My wife and I taking a noon Southwest Airlines flight from Midway. Its our first time using MDW. I know we can take a cab ($50). It will be a Friday to Sunday trip (we come back around 6:00 p.m.) and we can drive and park if I had some idea of the time and costs. We should have limited luggage (hah!) and certainly have taken Metra and the CTA downtown many times.

Can anyone suggest some alternatives? Thanks.

You really don't give a specific of where on the Northshore you are but if you want public transit - you could take the Purple line - then if it is a time that it is running express, take it to the loop and change to the Orange line. If not running express, take the Purple line to Howard, take the Red line to Roosevelt (don't change at State and Lake - you have two flights of stairs to climb) and then the Orange line to Midway. Kind of a long trip but if you have the time, it is worth only paying $2.

Otherwise, you can take a Metra train to whichever station (Union or Northwestern) your line would come into and then walk to the loop to catch the Orange line to Midway.

I believe it is $23/day to park in the most convenient parking lot at Midway. For a three-day trip that's cheaper than taking a cab. Economy parking is even less expensive but requires more time to take the lot shuttle to and from the terminal.

Regards,

Steve

Thanks so much for the reply!

The North Shore is a beautiful place to live, but in terms of accessibility, it sucks. That said, since you're gone Fri-Sun -- I'd just leave the car at the airport.