so far we have seen two cars in the ditch along Interstate 80 heading east through Illinois from Iowa but the roads aren’t that bad and we have seen several plows. very foggy and wintery scene. wish I was in the country Peru rather than Peru Illinois.
Filed under Illinois, interstates, Uncategorized
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As word comes from today’s DMRegister that there’ s talk of trying to expand the selection of direct Southwest flights out of Des Moines (Orlando and St. Louis but no promises and would happen, at the earliest next summer), I’ve been thinking about advice I’d give to people flying Southwest out of DSM right now – based on my first trial run earlier this month. And here it is:
– Although Southwest offers no fee to check your luggage (how refreshing), I am glad I didn’t check mine because if I had I wouldn’t have been able to switch flights in Las Vegas at the last minute after my LAX flight was delayed and I hopped aboard a Burbank flight. Or so I gather. The first question the counter agent asked me after I inquired about switching was whether I’d checked my luggage. I hadn’t and miraculously I was en route to Burbank minutes later. When I got to Burbank, I received another update on my original LAX flight. It still hadn’t left Vegas, delayed over 2 hours and counting…
– Paying the extra $12 or so to get priority boarding was definitely worth it!! Otherwise it is essential to check in as close as possible to exactly 24 hours before flight time so you get a good position in line, preferably A group or failing that B group but NOT C group. Those folks get the middle seats and there’s less likelihood, if the plane is booked, of getting an overhead spot to stow their luggage. The one flight I didn’t take and pay the extra $12 I got an A44 number in line – not bad. And I ended up with a good aisle seat close to the front of the plane (so I could exit quickly and make my connection).
– Speaking of connections, in Las Vegas my flight arrived in the C terminal and I had to haul a** to make my connecting flight in the B terminal, which seemed like miles away (with only a few moveable walkways). The slot machines strewed in the corridors didn’t help as I had knots of people to get around while dragging my suitcase. I don’t know if this is always the case on the DSM-Vegas-LA flight. (The one I took was at noon on a Friday out of DSM.)
– My connection at Chicago’s Midway was much much better – the Seattle-Midway flight landed in a gate only three gates away from the Midway-Des Moines flight. Yippee!! (This was on the 2:30 Wednesday flight from Seattle to Midway and the 9:30 pm flight from midway to dsm.)
Filed under airfare, Chicago, Des Moines, Los Angeles, Nevada, Seattle
Okay, so I am not convinced my flights will go well at thanksgiving because, well, it’s thanksgiving. I have tried to reduce possible snafus by flying direct (a rare treat from Des Moines although it does require a 6 am flight to Newark on thanksgiving day for close to $500′ insane I know) and avoiding the wed and sun surrounding thanksgiving. Still I am holding onto some good tips from the November Conde Nast traveler on dealing with winter flight issues :
– best time to fly on …Presidents’ Day weekend, which is also valentines day. Book in early december.
– other cheap tome to fly to warm weather places? Dec 3 to 16 (you are close dad!) and mid jan.
– try alternate airports. Tampa or Fort Lauderdale rather than Miami or Orlando
– nope problems in the bud. Fly early am (I knew that one) and avoid landing between 7 and 10 in say, ohare(we learned that the hard way on our way home from Boston last month when we almost got stuck overnight in Chicago,.
– if you have to do a connecting flight (yes, alas. We do) stay away from ohare (knew that too but hard to avoid). Opt instead for Dallas or Houston (really?)
– if you can’t get a seat when you book your tix online, call the airline to get from a phone agent. Apparently it IS true that you are more likely to get bumped if you show up,at the gate without a seat.
– checking in early also decreases your chance of getting bumped.
– if bad weather on the horizon, find out if your flt is cancelled by checking airline website or twitter feed for updates. Soone r u know the better chances of getting rebooked. (I learned that last fall en route to New Orleans from Kansas City)
– Have a plan b. I was just telling this to my daughter. Know what flights are leaving after your scheduled connecting flight, in case you miss it. Although you may not find a seat. Before your flight check FlightStats.com, open “:delays” and then “global trends” which will show which airports and airlines are having the most cancelations and delays and which aren’t. Ask to be rerouted to a city that isn’t having problems. You can also sign up for A flight status alert with FlightStats.com
– cancelled flight? Fly thru Vegas if if not necessarily on your way…it has lots of flights and cheap hotels (I am flying southwest thru Vegas to LA next month!) so for example on stead of waiting for a Boston Seatte
flight, try thru Vegas. (I am flying next month to Seattle to midway to Des Moines…was acttually shorter flight time then thru Vegas.)
– know whet alternative flight you want when you can to rebook (been there, done that) use FlightStats.com again. Sign up for an account, click on flights, then flight availability, then advanced search, so you can specify airlines and city and seats.
– if airline phone is jammed, call the overseas reservation desk. Really???
You can get the phone number on your airlines web site and use Skype to call free. Wow (although I have had trouble finding airline numbers on the website)
Filed under airfare, airline fees, Chicago
CDOT, along with numerous community partners, is building the Bloomingdale Trail and Park– a multi-use linear park that will be the first of its kind in Chicago.
