Travelling to Turkey
It’s going to be a LONG day. While I was excited to be travelling to Turkey and start exploring, I had a fairly long “road” to get there. Part of my excitement for this trip was the flight routing I had chosen to get there. I’d spent a lot of time figuring out a cost effective business class routing to and from. While I was excited to try the different cabin products, it would also be a very long day of flying and layovers.
It started with a cross country flight from Vancouver to Toronto with Air Canada. I chose this flight since Air Canada flies the route with their transcontinental business class pods. It was my first experience in business with them. And while I was only on this flight for four hours, it was fun to experience these fairly modern pods in a red eye setting.
Toronto
Unfortunately, with the way this flight was, I still didn’t get much sleep since by the time we settled in, we were an hour into the flight, and the cabin crew would wake us up an hour before landing to serve us breakfast. All in all it was a pleasant experience, though a longer flight would have been nicer to fully experience it!
Arriving in Toronto in the early morning, I quickly checked my departure gate for my onward flight to Chicago. I checked into the Maple leaf lounge where I grabbed a few small snacks and drinks for breakfast number 2! After relaxing for a few hours, I boarded my flight to Chicago. I was lucky enough to snag a front row seat and was looking to take a quick nap on the short flight. But I was offered and accepted breakfast number 3, a fruit plate and yogourt! So with a short power nap, I was ready for my 12 hour layover in Chicago.
Chicago
The first order of business was stashing my big backpack in a locker so that I could walk around Chicago a little more freely. Unfortunately, to my surprise and education, it looks like luggage storage is a thing of the past in US airports. There is a bit of a security risk with it and thus they’ve removed them. I then tried the airport Hilton with no luck. After a few other failed attempts to store my pack for the day, I simply gave up and made my way into Chicago resolving to carry both for the day.
Millennium Park
I had visited Chicago 8 years ago and fell in love with this city, so I was excited to re-visit the city and fall in love again. I took the CTA blue line from the airport into downtown Chicago. From there it was a short walk to Millennium Park. I was amazed at this beautiful park space in the middle of this bustling city back then, and it was no different today. In fact they had a Youth Festival running this day and there were art, food and performance displays all throughout the park. I spent a good amount of time here just walking around taking it all in again.
Cloud Gate & Crown Fountain
I spent a bit of time walking around the amphitheatre. This is one of my favourite places to relax, and appreciate the Chicago skyline and nature at the same time. I then moved onto two recognizable Chicago Landmarks, Cloud Gate and the Crown fountain. I’d already seen them before, but they’re both still fascinating and interesting to me. I first visited Cloud Gate.
Then I moved onto Crown Fountain
After spending some time taking a few photos, I picked up my first food goal of the day: A Chicago Style Hot Dog! For the most part its a hot dog with a Vienna sausage, with numerous vegetables on top.
Rosebud on Rush
From there I decided to leisurely walk up Michigan avenue taking in the afternoon sites. I slowly made my way to a small tea shop my sister and I had visited 8 years ago called Argo Tea. It’s like a Starbucks but for tea! I spent a little time here relaxing before setting off to my next stop. Similarly, 8 years ago my sister and I visited a popular Chicago restaurant called Rosebud on Rush. It was then, that I distinctly remember the best grilled squid I’d ever had. So I wanted to relive this memory. I ordered a drink and the grilled squid and eagerly awaited its arrival. When it did, I snapped a pic and sent it to my sister before chowing down. It was good! But it wasn’t exactly what I remembered. It was then that I got a reply from my sister telling me we ordered the calamari years ago and not the grilled squid. I was too full to order a second item, so I’ll need to leave it until next time. Sufficed to say the squid was good, but it wasn’t the mind blowing squid I remember from years ago!
Strolling in Chicago
It was last afternoon by the time I was done at Rosebuds and I needed to start making my way back to the airport. I made my way towards the blue line train station, taking in the last few scenes of Chicago before boarding the subway.
From there it was an hour long ride to O’Hare and a fairly painless check in process. I spent a little time in the SAS lounge before boarding my Turkish Air flight to Turkey.
I was excited to try this flight as I’d heard and read many amazing things about it. Of note are the fully lie flat beds and their exceptional meal service with on board chefs! Once I arrived I was allowed to pack away my shoes and use the provided slippers.
Next was a meal card that was handed out where we would fill in what we wanted for breakfast. Then the dinner service started. I was treated to a multiple course meal by “candlelight” It was an amazingly great dinner with many nice touches! I was very very impressed!
After dinner it was time to sleep! I was very tired by this time and was looking forward to getting a few hours of sleep. The flight attendant came by to “make our beds” and before I knew it I was off to dream land! I was en route to Turkey and the adventure was about the begin!