DON'Ts when visiting Illinois

I recently arrived from a four-day trip to Illinois. My sister, who lives there, in a fit of craziness, decided to come to Toronto, with her family, to pick me up, and then drive back to Monee, Illinois the next day. I agreed of course, being equally crazy as we came from the same family. Besides, I loved the thought of a long drive from Toronto to Illinois… for the first time. I was already dreaming about the scenes I will see along the way, until my sister said we’d travel at night to avoid rush hour and traffic. Bummer. There went my scenes, swallowed in darkness and thick fog (yep, the fog somewhere in Michigan was so thick you can slice it. Slowed us down, a bit).

Anyway, had great fun during my four-day trip. Learned a lot, some of which I’d like to share in this episode which I call:

Nothing beats traveling with your loved ones

The Don’ts When Visiting Illinois.

1. If you plan to drive from Canada to US, don’t forget to have enough coins, both in Canadian and US currency. For toll fees. And early morning coffee… to keep you awake.

2. Don’t snooze on the driver, even if she is a nurse who is used to the graveyard shift. Keep her awake and alert by making kuwento. When you are driving at 80 mph in a dense fog, accidents may happen.

3. Don’t stare at the dead deer. Yup, there are road kills all right, deer that forgot to use the pedestrian lane. Saw one right after we checked out of the Canada-US border. If you see a dead one lying on the road, keep on going. It won’t come back to life if you ogle at it. You’ll just delay your travel and other traveler’s as well.

4. Don’t trust the weather, especially at the onset of summer. Sometimes it gets really cold, at times hot. Bring a jacket.

5. Don’t miss these attractions in the suburban area: Dolphin show at Brookefield Zoo (my brother-in-law swears it’s better than the one at Shedd’s), the German community at Frankfort, the forest preserves (live deer may show up in the morning and late afternoon. No kidding. They’re not stuffed or domesticated :D), and the country scene (old barnyards, acres and acres of soya and corn fields).

6. Don’t skip Downtown Chicago… and don’t visit on wheels. Downtown Chicago is best explored on foot. If you are coming from the suburban area, like us, take the Metra train. It’s an hour train ride to downtown, very clean, comfortable and cheap. Weekend pass is only $5.00. Train stations also take you to well-known tourist spots. The one we took was from Oak Forest, with downtown station a few steps away from the tallest building in North America, the Sears Tower (1,450 ft or 110 stories high). Didn’t go up, though. My companions are a little scared. July 4^th was approaching and who knows if terrorists will attack the building same way they did with the World Trade Center in NY. One of my sister’s crazy ideas. (It could be that terrorists are getting ideas from paranoid people like her and blog entries like mine. :D).

7. Don’t miss the Millennium Park. It’s about 5 minutes away by taxi from the Sears Tower. It’s an award-winning center for art, music, landscape and architectural design. You’ll find there cool attractions such as the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, an outdoor concert venue that can seat 4,000 guests with a lawn that can accommodate about 7,000; The Cloud Gate (also known as the Bean) which is a 110-ton elliptical sculpture made from highly polished stainless steel plate, reflecting the old Chicago skyline; and the BP Bridge, which looks like a snake when viewed from above. There are lotsa more, but can’t write them all in here. Too long a list.

8. Don’t miss the Taste of Chicago event. It’s a yearly thing held several days before the 4^th of July. This is for those who love to eat. It’s kinda like our Taste of the Danforth thingy, where people flock to pig out, listen to good music and play. (My sister heard from the news that Kenny Rogers sang at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion the evening of the day we were in downtown. Too bad we were already home by then. She didn’t help ease my frustration by mentioning it. Not at all).

9. Don’t skip Shedd Aquarium and Planetarium. I did skip this. Not enough time. Grrrr!!! I only heard that it’s a really big aquarium with lotsa fish inside… every fish you can imagine. At the time we were there, they were featuring the Komodo dragon. Hmmm… is Komodo dragon a fish???

10. Don’t visit Downtown Chicago when you only have a day to do it. The end result is nothing but frustration and regret. And then you’ll be obsessed with saving money so you can spend the whole week there the next time you visit.

So, after the short four days, I had to go home. It was frustrating to think that I could have spent another day in town had I known earlier that July 2 was official holiday in Canada. Another grrrrr!!! Which leads me to the additional don’ts.

1. Don’t plan a trip or book a flight if you haven’t checked your calendar yet. Changing your flight schedule could be as expensive as the plane ticket itself. These airlines, I think, thrive on frustrated travelers like me.

2. Don’t pack haphazardly. Stash your soiled underwear at the “bottomest” part of your traveling bag. US customs in the airport search bags and insert a round white thingy inside (probably to detect powdered residue of drugs or bombs or whatever). In my hurry to pack my bags before getting to the airport (I didn’t have enough time for that, too), I didn’t pack my soiled clothes properly. During the search, my underwear fell off the table. It was really embarrassing. Good thing the officer was a woman. She helped keep my dignity intact by not smirking or making a face.

3. Seriously consider your clothes when traveling international, especially when you go into US customs. (Oh… I should’ve started this sentence with DON’T… but… what the heck! It’s my blog!). Anyway, I totally forgot about one of the US customs regulations, which was taking your shoes off during inspection. So, I was presentable enough, except that I was wearing my red socks, which is way too baduy for my over-all attire (sinuot ko yon without thinking… time constraint and all that). So when I took off my shoes during inspection, namula din ako sa hiya. My socks stood out. I commend the officers on this. If they noticed my socks, they didn’t show it. Pag ako yun, hahagalpak ako sa tawa! I was silently laughing at myself din!

But then, one of the best experiences I’ve had on this trip was my flight from Cleveland, OH to Toronto, ON. There were only three passengers, including myself, on the flight to Toronto. Feeling ko nakasakay sa private jet. Because there were only three of us, the pilot himself (I think his name is Chuck. I forgot na. All I remember is… “ang guwapo niya!!!”) came over to introduce himself and shake our hands, and named us one by one when he thanked us for using their airline before touching down at the Lester B Pearson International Airport.

So there… my first US trip. One that would be remembered for a long, long time. But I should say, the best part of it was spending time with my sister and her family. Nothing beats traveling with your loved ones.