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Old 13 Apr 10, 04:11 PM  
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#1
Sue
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Join Date: Aug 04
Location: On a road trip

Sue's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 3
Restaurant Reviews: 17
3000+ miles in 3 weeks, Route 66 and all that

Starting off and Chicago

Well here we go - I am not going to post a thread per day as some days were spent on the road. Will combine where I can and hope that you enjoy the photos and my brief notes of our journey...
Please feel free to pm me if you want any more information and I will do my best to help

See HERE for my pre-trippie.

I stayed over at J's the night before and we duly arrived at Manchester for our flights - no problems and the girls none the wiser about Business Class as we blagged that the hopover to Zurich was comped due to J's BMI gold card. Boarded on time at Zurich and here are Sally and Charlotte happy with their seats:



Phil and Rach:



And finally, Julian and me, with Rach popping in!:



J was not happy that it was an older plane after being promised flat beds, but the rest of us were happy enough. Good service and a nice flight actually saw us getting in at Chicago an hour early - 4pm and not 5pm. We had decided to save ourselves $60 on taxis and instead got the train (locally called the El, as it is elevated above the road in parts) from the airport. Total fares for all six of us came to $12.



It took around half an hour and one or two 'interesting' characters came to join us on the train, but it was really easy to do and I'd do it again, no problem. We then got two taxis to the hotel from central Chicago, costing around $5 each. We were staying at the Intercontinental which was very central - thanks to J's frequent travels, we were given upgraded rooms, but the hotel has the cheek to charge for internet access $17.95 for 24 hours and $7.95 for a bottle of Evian water. We stayed in motels en route that threw these in and charged $50 per night for everything! Needless to say we did not avail ourselves of these items.
Tired after a day of travelling, we retired to bed at 8pm local time, 1am at home.

Day 2 - Sunday 21st March

We were all awake from between 4 and 6am, finally meeting in the hotel lobby at 8am. J wanted to check that the car we wanted would be available for us tomorrow (we needed a Dodge Grand Caravan or equivalent for 6 of us and out bags) - so first stop was National Car Hire, then we had agreed to find Lou Mitchells Diner for breakfast. This has apparently been there since 1923, considered to be the West Bound start of Route 66 and we thought it a fitting start to our journey. We got taxis there which was interesting as there was an 8km run in Chicago that day and the taxi drivers had to get round it! Here we all are after arriving safely and being greeted with "doughnut holes" before we were seated:



This diner was seriously popular, many locals appeared to eat there and we had great service and really good food. Breakfast skillets and omelettes generally - the total came to $102 including tax and tip for all 6 of us!

We then walked back to the Shuttle bus tour stop and paid $29 each for an all day pass. To be honest, I'm not sure this was value for money as there was not a lot to see and the guides only seemed to mention restaurants, clubs and the occasional building of note. They mentioned the great fire briefly but that was it. We only had a day to spare so thought this the best way of seeing the city. It did not leave a favourable impression with any of us and no desire to return. Perhaps if I do ever go back, I'll do more research and plan what to do first?
Phil and Rach went up the formerly tallest building in the USA, still known as the Sears tower although it is called something else now. We saw the Route 66 sign we needed tomorrow, went to Navy Pier and jumped off at a few spots to stretch our legs.

Here are some shots of the city anyway. It was obviously quite a cold and overcast day, the sun came out later but it was VERY windy! Yes, I know it is the Windy City

From the bus:





Millenium Park



Chicago from Lake Michigan:



Braving the wind:



That's the last picture of me that day and I was looking fine, but not long afterwards I began to feel really ill. I had a little cold before we set off, but it was nothing much. Seemed to be getting over it, but not sure if the travelling did for me, I went to bed at 4pm and slept until 6am the following day! The rest went out for a meal without me and although I did not feel too bad the next morning, I was nowhere near 100% for several days afterwards, actually losing my voice at one point (blessed relief some might think) and almost driven to seek medical help. Thankfully, it passed and I was eventually restored to full bouncing health - annoying though as I rarely ever get ill.

Tomorrow, we set off on Route 66 and a spot of trouble with the hire car...
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Route 66 and all that TRIP REPORTS
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Old 13 Apr 10, 04:30 PM  
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Eeyore rocks
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Great start Sue.

Lovely photos.

I hope you were not ill for too many days.
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Old 13 Apr 10, 04:34 PM  
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purple myra
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Flight looks great! Breakfast looks great... genereally a really good start
next...
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Old 13 Apr 10, 04:35 PM  
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Great start - apart from losing your voice. Hope you were feeling better soon.
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Old 13 Apr 10, 04:40 PM  
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ely3857
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A fab start, seriously looking forward to the rest!



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Old 13 Apr 10, 04:42 PM  
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Sue
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Originally Posted by purple myra View Post
Flight looks great! Breakfast looks great... genereally a really good start
next...
Okay Myra, let me just phone J to tell him I can't go out for his birthday drink and I'll get on with it
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7th Magical Trip - August /September 2008. FOOD & TRIP REPORTS

Route 66 and all that TRIP REPORTS
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Old 13 Apr 10, 04:43 PM  
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purple myra
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Originally Posted by Sue View Post
Okay Myra, let me just phone J to tell him I can't go out for his birthday drink and I'll get on with it
Och you're a wee star... he will have other birthdays!
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Old 13 Apr 10, 04:47 PM  
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anji
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Fabb start - really looking forward to reading all your reports! :pop:
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Old 13 Apr 10, 04:48 PM  
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A great start Sue...apart from you being ill... keep them coming x
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Old 13 Apr 10, 04:49 PM  
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BarryandCaron
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A great start Sue with some fantastic photos

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