Flying to Chicago and what to do there (part 1)

*inhale* okay Emilia, you can do this, don't go insane because this is your second time writing it because you deleted it the first time, JUST AGHHHHH *sigh*

Hey, guys, it's yo girl Emilia and in honor of me going to Chicago in less than 48 hours, I will be doing a Chicago travel guide for you! In this issue, I will be focusing on how to make your flight there more enjoyable and also awesome places you can go eat and explore. This edition will be more focused on the downtown city of Chicago and in future issues they will be about the areas around Chicago and maybe even more about downtown in the future. Anyway, let's dive in! *splash*

How to make your flight to Chicago enjoyable

Flying to Chicago from Houston is one of my favorite flights because of three reasons. 

◄Number 1- Chicago and Houston are located in the same time zone, which is the US Central Time Zone, so this means that you won't have to deal with annoying jet lag. 

◄Number 2- Flying to Chicago is like flying to a completely different world because it is basically on the other side of America. The climate is different, it is normally cooler than here in Houston because of the chilly Lake Michigan blowing in the cool air. It is also a lot more green there during the summer. In Houston, it sometimes gets so hot that the grass turns brown and yellow and it is so uncomfortable to be outside, but in Chicago, the grass is green and at night you can sit out on your porch and listen to the crickets chirp and not be suffocated by humidity. 

◄Number 3- The flight from Houston to Chicago is such a short flight! It is only 2hrs and 30mins and usually, there isn't a whole lot of turbulence that makes it uncomfortable. Anyway, let's begin with the tips!

Travel tips and recommendations-

Now I do understand that some of you reading may not live in Houston, you could live in New York or Idaho, but I just want to help make your flight a little bit less uncomfortable because flying can be a bit of a pain in the butt sometimes. So these tips and recommendations are based on my experiences from flying from Houston. 

 Recommendations- 

⥸Fly during the day, flying during the day allows you to have a great takeoff and landing by seeing your city's great skyline and seeing Chicago's skyline and landscape too. My favorite time to takeoff is at 6:30am to 7:30am because all of that great morning light is there for you to take awesome pictures. Plus, it is great to sit on either side because you are flying north rather than east to west. 

Tips- 

⤷ In my LA travel guide, I mentioned how you should travel in your heaviest outfit, and which I stand by it, but I have one thing that can make your heavy outfit better. My tip is to pack a pair of PJ pants, why? Well When you are on your flight and you feel uncomfortable in your jeans or heavy pants, you can quickly change in the bathroom to put on some comfy and soft PJ pants that you can put on so you can be comfortable during your flight. Then, when your flight is almost over, you can simply put on your heavy pants again and pack away your PJ pants in your carry on. This is also a great thing to do when you have early morning or overnight flights. 

⤷ My last tip to for you is to NOT use Bluetooth headphones. Look, I love my Bluetooth earphones and I use them a lot but don't use them when you fly, why? Well when you have your Bluetooth on and connected to your headphones, it can drain your battery. I am not saying that it can drain your battery from 70% to 30% in a matter of 10 minutes, but I am just saying that when you have a long flight, all of the battery percentage used can equal a lot in the long run. This tip is also important whenever you are flying alone and you need to call and communicate with your ride. 

Great! You are in Chicago, now what?

Now that you have had your hopefully decent flight, now you can go eat at these yummy places in downtown Chicago and you can go explore these awesome places that you will tell friends and families about. 

Food:

⬳Osteria Via Stato- this is an Italian Resturant near Michigan Avenue that has lots of yummy pizza, salads, and plates of pasta. The pizza that they have are pizza toppings that you would never imagine that would taste delicious together. When I went there, they had a special where toppings on the pizza were broccoli, a spicy sausage, and some veggies. It was soooo spicy, I felt like my mouth was on fire! I guarantee you though that they do have some non-spicy options on their menus.


⬳Garrett's Popcorn- This is a place that you HAVE to go when you go to Chicago, it is one of their crown jewels, seriously, they have it in their airports. This business started in downtown Chicago in the early 1900's and has become a huge hit there. What they serve here is popcorn (hence the name) and they serve three different flavors. A cheesy popcorn, a caramel popcorn (called Caramel Crisps), and they have regular, buttery popcorn. My personal preference is to get a bag filled with a third of each. The best part of it all is that it is relatively cheap, its a bang for your buck :)

Experiences:
⇋ Millenium Park- This is a famous park that is located in downtown Chicago and on the coast of Lake Michigan. This is an awesome park, you have some of the most recognizable things about Chicago there. The bean (aka the Cloud Gate Sculpture), Crown Fountain (the fountain with the faces spitting water), and the Jay Pritzker Pavillion (which is the huge outdoor theater). This is such a fun park to go to in the summer and the winter. You have great views here of the Chicago skyline and
it is a great place to go with younger siblings or kiddos and take a break from the busy city.

⇋The John Hancock Tower- This one is one my favorites, it has lots of different things to do there that is fun and scenic. All three of the experiences that I am going to mention to you are all around the top of the tower. When you go, you take a VERY fast elevator that takes you to the 94th floor. On the 94th floor, there is a cool thing that you can do that depends if you have a fear of heights or not. What there is up there are these sets of windows that you press your body up against the glass and the window will push you down, to make you feel like you are falling towards the ground. Pretty scary right? It is called 360 Chicago and they have weekly activities such as yoga, art classes, and even parties! Then, when you go onto the 95th floor, there is a very elegant, white-tabled clothed restaurant that gives you the view of the skyline of Chicago and also has the view of the blue Lake Michigan. Then when you go up one floor to the 96th floor and there is "The Signature Room" which is a nice bar and seating area that is a great place to go to view Chicago. But wait! There is more! To all the ladies reading this, there is the best view of Chicago in the women's bathroom! Weird right? But I guarantee you that if you want to take great photos where you don't have people in the way and random things blocking your photos, this is the best place to take your skyline photos. Sorry about that guys.

⇋Taking a train at Union Station- This is such a pretty train station. You may be wondering why I recommended this to you, well I took a train from the city to the suburbs earlier this summer and I really enjoyed it. I liked having the different view of seeing the city from a train rather than a car. Plus when you go to this train station, you can obviously see how much design and work was put into it. It is amazing!

Well, that is all I have for you today. I hope you enjoyed reading this, I am actually going to be in Chicago in less than 48 hours! So thanks again for reading, more blog posts to come!
Love,
yo girl emilia.