I just arrived in Chicago after flying on Southwest Airlines from BWI into Midway. As always, Southwest was as efficient as ever in terms of check in, security, boarding, and disembarking the plane. I love flying Southwest for domestic flights out of BWI (which has its own Southwest terminal) and those little airplane crackers make the trip so much more enjoyable.
If you do fly into Midway, do not take a taxi. Instead save about $50 and get aboard the CTA (just like the Wilco song), Chicago’s famous elevated train line and take the orange line (the only line leaving Midway) into downtown Chicago.
You’ll want to get off the train at Roosevelt Station (you pay at the airport, not when you get off the train), which is about two blocks from the Hilton, off S. Michigan. If you cannot find S. Michigan, ask a CTA attendant or someone walking in and out of the Starbucks next to the Roosevelt Station.
Taxis are a bit hard to find on Sunday, as the Chicago Bears are playing the Minnesota Vikings in a Norse division showdown right now and the taxis are probably all perched outside of Soldier Field.
For those of you still looking for hotel rooms, I’m staying in the Essex Inn, which is right next to the Hilton. Rooms are $99 a night and the hotel is so close to the Hilton I can see in the windows of half the attendants of SES without a spyglass (which will make for some good rumors).
Hope this helps and see you at Search Engine Strategies Chicago!
Oh yes, Chris Pearson tells me that Gapers Block is a great site for finding things to do while in Chicago; give it a look.
