Newcastle to Chicago

It was only about an hour before our flight was due to take off when I realized what I’d forgotten: my driving license. This meant that I wouldn’t be doing any driving of the rental car. What worried me more was that Bill only had the card portion of his license, the paper portion apparently having gone missing. (In the UK there are two parts to a driving licence, but one is not expected to carry their license around all the time, like in the US). Only recently has there been a photograph on the card and DLs are not used for identification very much, as so many people don’t drive over here.

I spent the flight over trying to figure out strategies in case we couldn’t get the rental car at the airport. I came up with four possibilities, none very promising. As it turned out, even though the paper work specified needing both parts of the license, the girl at the desk didn’t know about UK driving licenses and so Bill walked away with the car keys and I felt a huge load lift! Personally, I think it was his snazzy outfit that clinched the deal.


They couldn’t refund the money the 2nd driver, but they let Bill chose an upgraded car and he got a PT Cruiser, something he’s drooled over a long time. We weren’t far out of the car park before he decided this would get that out of his system, particularly ours had no cruise control; how quickly we are spoiled!

The place Bill had us staying in Chicago, the Belden Stratford Hotel,


was fabulous. It was a one bedroom apartment


with views of Lincoln Park (Chicago, like Oklahoma City, has a Lincoln Park Zoo!),


a fully outfitted kitchen and lovely décor. We were ready to move there – it was 'only' $1,000 a month…