Blogs from Chicago, Illinois, United States, North America - page 87

Well it's been two weeks since I left sunny Melbourne, and in this short time I have already worked out one thing. I could NEVER live in any city where 0 degrees Celsius is considered a warm day! I don't know how these native Chicagoans do it, going about their business in such temperatures on a daily basis, but fortunately I don't need to stick around to find out as I leave for Mexico on Sunday. But don't get me wrong. Apart from the weather, Chicago is beautiful. It reminds me of Melbourne in many ways but on a much grander scale. A much, much grander scale. Because seriously, Chicago is huge. I don't think I'll even begin to scratch the surface of what this city has to offer by the time my two weeks are ... read more

Here is a very long story of how I got from Madurai India to Chicago Illinois where I am sitting now The first step in the process was flying from Madurai, through Chennai to Delhi. This process went fairly smoothly, with a slight delay. As I arrived at the Delhi airport I rushed through check-in, which was sucessful. I even got a chance to talk to a girl who had worked at an orphanage in Kathmandu for 5 days of a 5 month period (she was really overwhelmed). Anyway, I got onto the airplane and buckled in. The previous day many flights had gotten delayed or cancelled due to dense fog, so I was worried the same thing would happen to me. While at the airport it looked like it was all going to work, we ... read more

I am back in Itasca safe and sound. At first I was only annoyed by the waiting at the airport and so forth. Then I was sleepy on the plane. Then at some point I became overwhelmed and broke down, crying uncontrollably at the idea of not going back to Guadalajara or seeing Wendy for a long long time. Now I'm just feeling tired and worn out and pissed that I have to go to work tomorrow. But enough of the bad things... let me talk about Tlaquepaque and the fun times. So, Tlaquepaque is a suburb of Guadalajara, about 25 minutes from the Centro by bus. On the bus I met this guy Carlos, who talked to me in English using the F word a LOT about how cool mexico was and how great everyone ... read more

Getting up at 4:30 on a chilly winter morning isn’t exactly our idea of fun. If it is , however, a question of catching a flight to meet some of our famous oops ! favorite relatives - well that’s a whole other ballgame . Newark - Pittsburgh - O’Hare, we land in Chicago around 2 p.m. fretting that our tickets said 1:15 and Bubul Di (cousin with whom we’re staying , yes I know we’re awfully lucky to have relatives who live in great places ;-) ) would be waiting for over an hr . Then we realize Chicago is on central time which is 1 hr behind New York so its only 1 p.m locally! Bubul Di wastes no time in starting our sight-seeing tour as she takes us to some scenic places on the ... read more

Alright! With some luck, some time off work, and a perhaps hasty purchase of a roundtrip flight to Guadalajara, I'm locked into and looking forward to my first personal excursion out into the world. I'm proud to be taking care of all the preparations myself, but I'm grateful to all the help and advice I've already received from other travelers, friends, and family. So far my itinerary looks like this. Friday - 12-22-06: - Board Mexicana Flight from O'Hare to San Jose, MX at 8AM - Transfer to flight to Guadalajara at 3PM - Arrive in Guadalajara at 6, find a bus or cab, and head for Hostel del Centro in downtown Guadalajara - Get my stuff together at the hostel. - Meet people, maybe see some stuff at night Saturday - 12-23-06: - Not sure, ... read more