Our first leg towards the dark continent has been a smashing success. We have left Nashville and arrived at Chicago (O'Hare). There's a decent coating of snow on the ground, and we made our way to the international terminal with plans to pay the $50 fee to spend the next 5hours of our layover in the Admiral's Club Lounge. But alas, no such lounge exists. Now, there is a British Airway's VIP lounge, but you have to be some kind of rich, famous person to get in, right?

Well, sort of...

After initially being turned down for the possibility of a day pass, we were asked by the gatekeeper (Judy) as to why we were headed to London. A medical mission trip to Kenya apparently struck a cord with her, as she shared the details of her recent trip to the Mara, going so far as to even become teary over her memories of her time there. Needless to say, a few minutes of wooing was all it took to be permitted into the lounge for free (with upgrades to the exit row on our flight to boot). Here's what all you saps out in the international terminal are missing: