Flights part 2

So we landed in Chicago and I had a few seconds to look around me before I had to run into the airport.  Before I'd left Springfield they took all of our carry-on bags and tagged them to put in the cargo hold until we got to Chicago. I thought it was weird until I saw how tiny the plane was...then it just made sense that they would want to save space wherever possible.

So the first pic is from the window when we landed in Chicago and the second pic is the outside of the plane that I rode in.  We pulled into this empty spot and they pulled the stairs over for us. They were trying to make sure that we would get where we needed to go as quickly as possible. I didn't get any pics from inside the Chicago airport - I pretty much ran through from outside on the end of B and had to go to C-21.  I smelled food and I wanted something to eat so bad...BUT I was afraid I'd miss my flight.  Its actually good I didn't stop...it wasn't long until I had to board the flight to Amsterdam. We boarded the flight and had to sit for a while. First we had fueling issues and the tankers came to fuel us up. While they did that it had started to snow so we had to wait while they sprayed de-icer on the wings.

I didn't get any pics inside the second plane. I will say this - I HATED it.  The plane was lovely and once I sat down I was fine.  I put my bag above me and figured I'd just stand up and get something out later. I didn't know that as soon as we took off the lady in front of me was going to lay her seat in my lap.  I'm a big girl...once you move that seat a fraction of an inch you have pinned me in.  I had no way to squeeze out of there...for 8 f'ing hours.  There was more than once that I considered thumping her in the back of her head.  I had no book, no iPod...just a screen in front of me that I could watch the progress of my plane, speed and altitude.  It was cool...but it seemed like that little plane was never moving. 
I tried to sleep...and may have dozed a total of 45 minutes.  The light above the guy next to me kept coming on. When he woke up he'd turn it off and I'd think ok, its dark now I can sleep...and it would pop back on.
There were a few places over New York and Canada where the pain pitched and dropped, but it was easier to deal with because of the size of the plane I guess. Most of the windows were closed so it was easy to forget I was in the air. It felt like a bus ride. 
I loved watching the plane on the screen fly over Limerick, Ireland and then a little bit later flew over London before it finally arrived in Amsterdam. 
I'll admit I did quite a bit of praying when we hit Amsterdam.  The sun was up here so windows were open and I could see the ground. It felt like we were going down and my ears felt like they were going to explode.  I honestly wanted to cry...I don't like that whole ear-popping business. I heard this noise below the plane like the wheels going down, then it got quiet and we'd go up a little, the plane on the screen would face a different direction because we'd turn then a minute later I'd hear the noise below us again.  I think, since we did this 4 or so times, that they were having trouble with the landing gear.  I did some SERIOUS praying and the time after I prayed I heard the noise and then the pilot made the announcement that we would now be landing.  Thank you God!  That was the best news I'd ever had :)  We descended and the plane rocked side to side a lot. The wheels hit the ground with a bit of a thud and it seemed to take forever to stop...even heard some grinding noises.  I don't know if any of this is normal though, as this was my first international flight, but it was a bit scary, that's for sure.  Ok...more later :D