Travel log: Chicago trains...

If I learn nothing else from my KARL experience (highly unlikely) at least I learned how to conquer public transportation in Washington D.C., and that very training came in pretty handy in the Windy City.

Hello, Chicago. It's been a while.

I'm in Chicago for the National AgriMarketing Association's Fall Conference. There are meetings, and learning, and all of that other stuff that goes with a conference of this type. Unfortunately I won't see much of Chicago while I'm here, I'm flying solo and am buried under a pile of work - but I will be able to say I have rode the train system through Chicago. That alone should earn me some sort of travel survival badge.

I've used the metro in D.C., and I've tackled the train in Minneapolis, but I haven't ever tried the train system in Chicago and this is my fourth (or fifth) trip here. We usually take cabs, but that's about $50. The train? Five dollars. Five!

I was flying solo and usually when I do that I do a taxi for safety and ease, but this time I decided to be adventurous. Especially after seeing the line for taxi service at the airport. I told myself, "the train can't be that bad. It can't be like it was in Adventure's In Babysitting, [link contains course language/not safe for work] could it?" All I could see was that great scene when they are running through Chicago, jump the El-train and Be-Rad gets his toe slit open by a switchblade when he was caught in between rival gangs.

I mean, it was broad daylight.


I ventured down to the train area and bought myself a ticket. I took a look at the map and it was like reading Chinese, but only because they map is pretty broad and there aren't many details. Nothing like the Metro in D.C. It was early, I wasn't on a schedule, and I was up for an adventure. I hopped on the blue line toward Forest Park. I have no idea where Forest Park is, but I was headed that way. On this particular train I noticed a few things. First, this was not near as clean as the Metro (or the light rail in Minneapolis to be honest). Second, there was one map per train. One. It was at the front of the train and this prompted me to pull out my phone and start the Google search. I found a map. Third, nothing was digital. Nothing.

It looks like a maze, because it is!

As we were headed toward downtown the driver revealed we had mechanical issues. We couldn't go over 15 mph. Wonderful. Did this mean by the time I got to my stop, the Lords of Hell would be loading up and waiting to cross over into another territory? Most of the folks on the train looked fairly normal, so I wasn't too worried. Then we stopped a couple times and went into Express mode. This is where I really had to pay attention. Express mode is where they skip over stops to try and speed up the route, and trains following don't always go into Express mode and will hit each stop on the route. The train started to speed up, so apparently the mechanical issue we were having was not hindering our progress anymore.

We made it to my stop. I got off the train and noticed that it's a tight fit. The platforms are small, and there are people everywhere. I followed the signs and was soon out on the street. I started to walk toward my hotel and then it started to rain.

I flagged down a cab. At this point, I was over this adventure.

Six dollars later I was checking into my hotel, and a lot drier than I would have been had I kept walking. I still saved money. Didn't require "one stitch," and made it in one piece.

I proved I didn't need a babysitter to navigate a major metropolitan public transportation system.

However, I'm still not doing it in the dark.