Travelling the USA | Chicago, IL
- Simon-Peter Lincoln
- Aug 31, 2016
- 7 min read
Sunday 28th August
So, we've finally made it to Chicago; the third largest city in the States. What a beautiful city! Our first experience was a tiring but exciting one; after a 3.5 hour drive from Camp to Chicago, we carried the luggage (I have WAY too much luggage!) for over an hour on the subway system through Chicago towards our hostel. We eventually made it to the Chicago Getaway Hostel and it turned out to be such a modern and diverse place.
As we were exhausted, we didn't do a lot on the first night but we were all ridiculously starving so we set off on the hunt for food. A few of our friends had arrived in Chicago the day before us and recommended a Chinese restaurant in the Lincoln Park area. We were greeted by a small, homely place named House of Hunan. Despite it's outwards appearance, the food was awesome! I opted for the mongolian chicken and white rice and I'd definitely get it again (although I think I added too much soy sauce); plus, it only cost me about $10... bargain! If you're ever in Lincoln Park, check out House of Hunan, you won't be disappointed. After this, we travelled back to the hostel to rest for a while before Gary, Tom and myself went to a local bar for a drink and a catch-up. The atmosphere in here was very chilled and they had sounds of the 90s playing on the TVs, which took me right back to my childhood (who doesn't like a bit of the Backstreet Boys!?). My drink came to $7, which we kind of half expected due to being in the big city; although we only decided to stay for one.
Monday 29th August
Today, Tom and myself decided to get up at 8:00am for an early morning run through Lincoln Park. This gave us an opportunity to see a bit of Chicago before the rush hour. Now, I knew the city was beautiful, but I didn't expect to see so many incredible views; we had to stop to get pictures. As we arrived back at the hostel, the rest of our group where just getting up, so we showered, ate breakfast and head out the door to start our adventure of the big city. As the tourists we are, we headed straight for the Chicago Bean. What an incredible sight this was and although it was crowded, we found it easy to stop and take our pictures and meet with more guys from camp. Soon enough, our small little group was growing. From the Bean, we made our way down to the water fountains and as it was such a hot day, we decided to whip off the shoes and socks and go for a play in the water (who knew I could ballet dance?). It was so refreshing to cool down in the inch deep water and so much fun too.
Following this, a few of us went back to meet even more of our group back at the Bean, before again splitting off to go and get milkshakes. We arrived at Shake Shack and, because I have a sweet tooth, I went for the chocolate cookie crumble shake, which came up to about $5. I would definitely recommend this place if you're ever in Chicago. We then took our shakes and went for a walk down to the river. I fell in love with this part of Chicago. The water is the most turquoise I've seen and there is so much to do down the riverside; we spent about 20 minutes just playing cornhole, connect-4 and jenga before just sitting on the deckchairs and admiring the city skyline. A few of us then decided to kayak down the river through a company called Urban Kayaks. It cost us $30 for an hour but it was worth every penny. I believe that this is one of the best ways to see the city during the day as you are rowing with skyscrapers on all sides; the Trump tower sits directly in front when rowing away from the port. The only downside to my kayaking experience is the fact that I was wearing denim shorts and I got the wettest bum ever. We dropped the boats back off at the dock and the group decided it was time to go for dinner and where else do you go when in Chicago? Chicago town deep dish pizza of course! We took a short walk and arrived at Giordano's; home of the famous deep dish pizza. Due to other's experiences, Gary and myself decided to share a medium pepperoni and onion deep dish. Even with only half of the pizza, we struggled... we struggled bad. Even people with big appetites would struggle with these pizzas, but it was probably the best pizza that I've ever had. If you go anywhere to eat in Chicago, go to Giordano's.
