Chicago

[jackietreehorn8]

haha yeah, thankfully this entire trip won't cost me a dime

Forget about pricing, the blue line is simply a better way to travel to O'Hare. You're going to get there in 35 minutes no matter what. A cab ride could literally take you 3 hours on the wrong day. Downtown Chicago to O'Hare is a total crapshoot.

 

[Monsolo]

Sure but they are more frequent in Chicago and Philly than any other cities in the US.

I've never been to Philly. Did you have a bad experience in Chicago, or do you reside there?

 

[therealdope]

Forget about pricing, the blue line is simply a better way to travel to O'Hare. You're going to get there in 35 minutes no matter what. A cab ride could literally take you 3 hours on the wrong day. Downtown Chicago to O'Hare is a total crapshoot.

I hate O'Hare. I fly into Midway WHENEVER POSSIBLE. Orange line into the loop.

 

[Monsolo]

Get Giordano's. Fuck your diet.

Exchequer and Pizano's are some sweet downtown spots as well if you like Chicago pizza. I never personally liked Giordano's all that much. To each their own, I guess.

 

[jackietreehorn8]

I hate O'Hare. I fly into Midway WHENEVER POSSIBLE. Orange line into the loop.

Much easier to travel through Midway, for sure.

Orange Line to Midway vs. Blue Line to O'hare...same thing. But in every other regard, Midway has a clear advantage.

 

[Monsolo]

I hate O'Hare. I fly into Midway WHENEVER POSSIBLE. Orange line into the loop.

Midway is the way to go 100%.

 

[therealdope]

I've never been to Philly. Did you have a bad experience in Chicago, or do you reside there?

Philly is full of A-holes. Travel to Chicago often for work. It reminds me of the 'bridge and tunnel' guys who come into work in Manhattan. They act like assholes for the fuck of it.

 

[therealdope]

Much easier to travel through Midway, for sure.

Orange Line to Midway vs. Blue Line to O'hare...same thing. But in every other regard, Midway has a clear advantage.

Midway is the way to go 100%.

It's no contest. I've never been delayed at Midway, meanwhile at O'Hare ....

Also the gates are tiny for many of the shorter flights. 30 seats at the gate for a plane that seats 150. It's just so congested, so often.

 

[blokeybloke]

I f'n love 'Dope's geographical musings lol

 

[jackietreehorn8]

Enjoy Chicago. Great city full of great people.

And folks act as though the North side of the city is the only "good" part of town. I think these opinions come primarily from reading sensationalized news stories about crime as opposed to real-life experience. In reality there are areas in the South and West side that are very safe--the South side of town is geographically much larger than the North, after all. On the flip side, there are also parts of Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Uptown and other North side areas where crime is a bit more common.

The Bridgeport neighborhood in the Southwest part of town gave the world the delicious breaded steak sandwich.

I agree. Lots of cool neighborhoods and places on the south side.

And no scarier than any other major city, seriously. The murder rate is just gangbangers killing each other, they're not killing innocent passers-by (unless by mistake). The bad neighborhoods have nothing to see anyway, so nobody goes there except the gangbangers. It's really an overblown problem as it relates to the world outside of those neighborhoods. They obviously are in a bad situation in those neighborhoods and me calling it an overblown problem sounds callous, but what I'm saying is to your normal dude that travels through Chicago, or family that lives in any other part of Chicago, it has almost no impact on you. These gangbangers aren't out for you, they're out for other gangabangers. So don't join a gang and you'll be ok.

 

[LilMountain]

You know what else is reminiscent?
- The subway stations
Just the layout and designs of the stations, track layout, and train length/passenger seats feels exactly like a 1:1 identical ratio.

Except the stations look like a freaking turn of the century boardwalk with the wood, seems ridiculous for a modern city transit system imo

 

[therealdope]

I f'n love 'Dope's geographical musings lol

Really?? Anything specific?

 

[blokeybloke]

Really?? Anything specific?

All of it, you're f'n hilarious and brutally truthful!

Your only blindspot was my hometown, Nottingham. You said it was nice

Must've been a while since you passed through :wink:

You should have your own travel show, you'ld make Bourdain seem positively Martha'esque :icon_lol:

 

[therealdope]

All of it, you're f'n hilarious and brutally truthful!

Your only blindspot was my hometown, Nottingham. You said it was nice

Must've been a while since you passed through :wink:

I was there for work in 2004. It was a very short stay. Stayed at the Holiday Inn and walked over to the Sainsbury's to get fruit. Visited the university and a fairly large hospital. Didn't seem all that bad in the center of the city. That was after two weeks in Cardiff and a visits to Manchester, Leeds, Hull, and York.

I was dropped off at the train station at Loughborough by colleagues and made my way back to London.

You should have your own travel show, you'ld make Bourdain seem positively Martha'esque :icon_lol:

Haha - I've been thinking about making a "therealdope' instagram account.

 

[blokeybloke]

I was there for work in 2004. It was a very short stay. Stayed at the Holiday Inn and walked over to the Sainsbury's to get fruit. Visited the university and a fairly large hospital. Didn't seem all that bad in the center of the city. That was after two weeks in Cardiff and a visits to Manchester, Leeds, Hull, and York.

I was dropped off at the train station at Loughborough by colleagues and made my way back to London.

The City centre does have a ye olde world charm about it, tbf. The people, not so much lol.

Haha - I've been thinking about making a "therealdope' instagram account.

Do it! Haha.

 

[Monsolo]

I agree. Lots of cool neighborhoods and places on the south side.

And no scarier than any other major city, seriously. The murder rate is just gangbangers killing each other, they're not killing innocent passers-by (unless by mistake). The bad neighborhoods have nothing to see anyway, so nobody goes there except the gangbangers. It's really an overblown problem as it relates to the world outside of those neighborhoods. They obviously are in a bad situation in those neighborhoods and me calling it an overblown problem sounds callous, but what I'm saying is to your normal dude that travels through Chicago, or family that lives in any other part of Chicago, it has almost no impact on you. These gangbangers aren't out for you, they're out for other gangabangers. So don't join a gang and you'll be ok.

Pretty much on the money here. There have been civilian casualties though, and I find that unacceptable.

I'm also probably hypersensitive to these issues; I've spent a lot of time working with low-income, underprivileged and otherwise "at-risk" youth.

 

[Monsolo]

Philly is full of A-holes. Travel to Chicago often for work. It reminds me of the 'bridge and tunnel' guys who come into work in Manhattan. They act like assholes for the fuck of it.

Sorry to hear that. What line of work are you in?

 

[Candide]

I woke up too sick this morning to have a cigarette with my neighbor before work. Welcome to Chicago.

 

[Mookieftw]

Sure but they are more frequent in Chicago and Philly than any other cities in the US.

My Philly experience was limited to a single night, but I can say I agree fully with you about Chicago. There's plenty of nice people of course, but a ton of rude people will surround you at all times (even in the "nice" parts). My thing about Chicago is that a lot of people do more talking about how nice and welcoming they are rather than actually BEING nice and welcoming.

Apologies to those of you who are nice (again, I know you're out there), but this is just my experience. Also, before anyone says anything, yes Northwest Indiana is just as bad and maybe even worse. People in "the region" want to be recognized as Chicagoans so badly...right now we're experiencing a boom in sales of Blackhawks gear even though most of these folks didn't even know there was a hockey team in Chicago until the last couple of years.

On a positive note, the pizza and museums are as good as advertised and people can be friendly when you find the right ones.

 

[SevenSamurai]

You should go poop through the grates of one of the Chicago River bridges onto an unsuspecting Architectural Boat tour passing below.

Either it wasn't funny or nobody got this.