As soon as I realized my passport had expired and that I needed to go to Chicago to apply for a new one, a friend recommended that I take Amtrak to save money. So I did. I left Kansas City on Monday May 19th at 7:30am. After making 20 stops and switching trains in St. Louis I arrived in Chicago at 8:40. I would have to say that this day was one of my most boring days alive ever, as I didn't bring enough stuff to keep me busy on the train.
When I exited Union Station in Chicago, I was immediately greeted by the Sears Tower. It was nighttime and I snapped a photo, starting my trip off looking just like a tourist. I made my way to the Red Line subway station and took it to the end of the line and was picked up by my Uncle Mike. I stayed at his place that night and the next. He has two dogs that were very hyper and loved to growl at each other. I woke up the next day at 6am, the earliest I had woken up in a long time. We had to drive to the subway station, take the train downtown, and find our way to the Kluczynski Federal Building for a 9:30am appointment. We got to the building at about 8:20, so I wandered around the block for a while before heading up to the 18th floor.
At the passport office I realized that I was not the only person who let their passport slip through their mind. I was 12th in line, but after being sent to the back of the line because I didn't have the form filled out completely I became 24th. While waiting to be called in, I talked with a few people. One guy was going to Mexico to bury his mother, the other was going to Quebec in a week for a teaching conference. This was basically a time for me to brag about my trip. When I was called to the counter it took about 8 minutes, and I was out of the Kluczynski building by 9:40.
After this I walked around Chicago all day. I walked from the federal building to Grant Park to Navy Pier to the Hancock Tower back downtown to catch a subway to Little Italy where I had a slice of Chicago-style pizza. I then walked all around Little Italy and the UIC campus and caught a subway to another part of the town and explored.
I spent most of the day walking. The worst part was that I was wearing flip-flops the entire day. I was also the only person wearing shorts. I lucked out and it wasn't too cold, but I still stuck out like a sore thumb.
I then took a subway back to Mike's and walked to his house from the station, and we went out for Italian at a local college spot. I was exhausted so I crashed pretty early, and woke up at 6:30am the next day. My train left Chicago at 9:25am and got to Kansas City at 10pm. I had purchased some movies in Chicago so I had more to do on the train, but I was still bored. For more money I could have flown in and out of Chicago in one day, but because I had the time I decided to take the train. It wasn't a pleasant experience, but I did learn that I need to go with the flow and that transportation can be boring.
The total cost of my Chicago trip was $285. $108 for the Amtrak tickets, $160 for the passport, and the rest was food. (I'm not including the movies I bought). I could have saved $60 if I didn't have to expedite the passport and I could have saved another $23 if I bought my Amtrak tickets three days in advance (I would have saved $9 plus 15% for student early booking). In the end it had to be done and I'm glad it didn't cost more than it had to. I had a good Chicago experience for a relatively low price. I'm glad the passport situation is going to work out (it's in the mail right now).
Check out this photo album from my trip. I have captions on some of the pictures that explain them better.
