Travel Diary: Chicago

Travel Diary: Chicago

As most of you know I am currently on work travel to Chicago. In keeping with my theme, here is the first part of my travel diaries from day 1 in the Windy City.

First and foremost, I am obsessed with Southwest airlines so I almost ALWAYS fly with them. The 2 free bags are the obvious bonus but this particular trip showed me the other reason I love them so much. If you follow me on twitter then you already know about my experience with them but let me just highlight that they are by far the NICEST and most customer friendly airlines that I have personally flown. They always have smiles on their face and even better an answer to questions. So, Southwest staff thank you for not letting the stress of your job get the best of you. You all make flying that much easier!

I arrived at the Midway airport ( I avoid Ohare) around 11am and met up with one of the top Vintage dealers in DC, Kizzy of Kizzy Evae. I invited her on this trip for some much needed reconnection time and we immediately took a cab to our hotel, The Omni Chicago. Last time I was in the Windy City, I stayed at the Allegro in the theatre district and although a great boutique hotel, I was not fond of the area for what I love to do- eat and shop.

Before I even got out of our cab I realized that this was going to be an amazing experience! The doormen were all smiles and oh-so helpful! I cannot rave enough about the staff here. I have yet to meet a single person who has not been kind, friendly and a fantastic resource. The hotel itself is very modern, huge and I love the fact that they are the only all suite hotel on the Magnificent Mile. I do not want to get into too much about the venue as a full review will go live some time next week. I love big cities… not so much for all the things to do but for the skyline! I love seeing all the skyscrapers and Chicago is well known for their phenomenal architecture!

Kizzy and I settled in, then hit the streets in search of FOOD! When in Chicago, you eat like the locals (ish)! For stuffed pizza, the recommendation was Giordano’s and lo and behold, it was 2 blocks from our hotel. I love the family friendly space, the Italian feel and well the pizza is to-fricken-die-for- DELICIOUS!! Full disclosure, I am not a huge fan of pizza so for me to say this and devour the cheese stuffed pizza says ALOT!

Oh and we were there during lunch and it was extremely wallet friendly. I got a personal stuffed pizza, root beer, and Caesar salad for under 10 dollars!

After eating we went back to the room to rest a bit and then we hit the mile…… and boy did we!. We shopped till we dropped. So much so that I hit 13k steps for the day and we were so fatigued that we ended up ordering room service instead of grabbing sushi as was the original plan.

So all in all that was my day 1 in Chicago! welcome to my travel diary!