Chicago is probably my favorite city I have visited and it seems that it doesn't take much to convince me to drive there. There are endless things to do from parks to zoos, museums to tours, shopping to wonderful food. This trip to Chicago was a solo-trip for a Tom Felton book signing event and an extra day of relaxation. Now, before all the dads, big brothers, and friends here freak out that I (a 30-something female) went to Chicago on my own: I feel no more in danger here than I do at home.
In this post I will give an overview of my itinerary, my budget, and overall thoughts on the trip. In future posts, I will break down each day in one or two posts, with each event in detail, and a separate post about the food of Chicago.
Itinerary
Thursday
Road Trip to Chicago
Hotel - Millennium Knickerbocker
Navy Pier
Home Alone House
Fred's Garage for Dinner
Tom Felton Book Signing Event
Friday
Nix for Breakfast
Lincoln Park Zoo
Dash of Salt and Pepper Diner for Lunch
Walking Tour - Lincoln Park: Gangsters & Blues
360 Chicago
Giordano's for Dinner
Walking Tour - Haunted History
Budget
For this trip I took $250 in cash to pay for food and entries. The hotel was paid for when I booked it. I paid for gas and parking on a card. My ending budget is below.
Gas: $95.01+$90 for parking
Hotel: $348.83
Entries/Activities: $120.55
Food: $129.91
Souvenirs: $0
Total: $784.30
Thursday
Thursday started off with a road trip to Chicago, which are always fun for me. This road trip to Chicago definitely has a few fun stories - to be shared later. Thursday went mostly according to plan, except when I arrived in Chicago the hotel wasn't ready for me to check in, so I checked my bags with the concierge (another story to be told later) and took a quick trip to Navy Pier that wasn't planned.
Friday
Friday I was able to fit in a couple of extra activities in between what I had originally planned. I walked all day Friday because driving in Chicago is not for the faint of heart and even worse than driving is the cost of parking. Though, walking presented me with its own set of challenges: needing to carry everything the entire day, GPS doesn't account for all walking paths, and a phone with a dying battery after dark.
Tips
This trip had a lot packed into a very short amount of time, but I do have 3 tips for next time you are in Chicago, or really any big city.
Take a day, or two, to walk the entire day. Ironically, I feel like on this trip I was able to see more of the city by walking than I had in the past three trips there while driving around.
Take time for the unexpected. This will be an entire blog post in the upcoming weeks but don't fill your day with so many things that you can't take the time to see things you happen upon while exploring.
Many big cities have free, or pay-what-you-can/want, activities. This is a great way to make a trip more affordable and still have a great time.
Changes
While I consider myself a pretty good planner, there are always things that can be improved on, this trip was no exception.
Check the weather when you pack. I checked the weather for my trip right at the 10-day mark and decided for some reason not to check again until I was on my way to Chicago.
Make sure you have the appropriate equipment you need. While this mostly applies if you are traveling for work of some sort, I discovered mid-trip that I had brought my battery pack to charge my phone on the go, but did not bring the correct cord to connect the two. This made for an interesting walk back to the hotel after a long day of using it for GPS and communication.
Final Thoughts
Chicago 2022 consisted of 1,038 driving miles and 16.7 walking miles. In those miles, memories were made that I will remember for the rest of my life. I saw parts of the city i never have before (most within walking distance of where I have been in the past) and am excited to go again and see even more.
Thanks for joining me on this adventure. Be sure to come back in following weeks for more on my Chicago trip.
See you next time!
Sami
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