Chicago Downtown & Navy Pier

24th August 2012

The next city that I was visiting was Chicago, Illinois. I had originally been tossing up between visiting San Francisco or Chicago. I didn't manage to travel to San Francisco on the trip (which I do regret though I already knew that once I flew away from the west coast, I wouldn't be returning) however I also loved Chicago. In hindsight, I should have spent less time in LA and squeezed in a day for San Francisco. Oh well peanut butter.

It was a 4 hour flight to Chicago (ORD) from LAX. It was my greatest achievement in managing to bring my 9kg hiking backpack and my 10kg day pack as carry on luggage and I managed to not pay for any baggage fees. Amazing.

I stayed at Hostelling International Chicago as it was the most conveniently located hostel in Chicago, right in downtown. It was nice and very clean. Though the downside was since it was in The Loop, my dorm was right next to L tracks and the trains were running almost all day (it stopped in the early hours of the morning). Due to the flight and the time zone, by the time I managed to leave my hostel, the sun was already starting to set.

First impression: I loved the archicture of Chicago.








I headed down to Navy Pier, walking alongside Lake Michigan. The thing that I noticed was that it seemed to be couples galore, and, being the solo traveller that I was, I stuck out like a sore thumb. I had a gentleman yell out, "are you by yourself?" which I responded with "yes I am". Not entirely sure what else I could have said.


Though it was very awkward when I was listening to a band at a table, by myself. Nonetheless, it was a good experience; the band was pretty good. It was amusing when they selected two individuals to do the actions to 'head-shoulders-knees-and-toes' on the other individual (which is quite awkard when it gets to the knees aspect).

It was a very short day in Chicago. I had organised a Chicago Greeter tour for the following day and walked back to my hostel, with plans to have an early night. Oh the irony.

To be continued