Pre-train trip day 1 in Chicago

We arrived in Chicago this afternoon, where we’re hanging out until our departure on Wednesday afternoon on the Amtrak Southwest Chief from Chicago to L.A.

Food is always top of mind in my world, and I want to eat 2 things while I’m in Chicago — some Chicago deep-dish pizza and some Chicago hot dogs.

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At O’Hare, we called our hotel to have their shuttle bus pick us up. I loved the link they provided to follow along as to where their driver was. I didn’t love the message: “Shuttle on [it is] way.”

Upon its arrival, we got on the complimentary transportation to the Comfort Suites O’Hare Airport, on which there was some incredible drama between Shirley, the driver, and another passenger (whom I’m calling “Missy”), which went something like this:

Driver to Missy: “What time is your flight tomorrow morning?”

Missy: “I don’t have a flight tomorrow. You’re asking me a lot of personal questions.”

Driver: “I’m just trying to help you be ready to request the shuttle service back to the airport for your next flight.”

Missy: “You have no idea what’s going on with me. I’m not in any headspace right now where I can answer the questions you’re asking me, and you’re asking me a lot of personal questions. I just graduated from college, and I’m in the middle of a civil rights case, and my mother got me this hotel, so the only thing I know right now is that this is where I need to go.”

Driver [to all riders in the car]: “Just so you know, there’s a pizza place right in the hotel…”

Missy [cutting her off]: “I don’t think you understand where I am right now. I can’t think about anything but getting some sleep right now. I haven’t slept for 24 hours. I just graduated from college, and I’m not in a headspace where I can even think about food.”

Bob [to driver]: “Thanks for letting us know about the pizza place. That’s helpful to us, and we appreciate it.”

Driver [back to Missy]: “What degree did you get?”

Missy: “A B.A. in Psychology, but I just can’t think about anything else right now. And you keep asking me questions.”

Driver: “I think I should just quit talking to you.”

Missy: “Yes, that would be perfect.”

I don’t know why that driver kept asking even more questions; it was sort of like picking at a scab. And, confoundingly, the girl answered some of the subsequent questions. It was all so incredibly awkward and uncomfortable for the rest of us in the shuttle.

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We arrived at the Comfort Suites only to find there was no reservation on record for us. I showed the check-in person my confirmation email, and she pointed out that the reservation was for the Comfort Inn instead of the Comfort Suites.

We then took a Lyft to the address of the Comfort Inn, but when the driver turned into the “Comfort Inn’s” parking lot, it was a:

What the absolute f*ck???

Turns out it was the correct place, and the Comfort Inn had turned into the Hilton Spark on Friday (just 3 days ago!). No, we weren’t notified of that name and brand change. Fortunately, we’re members of both the Choice Privileges program and the Hilton Honors program for points.

It was a very inauspicious start of a trip, for sure.

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In the midst of this attempt to get to our hotel — wherever it was here in Chicago, back in Raleigh, it was time for our Pelagic Run Club runners happy hours that we usually host, and which our friends Sam & Neal were representing us for on our front porch. We checked our Nest cam to see how it was progressing:

Thanks, Sam & Neal for being there! We appreciate and love you both.

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After finally checking in to the hotel we (sort of) actually had a reservation at, Bob and I walked to a close-by shopping center where the hotel front-desk attendant told us we could get some deep-dish, Chicago-style pizza.

We got the medium size “Chicago Style [sic] Pizza, with Italian sausage added to it.

And fortuitously, there was a liquor store right next door to it, and we bought some Canadian Club and some Chicken Cock, which we’re allowed to have in our sleep car on the Amtrak Southwest Chief.