Making The Most of a 17 hour Layover in Chicago!

When you fly using frequent flier points, you’ve gotta be willing to take the most convoluted route to your destination. Helmet had racked up a significant amount of points through Alaska Airlines, but most of the routes to Spain involved flying to 2 or more U.S. cities before the long haul to Barcelona. I assume they do this to discourage people to use points as it can sometimes take 2 or 3 days to get anywhere. We found one going through San Diego, then to Chicago but with a 17 hour layover in the Windy City. We opted for this route because some of the flights were in business class and hey....who can’t find something to do in Chicago for 17 hours??

Thankfully, there was a Cubs day-game on the day of our layover, and since we’re both baseball fans, this was a no-brainer. A couple weeks before we left, Helmut texted me, “Thinking of taking a tour of Wrigley field while we are in Chicago, can I twist your arm?”
Twist my arm....funny!

We arrived at O’hare airport at 4:45 AM and neither of us had slept much on either flight. Myself, not at all. We were exhausted to say the least and after a brief panic after discovering that the place we planned to leave our bags wasn’t open for another 5 hours, we settled on trying to leave with the  bellhop at the Hilton hotel that was connected to the airport.
Thankfully, this went off without a hitch. It’s amazing how few questions they ask after you slip them some cash!

With our bags stashed, we hopped on the blue line into town, got lost trying to connect trains, and then grabbed a Lyft to the ballpark. At this point we had been up for about 22 hours.

We took a tour of Wrigley at 9am, and I have to say that even though I loved the tour of Fenway in Boston we took a year ago, Wrigley was way more interesting. Very informative and we both felt like we came away learning a lot about the team, the ballpark, and baseball in general.

Rooftop bleachers outside the ballpark.

Wrigley uses white “W” or blue “L” flags to signal wins and losses and then keeps a live tally of the standings with team flags flying behind the outfield seats, hence the term “pennant races”.

With some time to kill between the tour and the game, we walked around and found a place called Lucky Strike. To be honest, we initially went inside to get out of the sun, but then realized that the place had pinball and a bunch of amusement and video games. Funny how we always manage to find the places that have pinball when we travel. It’s becoming a thing!

And a giant Galaga machine!!

Back at Wrigley, we watched as the Cubs beat the Mariners. We left a little early because to be honest, the game wasn’t that exciting even though the Cubs are in the race for the wildcard.

We were both tired, hungry, and wanted to find some legit Chicago style deep dish pizza.
We found a place called Pequod’s that had been recommended by some locals and man...that place DID NOT DISAPPOINT!!! Best...pizza...EVER!

After eating our weight in deep dish, we started to walk to the train to make our way back to the airport. We had plenty of time, but got lost because whaddya know....navigating an unfamiliar city isn’t easy when you’ve been up for 30 hours straight!
We gave in and called Lyft.

All in all,  we felt like we made the most of our short time in Chicago. The whole day felt like a vacation in and of itself!
We got on the 8 and a half hour flight to Barcelona and it didn’t take long before we were deep asleep. Great way to pass the time on a long flight! ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz