2014: Philadelphia Layover
2015: East Coast to Wisconsin to Idaho to California
2016: Chicago Snapshots (with inspiration from my French friend's trip!)
[For all of the random things we end up doing in the USA, you can check out our #SwagVilUSA hashtag.]
My main ticket was a round trip from Munich to Chicago. I used frequent flyer miles to get my tickets in and out of California. This meant I had total freedom as to when I could land in Chicago before my red-eye flight back to Europe.
When I have freedom, I usually choose to make the most of it. I found a flight that red-eyed out of San Francisco into Austin for a next-day arrival into Chicago at 9:00AM. My Aunt Denise amazingly agreed to drive from where she lives in Wisconsin for three hours into the city to hang out with me, and we were off!
I had three goals for the day: the Bean, Lake Michigan, and deep dish pizza. Not lofty, by any means, but enough for a solid first impression and no possibility of getting overwhelmed!
Chicago was exceptionally beautiful, especially with the super blue sky, lake breeze, and perfect temperature of 75 degrees Fahrenheit. I hope I get to return to Chicago someday and really dig deeper into the city and the pizza.
Have you been to Chicago? What should I make sure to do next time? Have you tried scheduling crazy long layovers for fun?