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Planning a trip to Chicago
HadjiQuest
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
On a somewhat limited budget.
It looks like it's far, far cheaper to stay by the airport than it is to stay in the city. I know about the hostel, but I want to keep trying for a hotel/motel. My worry is that it'll be extremely inconvenient to go back and forth between the city and the airport.
Do most of the hotel/motels by O'Hare or Midway have shuttles or some form of mass transit into the city? Do these services stop at a certain time of night, and how much will they run me? I'm not expecting to be out past midnight.
Also, does anyone know which hotels will allow 19 year olds to check in? From all the travel sites I've checked, alot of places only accept those who are 21 or older.
I'm considering taking a train from here in Detroit, as well (since it's actually cheaper than gas will be). Is there any way I can get this to spit me out near O'Hare, or is the only station around those parts Union Station? How would I even get near O'Hare from there?
It looks like it's far, far cheaper to stay by the airport than it is to stay in the city. I know about the hostel, but I want to keep trying for a hotel/motel. My worry is that it'll be extremely inconvenient to go back and forth between the city and the airport.
Do most of the hotel/motels by O'Hare or Midway have shuttles or some form of mass transit into the city? Do these services stop at a certain time of night, and how much will they run me? I'm not expecting to be out past midnight.
Also, does anyone know which hotels will allow 19 year olds to check in? From all the travel sites I've checked, alot of places only accept those who are 21 or older.
I'm considering taking a train from here in Detroit, as well (since it's actually cheaper than gas will be). Is there any way I can get this to spit me out near O'Hare, or is the only station around those parts Union Station? How would I even get near O'Hare from there?
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As far as going between O'Hare and the city, it's not really innconvienienet. just a big waste of time. As Hlubocky said, the Blue Line runs from downtown to the airport (actually inside the airport), but takes like an hour. Now, you can get off anytime, but there's really nothing worth seeing in the suburbs.
Take a look at Rosemont for hotels; it's a little closer to the city, and has a crap-load of hotels.
Go to Transit Authority's site and look at some of the 'burbs the L (or Metra) stops in. See if you can find a hotel near one of the stations.
1) Jazz clubs. It's what Chicago is known for! Some clubs will charge you an entrance fee, some will not. Just be prepared to pay an entry fee if you want to check out some of the good jazz clubs
2) I have yet to go up to the Sears tower, however, I have been up the John Hancock tower twice, (once during the day and once at night). It's an impressive alternate to the Sears Tower. The good thing about the Sears tower is it's right next to the train station, and right by the river. Unfortunately it was closed the time I went at night (Hancock is open later), and the other time my hotel was right next to the John Hancock (Westin), so it made sense.
Also, in the base of the John Hancock, there's the Cheesecake factory. Cheesecake is my kryptonite, so I had a very lovely time there. It is, however, more expensive than your usual cafe.
3) Navy pier is just cool to walk around, let alone partake of the activities. It's right on the waterfront, so it's a pleasant evening activity and will be cheap to do.
4) Just walk down Michigan Avenue, really. You'll pass the John Hancock Building, Navy Pier is a short side trip away, you'll see NBC Studios, the river, "The Bean", Buckingham Fountain, that weird building that looks like someone's sliced off a piece of it at the top. It's a good walk.
5) Shedd Aquarium. It's pricey, but it's freakin' amazing.
6) The Museum of Holography Chicago - Kinda off the beaten path, but really neat.
And you say you're trying to keep to a lmited budget, too?
I'd also recommend asking some of the locals about the bars, but plan on going early and staying late and finding a good Irish pub with live music/dancing. Can't remember the one we went to but I got completely wasted, gorged on food, had a blast and woke up the next morning feeling like a million bucks, go figure.
If the weather breaks and ends up being reasonably warm, spend an hour on the waterfront park. It was a nice to slow down for a bit before heading back into the city.
EDIT: Also, the weather is wonderful right now, in case you plan on going today or tomorrow
So this won't be for a long time, but I want to get a super head start. As for what I do in the city, it depends how long I stay and when I can grab train tickets, which I haven't planned out yet. I'd like to go for 3 nights (4 days), but I am shit-broke and may only be able to afford 2 nights (which would carry me through only the three days of the festival).
Last year, we drove, and we ended up staying with someone I met on a website at the last minute, which was damn strange.
That be downtown, man.
Definiely would try to find something in the city if that concert is so far south.
Yeah, we cram a year's worth of festivals and activities into June, July, and sometimes August, as it's too hot or cold the rest of the year. Yes, we're whinny bitches, but damnit, we have a The Bean!
And if you use it, for gods sake don't make a mess and be polite to the other people in the building, because people will have to live in those rooms come fall, and there is usually one whole floor of summer class students.
As for stuff to do, check out all the museums and such, the aquarium is fantastic. Just walking along the lakeshore is really nice.
Boystown is nice too, even if you are straight, the area around it is really kind of trendy and cool (or was when I lived there) with lots of interesting music shops and stuff. The actual main drag of Halsted is kind of a neat touristy thing too, given that it's the only officially recognized (as in, by the city govt.) gay street in the country.
Crows Nest was a cool music shop downtown, and I second walking down Michigan ave. Also, go get you some deep dish at Pizzaria Uno. It's near Watertower Place.
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
Hands down my favorite place to get pizza in the city.
So good.
When you're in town, drop by the Twisted Spoke at midnight on a Saturday for some Smut and Eggs.
I just found a potential third to go with, so hopefully I may be able to extract a little cash from these guys to help pay for a room in the city.
We stayed at a La Quinta that was just north of O'Hare and I was able to bargain with the receptionist to give me a single rate for a double room. The hotel provided a shuttle to and from O'Hare where we took the Blue Line to Downtown. Using the CTA is nice because you get train and bus fair on one card. The Blue Line to O'Hare is a LONG trip (30-45 min) so we had to plan time accordingly.
Visit the Museums of Natural History, Science and Industry and the Shedd Aquarium. All worth the tickets. Six Flags was fun as well, but you have to drive up north to go there.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Chicago
One of the cool things that I filled my camera's mem card with was The Bean in Millennium Park. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bean
Do a bit of research into things and do a lot of time planning. We didn't do nearly all that we wanted to. Driving is a big pain with traffic, plan where you want to go and schedule days that are to specific areas. I found it was very easy and effective to take the CTA. This took out the problem of having to split gas and driving time in the city.
Figure out what train stop you get off of and what bus will take you to what, the CTA is one system for trains and buses so you can buy transit cards at a train station that will save you time fumbling for change on buses.
If you start narrowing down places to stay at and they have shuttles, call ahead and ask for shuttle times so you can take that into consideration when doing time planning. We had to make sure we took the Blue Line back to O'Hare in time to catch the 2nd to last shuttle so we weren't stranded. Also it doesn't hurt to have the Hotel's front desk number and/or the shuttle driver's number in case you think you missed it.
Also make sure you have a good idea of what you're going to see beforehand and discuss with everyone that's going. We planned a day for Six Flags and when we were driving I found out one of my friends hates rides so he ended up spending a day in the hotel watching TV while we were enjoying the theme park.
Other than that, have a good time.