Flying visit to ORD 2 1/2 - enough time for a shopping trip?
 

Hi all
As part of an upcoming business trip/DONE4 i chucked in a day trip LGA-ORD-LGA. I am flying AA in F and my plan was to kill a couple of hours in the AC and then head back. Its bascially a mileage run and a chance to visit tis crazy ORD place that people complain so much about.

My flights are:

March 24 - LGA-ORD AA 313 09:00 - 10:40
March 24 - ORD-LGA AA 362 14:45 - 18:00

I can check in online for the retrun flight before I leave for the airport in the morning). I basically have a shade under 4 hours (asusming an on time departure/arrival).

As I said my plan was to kill time in AC drinking free drinks :D but now realise that there is a Shabby Chic store in Chicago and I can surprise mrssimongr with a gift from my travels.

Finally getting to the question - as I have never been to ORD I know nothing about transport etc in that area. The Shabby Chic store is 2146 N. Halsted Street. On google maps that is about 16 miles from the airport on a relatively straight road. So will I a) time to get there and back and b) what would teh rough cost be of such a cab fare?

Thanks in advance for any assistance here - this will be a very painful exercise for me but mrssimongr is worth it :)

S

After the 30-45 minute each way for the "L" ride or the same time to drive/taxi, there really isn't much quality time left for shopping. If you know the exact location of the store, then you might be ok, but even with 4 hours you are cutting it close.

You can do it, but you'll need to take a cab, which should be more like 30 - 45 minutes, depending on traffic. You can't really make it on the L train as it takes close to an hour to get downtown because of track work and then another train north to Halsted will take another 30 minutes for the same reasons. A cab will be about $35 - $40 each way, but would give you a couple of hours to shop.

Tough one. Assuming you arrive on time and have no bags.

You'll arrive at the International terminal at 10:40 and might be through immigration by 11:00, but more likely by 11:15.

To get to the CTA, you'll then need to take the airport train to the main terminals, 2 is the best, I think, and then walk to the CTA station (well sign posted). It will now be between 11:15 and 11:30.

I would then take the CTA train to the California stop, where you'll be by 11:45ish at best, and take a cab from there to the store, where you should arrive at about noon if all has gone well thus far.

Leaving the store, the reverse trip should take about an hour - cab to California CTA stop and then train to O'hare. Assuming 1/2 hour in the store, you'll be back at ORD by 13:30.

You'll leave from T3, and this is as close as I'd want to cut it for a INTL departure. If anything goes wrong you're in trouble.

You can also take a cab right from the International terminal and since the 24th is a Saturday traffic won't be bad. 25 minutes should be plenty of time to allow. But, it will be about $60 round trip. If you do the cab route you could be at the store by 11:30, spend half an hour and be back at ORD by 12:30. Pleanty of time for those drinks. Cabs abound on North Halsted and you'll be able to flag one down within seconds.

I think the OP is coming in from LGA, not LGW :)

Yup :D

I am heading into MCO for three days then up to NY for about a week - this was a day trip I had planned - originally just a MR run to kill time whilst in New York on the Saturday - much too expensive for me to have all that free time.

Still thinking of cancelling the ORD MR - might be better to spend a day in New York and try and hit the store in LA...

Thanks for the advice - if I do it, it will be a short trip in cab.

Cheers

S

Are you going? or Did you make it?

Oops, thanks for the catch.

Is it March yet? :p

Thanks for the help guys. I actually reworked my planning for this trip and realised that I have 7 hours in LA at the start of my trip so I will hit the Santa Monica store rather than Chicago - I was desperately trying to work out what to do with 7 hours in LAX - now I have something marginally less painful ;)

Now deciding whether I want to do the mileage run or not.... its only about 3000 points...

You should still do it and go for some Chicago style pizza/dogs/italian beef ^

For what it's worth: Last Saturday afternoon it took me two hours to get from O'Hare to my hotel on Michigan Avenue because of track work on the Blue Line from the airport. The driver said that work would be going on for many months and worst on the weekends and to allow plenty of extra time to get anywhere.

The reverse trip back to the airport yesterday (Monday midday) took a little over an hour.