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Hehe, thats how hot I wish it was in the picture of a beach!!
Hey guys, thought we'd better update cos there have been a lot of storms and things up here that have been hitting the news. We had a wonderful few days with Sheila and got on the train Tuesday afternoon to get to Penn Station and onto Chicago.
Have you ever had a long trip somewhere?? Well multiply that by 1000. We started our travels on Amtrak at 4pm. First impressions were good: LOADS of legroom (like business class in flying) comfy seats, a dining car and cafe car and a little lounge. Started off well, we got comfy etc etc. Then someone complains that it's too hot in our carriage so they turn the heating off .. and forget to turn it back on all night. We were all shivering in our coats, scarves etc. Then there were lots of snow storms and other problems along the way, needless to say we were supposed to arrive in Chicago at 9.45am and ended up arriving at 7pm. 10 hours late UGH!
So after that long ordeal Matt and I decide to take a taxi to our hotel, get a shower and something to eat and go to bed early. Our hotel is about 30 minutes away from Chicago. The taxi driver decided he didn'ty know where he was going and kept driving in the wrong direction, despite being on the phone to the hotel and getting directions from them. By this point we were both SO tired and frustrated, the only reason we'd got a taxi would be to make outr lives a bit easier rather than try to figure out buses. 2 hours and SIXTY DOLLARS later we get there. We have the taxi number and we're making a huge complaint about him, he WAY over charged us for him getting lost. Put it this way: NYC is a way more expensive city than Chicago and we got a taxi for $45 from the airport into Manhattan, which was a longer drive too. GRR.
Anyway, I have nothing but praise for the people at Rodeway Inn that we're staying at. They were friendly and helpful, calling the bus company for us this morning and getting times and it's SO cheap to stay there.
Chicago is pretty so far, our plan today was to get a map and have a wander around. It's unbelievably cold though, -16 degrees Fahrenheit with the windchill, I think that's about -30 degrees C. NYC was kind of about -3 a lot of the time, bearable, but Matt has a funny picture of me bundled up. I'm wearing 2 T shirts, my big hoodie from uni and my coat and 2 pairs of socks. Matt had to buy himself a hat and more socks cos he was too cold and he is ALWAYS warm lol.
We're going to go find some food shortly, looks to be lots of yummy and cheap restaurants around yay!
Mel and Matt
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