage choice of a seltzer/sparkling water fiend (it me). There was no food service on such a small jet, but there was alcohol I think. I didn't partake because I didn't feel like it, and I had a rental car drive ahead of me!
I always get a kick of descending into a place with different vegetation, topography, weather, etc. I love the skyline of New York (who doesn't?), but its land isn't that different from that of Chicago. However, the marshy views shown above were super cool to witness. Upon landing, it felt decidedly more tropical, 65ish F (18 C) when it was about 30 F (-1 C) at home.
NOTE: The flight itself was very turbulent, which is overall no one's fault. Even so, it was a pain to sit through. What was worse is that the bathroom didn't have running water, so we had to use hand sanitizer instead. Very weird, especially when your last minute flight is $500…
This is my hotel room view, in a faceless suburb. I thought I'd include it because the sunset looks poppin'
I had a tiny bit of free time on this trip, and it was the one day each week it seems like no major sites or museums are open. Just my luck! However, I was spontaneous (rare for me haha) and drove from the grocery store to downtown Birmingham. I was brief and didn't let my groceries go bad, but I wanted to see a special site for myself. The 16th Street Baptist Church was the forefront of the civil rights movement in Birmingham, AL, which was seen as the nation's most segregated city at the time. Residents even nicknamed it "Bombingham" because of the racist violence. Speaking of that, it was at this church not only that Martin Luther King and other important figures visited, but also that the KKK planted dynamite in its basement and blew up part of the church in 1963. Four adolescent girls were killed, another was injured (permanently blinded in one eye), and two boys were killed later that day in the subsequent unrest. It is heart wrenching to think about what these families went through - and what the community did. The church shows off its early history via plaques, and it honors the girls' memory.
So does the park nearby. If you've ever seen images of the Birmingham Campaign from the civil rights movement, you might have seen images of police dogs being turned on young nonviolent protestors - or those protestors being hosed down by water cannons with enough pressure to strip a tree of its bark!
https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/06/18/ap3967239957153-96c0664625d74f175a70507ec0a7c345bf3c5e4e.jpg
https://www.blackpast.org/wp-content/uploads/prodimages/files/Firemen_turn_fire_hoses_on_demonstrators_Birmingham_Alabama_1963_Photo_by_Charles_Moore.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9f/Birmingham_campaign_water_hoses.jpg
Well, as it turns out, such harsh treatment occurred at the adjoining park, which I also visited (note: protests and harsh reprisals were NOT limited to this few day period, this park, or even this state). The park also features a sobering sculpture of the four girls, showing them getting ready for church before their lives were cruelly snatched away. To help you remember that these were real people, you get information about each girl, as well as the survivor who was injured and the two boys killed later that day.
By this point, I was most definitely crying. Being face to face with such an important historical location is very moving.
^Sculpture of the innocent girls
Martin Luther King himself!
My maiden voyage to Alabama started on a good note, to some extent. The flight was comfy insofar as its seating was well spaced and easy to sit in for two hours. But the lack of water was jarring and odd to behold.
2 Comments
For sure! Except maybe the Biloxi casinos, and even that's a very local MS, AL, FL panhandle destination. Nevertheless, every destination always has something interesting and unique about it.
Ironing boards indeed, though not all slimline seats are made equal. Some models are harder than others. In general I appreciate the little bit of extra space that slimlines provide, but the very thin ones do begin to hurt after a while. And it's a shame the seats weren't comfortable because E-jets are some of my favourite aircraft to fly if I have to fly in Y with the 2-2 config guaranteeing no middle seats and the normally wider-than-mainline seats. And UA is famous for flying RJs on some very long 4h+ routes, ouch.
Thanks for sharing!
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