Chicago Mileage Run

It seems this year I have the potential of hitting 1K status with United Airlines. I've been marginally close once before but didn't care enough to actual reach it. With more international flights in my near future, the benefits of 1K status is more appealing. Top it off with a Chicago promotion of double EQM miles and cheap airfare, the trifecta of a mileage run was born.

Some friends were up for meeting in the middle of the night and met them at Miller's Pub. By the time I arrived, the kitchen was closed and I shared food with them. I will have to try their famous Canadian baby back ribs another time. Nothing major, half tuna salad sandwich and fries. Enough food for me to shake off my hunger and have a few drinks.

Afterwards, I checked into the Hilton Rosemont. I originally thought to rent a car and tool around but found a really good rate which prompted me to stay indoors in the wee hours of the morning and catch a power nap. I will say though that navigating O'Hare to find the airport shuttles is not very intuitive. Trying to stamp out my annoyance, my mood improved upon entering the lobby to find a very modern hotel and spacious hotel room.



Before heading back to the airport, grabbed breakfast in the Library Tavern in the hotel lobby. The hotel was recently renovated and connects to the convention center so the Tavern was definitely designed for people to hang out to drink and eat. The buffet selection was really good. I'm a sucker for good chocolate croissants and eggs benedict. It sounds strange but the english muffins here are thick and chewy which you don't typically find. The English Thomas variety is what you normally see which I'm typically not a fan of.

Got into O'hare Airport and found the security really slow as TSA was implementing the full body scanners. It minimally takes about 15 seconds per person and felt like I was crawling at a snail's pace. Despite the huge number of frequent fliers with United, I felt that the operations should be smoother and efficient when it came to security and boarding processes. It wasn't. C'est la vie.

Really, the only bad part of this trip was TSA. Go figure. :)

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