Image above: Amazing to see the huge amount of snow burying the car in the hotel car park. [Wednesday 02 February] | [View all photos]
Less than 24 hours after arriving back from Morocco at the end of January (Part 3 to 7 photos of that trip still to come), I was back in the air once again speeding my way to Chicago O’Hare for a five day business trip.
With such a short stopover in London, the contrast between the two trips was heightened. On the Sunday I was squashed in cattle class on an EasyJet flight and snacking on junk food. On the Monday I was reclining in ClubWorld luxury enjoying the view from my window and dining on salmon gravlax!
And there was more. Checking into my hotel room and turning on the news I found out that a massive blizzard was about to hit Illnois two days later. It was a disconcerting feeling going from riding camel through the arid Sahara desert three days before and then to be hit by what would be Chicago’s 3rd worst blizzard in recorded history.
So on the Tuesday when the snow started falling thick and fast we tried to leave early but everyone had the same idea and so a 15 minute journey took three times as long as we crawled along in traffic. Looking out of my hotel room on Wednesday morning it was amazing to see how much snow had fallen overnight which became more apparent when I took a walk out in the car park at lunch and saw rows of cars buried in snow. So with the client office obviously closed I spent the day doing conference calls from the hotel instead. Kinda ironic that after flying all the way there I had to be on the phone anyways. *wry grin*
With all the snow around, it proved quite difficult to find somewhere to eat that evening. With the food at the Hyatt being surprisingly poor both in menu choices and in taste we had no wish to eat there. However, with the weather closing down most restaurants in downtown we discovered that the restaurant at the Hilton (where we stayed last time) was fully open so we ending taking a taxi there for dinner – much to the amusement of our taxi driver.
Before long, it was the final night of the trip where wandering downtown Naperville I discovered the fragrant Casablanca Twist tea at Adagio Teas which I brought back for IT Girl and she can’t get enough of it. Guess I’d better stock up next time I go back. :)
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