As a big fan of New York City’s remarkable High Line park, I was pleased to read in the recent Rails to Trails magazine about a similar park under development in Chicago – roughly scheduled to be useable by fall 2014. Like the High Line, the 2.7 mile Bloomingdale Trail – now under construction – will transform an elevated rail into a recreational trail/park. But there are differences – the Bloomingdale Trail will permit biking (it’s designed to be multi-use); it’s twice the length of the High Line and it runs through four still-bustling urban neighborhoods in northwest Chicago – Wicker Park, Bucktown, Humboldt Park and Logan Square (the High Line does this in spots, as I recall.) For more details, visit the “Reframing Ruin” photo exhibit at the Center for Neighborhood Technology (1741 N. Western Avenue) about the Bloomingdale rail – pre-transformation (presumably what the photo above portrays) into a trail. for more details see: http://bloomingdaletrail.org
Filed under bike trails, biking, Chicago, New York City
Back to the USA and steamy weather – it reminded me just how lucky we were with our weather in Europe, which was warm but not muggy or humid. (When I changed planes in London Monday, it had become beastly hot.)
I met my son and stepdaughter, who both work downtown, for lunch at a good Cuban restaurant, Cafecito at 26 E. Congress Pkway (good pressed sandwiches, salads, soup, coffee and loved that it is next door to Chicago’s youth hostel); later visited the farmers market next to the federal building at Jackson and Dearborn where my son’s working (summer internship with a U.S. senator), buying some cherries, raspberries and peaches from vendors with farms in my home state of Michigan.
At night, when I took a wrong train and ended up in Skokie rather than Evanston, my son and I ended up at an excellent Afghani restaurant in Skokie – Kabul House. I had a delicious dish – lamb stew served over sautéed spinach that reminded me a bit of saag paneer.
The Sunday before I left for London (that seems like a long time ago) my aunt took us to several places she’d discovered and we’d never seen before including:
– Prairie Avenue, which has some of Chicago’s oldest homes, and a nice café.
– A hidden new neighborhood just north of the Harris Theater in Millennium Park.
It may be a generational thing because the 20-somethings in our party liked the food a bit more than the 50-somethings at the Red Door, a small casual restaurant in Chicago’s Bucktown that seems to attract a young attractive crowd. One thing our four-some definitely agreed upon is that Red Door has an awesome outdoor patio (see photo above) – and it was a great place to dine al fresco last Saturday night, until it started raining (by which time, we had, fortunately, just gotten in our car.) The patio was spacious and surrounded by walls that blocked the street noise. It has long wooden tables, some with chairs, some with benches (which was handy for my son who was in a thigh-to-ankle brace after ACL repair surgery. Our server was pleasant and the service timely. We had several small plates – all of which were fine but didn’t bowl me over. (braised bok choi in hoisen sauce, “chestnut fried calamari with tarragon aoili” “mushroom quinoa with prunes, crispy kale, harissa”, creamy burrata cheese with bits of strawberry and pancetta, I think) and an entree of German-style mussels served with sauerkraut and a soft salty pretzel (sort of odd but the Beer-mustard broth was tasty.)
So now I understand why my return flight from Prague to London on British Airways doesn’t include a seat assignment. Apparently I can only get a “free” seat assignment (for a very costly flight, I might add) 24 hours in advance. If I want one before that, I have to pay – and the fee isn’t listed up front. (I finally found it after searching for too long. It costs about $12, talk about nickle and dime-ing. For details see: http://www.britishairways.com/travel/paid-seating-terms/public/en_us- OR http://www.britishairways.com/travel/ba6.jsp/paid-seatingprime/public/en_us
That is really irritating!! I booked this flight via American Airlines – which I’m flying outbound from Chicago to London and on the return leg from London to Chicago (after I sit in a lousy seat I was assigned “for free” 24 hours in advance) apparently. American kindly granted me reserved seats – who knew this is now a perk???
Filed under airfare, airline fees, Chicago, London
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It took me about an hour to figure out how to pay my 60 cent “unpaid toll” on Interstate 284 online, in part because I couldn’t figure out which of the many interchanges was the specific one that I drove through without paying because I had two untenable choices – the exact change lanes or the i-pass lanes, neither of which I had. My advice in the future: if you do drive through without paying – try to figure out or make a mental note of where you are and the exchange number if possible (I don’t recall one being posted anywhere.) And you have to pay within 7 days or supposedly you are liable for a $20 fine. We had another situation like this on I-88 with unpaid tolls (this time because are only option was NOT to pay since the toll booths were unattended after 10 p.m. or so when we were passing through during our drive from Des Moines) and we got some sort of threatening warning that the third unpaid toll would not be a charm. And this was several years ago (we stopped going on I-88 after Illinois jacked up the tolls so markedly and now we go primarily on toll-free I-80…our tolls last week was because we took toll roads to Oak Park and to Evanston rather than taking toll-free I-55 into Chicago, as usual.)
Filed under Illinois, interstates
A treat to attend a performance of Hubbard Street Dance and in a new venue for me – the theater at the Museum of Contemporary Art (the MCA Stage, see photo), which is much smaller than the Harris Theater further south in Millennium Park. The production continues through June 16.
The price was very reasonable ($35) and the outing had a more casual feel. The dancing was superb, as always – I am amazed by the athleticism and grace of Hubbard’s young dancers. The choreography was more of a mixed bag and I guess that’s the point of the “danc(e)volve: New Works Festival.” The first half before the intermission was my favorite! Some of the new works were a little too odd and avant-garde for me – I especially prefer when dancers do NOT talk and when they dance to music that is NOT primarily noise, which a few selections were (in one case, the discordant sound was so loud I discretely plugged one of my ears, like New Yorkers do in the subway when a train is screeching by). It was fun though to watch a film by Hubbard Street dancers that shared highlights from their US State Department sponsored trip as cultural ambassadors to Morocco, Spain and Algeria.
TakeBetsywithyou
TakeBetsywithyou 