man up and get the bus!

i dont know

Based on my expereince of the regina bus system, its probably crazy and not at all like the UK bus system.

Do you guys know of any good taxi firms in chicago?

I'll send them an email and ask or soemthing.

i've managed to get the bus from the airport in seattle and nyc. i'm the most inept traveller imaginable, and if i can do it you can do it. COME ON PHIL, BE A MAN!!!

i just google mapped it, and its almost a half an hour away by car- that sounds like a hefty taxi fee.

I also googled it by public transit, and the subway goes from the airport to a couple blocks away from the hotel

I didn't read all of this but, no. I don't plan on wearing underpants.

according to this site it would cost a pretty penny (or rather 3,899 pretty pennies)

I would say about $25-30! You can ask the cabbie how much before he takes you or you can try to find someone else waiting and ask if they want to share if your going in the same direction.

According to that site, its just under $40 (p.s thanks psherman), I actually dont mind paying it.

Its about £24 so thats not too bad, I've paid more for a taxi here.

Mary, you dont by any chance know of any good taxi firms I can book with?

The train is really easy, though! If you can carry your stuff around the airport, you should be fine on the train. You get on it in the airport and the blue line runs to about six blocks away from the hotel, so you can then walk for 10 minutes, or walk two blocks and then take the train one stop, and that gets you a block away from the hotel.

Cab rates from O'Hare to downtown look to be at least $35 dollars, and then you need to tip on top of that. So maybe someone can meet you directly at the train station, or maybe Liz Kihou (driving) could pick you up, but I don't think she's coming in til 7:30 or so

haha sorry, my post was from an hour ago and I never posted it :P

traffic is all about traffic , picking you up from the airport could take 20 minutes with no traffic to about 2 hour during rush hour, your bet bet is the train lots of people from Chicago and other parts take the train when coming from the airport .
What time will you be arriving?

I MIGHT be able to pick you up, as long as it's not during rush hour.

Thanks for the advice becca, honestly I cant visulise 6 blocks, it doesnt make sense to me (I never really understood it whilst living in canada, I was always with people so I didnt have to worry about it).

I just looked at the route on street view and honestly, thats a really long walkto do with a suitcase and several other heavy bags.

If liz would be willing to pick me up that would be awesome and I would love her forever.

If not, how much do you guys tip?

right now I'm really leaning towards a taxi.

soloyo, didnt see the post until after I posted it, if you could do it it would be amazing/awesome.

I get in at 5:07 but it usually takes a while to pick up luaguage and get through immigration so it could be closer to 6pm before I'm out.

Thats of course assuming there are no delays.

what about the midway airport...that is where I am coming from ..is that far from the hotel?

It's slightly closer but still pretty much the same. The only difference is that you'd be taking the orange line instead of the blue line.

heres the google map for midway to the hotel

thanks dudes.... I bet the transit system is wayyyy better in Chicago than Toronto's

stubby43 on Aug 06 '10 at 1:42pm
Thanks for the advice becca, honestly I cant visulise 6 blocks, it doesnt make sense to me (I never really understood it whilst living in canada, I was always with people so I didnt have to worry about it).

I just looked at the route on street view and honestly, thats a really long walkto do with a suitcase and several other heavy bags.

well, once you get off the blue line train at Clark/Lake, you can walk 2 blocks over to State/Lake (3-4 minute walk), then take the red line one stop to Grand, then walk down about two blocks (4 minute walk?) and you're at the hotel. Or you can get off the blue line train at Clark/Lake and take the 29 bus headed to Navy Pier for two stops and you're right around the corner from the hotel.

So even if you get off the blue line and you've got too much to carry for that 10 or 15 minute walk, you can mostly take the train or bus the rest of the way or try to wrangle a cab from there.

Haha, do you not measure by blocks where you are? That's so funny. Mostly because of NYC, I often think in terms of short blocks or long blocks.

Oh, and tipping cab drivers is always sorta up to you, some people tip 3-5 bucks standard, but people often tip like on a food bill, maybe 20+%

America is pretty odd compared to the rest of the world, America is very ordered (hence the block system) but europe really isnt like thatthis is the estate I live on, its about 15 years old as you can see theres no real logic to it at all.

so you can see why the block system doesnt make sense to me.

thanks for the advice, I'm not sure if I want to hail a taxi from the train station or not, would there be a lot around there? (more general question not just to becca).

P.S thank you everyone for being so helpful.

Good advice here. Just commenting to bookmark it.