visiting chicago, booking expedia, public transportation, etc

[walkinginthecity]

Originally Posted by jlawrence01

If you stay in the O'Hare or Midway Airport areas, take the hotel shuttle to either the airport and pick up the Blue or Orange line to the Loop. Or you can head to the Rosemont Blue Line station. If you stay at the O'Hare Marriott, there is a pedestrian bridge to the Blue Line Cumberland station. It is 40 minutes to the Loop from O'Hare on average UNLESS there is rail construction.)

thanks so much for the help. i booked the o'hare marriott. sounds like an excellent solution for my travel situation. pretty easy to get to bucktown/wicker park, downtown, and the loop. now to figure out where to eat...

[bert62]

I just stayed in Chicago at the Homewood Suites (40 East Grand Avenue). Their rooms have a king bed and a fold out couch bed in seperate areas. Our room had a nice kitchenette and eat-in table. Your breakfast is included, and you could save money by preparing one meal in the room. Suite is boutique size, but more than ample unless you plan on doing something that requires scads of room. The elevators were lightning fast, almost miraculous. Nice pool on top floor with stunning city views (as did our suite) They list rooms for $235.00 a night, but we were walk-ins and got the room for a hundred dollars less. Hot breakfast comes with the room, too. Very nice. Staff, really friendly. Swanky hotel? Not exactly, but very nice and no complaints. This is a good family hotel - no rock stars or high rollers. Be yourself. We have also stayed at O'Hare area hotels, because they are generally cheaper. We enjoy the Embassy Suites. I don't know the Marriot. O'HareLand is not so exciting, but there will be good places to eat there as well. I have no idea where Wicker Park is. I feel so ignorant. Nevertheless, being downtown, to me, is way more fun. Why be thirty minutes away from all the good stuff? We had so much fun at Navy Pier. The free trolley to the pier is only one block away from the hotel. This hotel is steps away from Pizzeria Uno and a few more steps to Pizzeria Due, and the Billy Goat Tavern and awesome Chinese restaurants. We also stayed at a Hampton Inn in Skokie that was very nice (breakfast included, nice pool). Quicker drive into city than from Ohare, and would be closer to Evanston and North Shore stuff. You can back out of your res. right? Good luck and have fun. Yes, it will be cheaper staying in O'Hare/Woodfield-land. But, you will have to pay for parking at the Marriott, and then anywhere you take your car downtown. If saving money is more important than location, I guess I'll acquiesce and let you stay at the Marriott, but, this time only !

[paytonc]

from ORD, once the train leaves it's 45 minutes to downtown and about 30 minutes to Wicker Park. from Hyde Park, it's anywhere from 10-45 minutes to get downtown. (hint: if you're at the law school during the day, take the #2 bus from out front. it is awesome.)

the only rail construction on the Blue Line these days is within downtown (Clark to UIC), so you can at least get to/fro downtown pretty easily.

[MidwestYoungCouple]

Whatever you decide...here is some information to help you plan for your trip:

Hyatt Regency McCormick Place (http://mccormickplace.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp) has a rate of $153/night in November 2009. Not sure when you were looking to take this trip with your brother.
South Loop hotel. (http://www.chicagosouthloophotel.com/).
Bed and Breakfast in the South Loop. (http://www.wheelermansion.com/).

Either of these lodging options is close to: Northwestern Law School in Streeterville, University of Chicago, and JohnMarshallLawSchool in the Loop. It's not walking distance, but easily accessible via bus or train. You don’t have to lodge outside of city limits.

You can take a combination of cab, El, and/or bus to get to Wicker Park/Bucktown or Lincoln Park/Lakeview. Go to the Chicago Public Transportation website (http://www.rtachicago.com/) and use the Trip Planner tool to map your routes and determine the approx. cost of each trip.

Other helpful sites for your visit -
Chicago Events and Activities: http://chicago.metromix.com/
Welcome to Explore Chicago | The City of Chicago's Official Tourism Site
Metra Map (http://metrarail.com/content/metra/en/home/maps_schedules/metra_system_map/_jcr_content/download/file.res/metrasystemmap.pdf)
Metra Schedules (http://metrarail.com/metra/en/home/maps_schedules/metra_system_map.html)

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