Now with a full stomach, our group decided to do a bit of shopping. I couldn't but anything as it wouldn't possibly fit in my luggage, but the others wanted to get some gifts for friends and family, and others just wanted to spend on themselves. We couldn't really find anything that the guys wanted to buy (or could afford), so we headed back to the Getaway and got ready to see the sights at night. Most of the group wanted to stay at the hostel and have a few drinks but Gary, Katie and myself decided to head back into the city and visit the Willis Tower (fka, the Sears Tower); the tallest building in the western hemisphere. We got there at 9:30pm, which is relatively late as the place shuts at 10pm and they stop letting people in at 9:30pm. Fortunately for us, the security were super nice and still let us through. We paid the $22 entrance fee, were guided to an elevator and made our way up the 103 floors to the skydeck. This was one of the most impressive experiences of my time in Chicago; to see the city lit up at night was magnificent. On the skydeck, there are glass floors which you can walk over and this turns your stomach. Imagine being 103 floors in the air and looking straight down. We spent about 20 minutes here before being ushered out as the place was closing. If you do anything when visiting Chicago, do this. Even for 20 minutes, I would happily pay the $22 again.
To top off the night, the three of us met with a big group of friends from camp who were staying all over Chicago to go for a drink and to say good bye to guys who were leaving. After our good byes and a big discussion of where we should go for a drink, we decided the best idea was to head back to Fullerton and Lincoln Park until we stumbled across a bar in the centre of the city named [Freehand]. This was such a quirky, hipster bar that was almost harem-like and served cider in cans and beer in brown paper bags. I really enjoyed it here, the company made the place and we had such good company that I think everyone had a great time. After this we just headed back to our Hostel as we were all too tired to function after such a long day.
Tuesday 30th August
This morning was one of ambivalence; I was happy that our travels had really begun, but I was also sad because Gary and Katie had to leave to go back home. Once we'd seen them off from the hostel, a few of us decided to spend our day trying to spend as little money as we could (never an easy task in the USA). We got ready and took a short walk through the park to Lincoln Park Zoo. Back at home Tamsin and I love going to the zoo and this one was just as good, if not better than some I've been to in the UK. It was free entry and there were no crowds. The first animal we were greeted with was a beautiful tiger sat on a ledge and I knew it was going to be a good day. All the animals seemed to be in full swing and we got the full zoo experience, for no money. I would definitely recommend people to go here if they have the chance; the food is expensive, but you can always bring your own in from the local store. We met up with Sam and Amy (a couple from our group of friends) and we spent the best part of 4 hours in the zoo, before heading back through the park to our hostel. On the way, we decided to stop for fro-yo at Yogurtland. Now, I get overexcited in this situation, especially as you get to pick as many flavours and toppings as you want; however, this over excitement cost me as my fro-yo came to just over $9. TOTALLY WORTH IT!
Now full to the brim on frozen happiness, we headed back to the hostel to get packed andget ready as Sam, Amy, Kat and myself were going to my first ever baseball game; Chicago Cubs vs Pittsburgh Pirates. We hopped on the subway and headed to Addison, where we were greeted by a mass herd of the blue and white of the Cubs and a few Pirates fans sprinkled throughout the crowd. We headed through the fans, the merchandise vendors and police to the sporting goods store to buy some Cubs gear; Sam, Amy and I bought baseball caps (mine was only $5). We then met up with even more friends from camp before buying our tickets and heading into Wrigley Field. Our tickets were only $15 and although we were far away, we got a pretty good view of the game. The tickets were cheap, however, the food inside the stadium definitely wasn't; I paid $7.75 for a Chicago Dog and it was good, but it wasn't $7.75 good. Everyone has told me that baseball is more of a social event and I couldn't agree more, the game can get very boring at times. It only lasted a couple of hours and I had such a good time seeing all my friends and learning about baseball (with a little help) and I was in awe of the crowds at the stadium. It was the last time we were going to see a lot of the guys at the game, so we said our last goodbyes and headed out of the stadium. We had to battle through the crowds and back onto the subway before getting back to the hostel.
Wednesday 31st August
Today we had to be up early as we were heading out to the airport for our flight to Orlando. After a long subway ride with our huge cases and backpacks, we managed to get to Chicago O'hare International. After a sad goodbye, we made it through customs with no issues and made it onto our flight. I'm so excited to see the Sunshine State and visit Disney World with my friends. I also want to see what the state has to offer in the 4 days we're spending there.
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