Bundy Bear
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I ran my first marathon in 2022 and then in 2023 I got a spot in the New York Marathon, when I arrived back in Australia after completing the run, I thought about my next challenge and at the time Chicago Marathon was accepting ballot entries to run the Chicago Marathon on 13 October 2024. After a month of waiting I got lucky to get a place and so after taking most of Christmas holidays away from running I got back into it in early February. I also didn’t help that I caught a nasty virus that took ages to shake. The New York the trip report is written here.
With flights needed to be booked I waited until Qantas released a DSC and then started to piece together a schedule. .
Monday 7 October
QF533 BNE-SYD 737-800 VH-VXD SEAT 4C
I was originally looking to fly out on a Tuesday but as I was coming back on the following Monday the 7 day away price meant that I had to leave on a Monday.
Standard lunch service, probably a sandwich with a choice of drink and tea or coffee.
Arrived into Sydney on time and then did the bus transfer to the International terminal.
I had purchased a new apple 10 watch to track my running; and I was claiming the GST credit, it is fairly easy to get the GST credit just by downloading the Australia TRS app, add in your details and then this gives you a bar code then you present the goods and the barcode to the staff and 2 minutes later your done and a few days later the money is in your account.
Monday 7 October
QF11 SYD-LAX A380-800 SEAT 31F PE CANCELLED.
Unfortunately I was still only Qantas Gold so had to settle for the QF business lounge, as a lounge it isn’t too bad, good selection of food and drinks. The previous weeks QF11 had been cancelled and around 5:00pm Qantas sent me a text to say that the flight had been delayed. This wasn’t looking good. After another 3hours in the lounge, the departures board was acting strange as the QF11 flight that had previously been 9:00pm departure with boarding around 8:10pm wasn’t updating as we went past the boarding time. At 8:22pm I received the dreaded your flight has been cancelled and that accommodation options would be forwarded shortly. I then received a follow up text to offer accommodation options in Sydney, there were 3 options, the Moxy and the Holiday Inn Sydney Airport which I took and a 3rd one which I hadn’t heard of. As I was going to be in Sydney for the day I thought it best to take the accommodation I knew.
We were asked to go to the boarding gate as to get out of Sydney airport you have to go down a level and then proceed through duty free and then head to the left hand side crew area for customs people to let you out of the airport. I then collected a bag from the carousel, then proceeded to the taxi pick up area. Having to use a taxi voucher to then reach your accommodation is wasted hour in your life you don’t get back. At leas there was a Sydney or was it Qantas staff member trying to secure taxis note that not all taxis will take vouchers. Checkin at the hotel was reasonably efficient and when I should have been flying over Fiji I was now stuck in Sydney for the night.
Rescheduled
Tuesday 8 October
QF11 SYD-LAX A380-800 VH-OQI SEAT 31F
On the Tuesday I got up at regular time had breakfast from the hotel and then thought I would go for a run on the new Sydney Metro. I walked to Mascot and then travelled into Central and then changed to the new Metro line and went up as far as Chatswood, then I caught the northshore train to town hall then the circle line to Martin Place to change to the Metro line then back to Central and then back to Mascot. The new metro line certainly is quicker and more regular than the older trains.
The older trains do have better views as the Metro is mostly tunnels.
Back at the hotel I ordered some lunch, thanks Qantas then a few hours later caught the Holiday inn airport shuttle back to the airport and check in.
Check in was smooth and just over an hour later in the lounge the flight boarded.
I had better luck with keeping the jaffas from running away on the 2 night.
Probably a better joke that i added to facebook about the jaffas running away on the first night.
Meals were pretty decent for premium economy, and then breakfast a few hours out of LAX.
Tuesday 8 October
AA3113 LAX-ORD 737-800 N906AN SEAT 19C
My original plan was to spend a night in LA which would help with the jetlag and a visit to In & Out, but with the cancellation it was now a 4 hour stop in LAX and onto Chicago arriving after midnight. As I was inside the 24hour mark for cancelling the accommodation, that wasn’t possible but as I had booked it through Qantas hotels during a points promotion I was lucky to see my points show up.
Getting through LA passport control was made easier by downloading the CBP MPC app, remember to only submit it once on the plane.
I spent a few hours in the AA First lounge for some reason Qantas gold can access the AA first lounge which was pretty impressive, reminds me of a good Qantas business lounge in Australia, massive range of food, and you know some of your friends travel more than you when they can guess your lounge seating location from a Facebook picture.
I was kind of dreading this 4 hour flight so I made sure to eat as much as I could in the lounge and also purchase a sandwich in the terminal, my previous AA flight from CLT-LAX had very little service from the cabin crew.
The cabin crew on this flight were completely different, a small snack, a range of drinks and they did a lot of water runs, and checking on passengers. Its possible that LAX-ORD is a premium route so maybe they try harder but it was such a contrast to the previous AA flight.
We landed in Chicago just after midnight and then collected the bag and then went in search of the uber pick up Zone. In some areas Uber won’t accept a ride if you aren’t in the exactly the right area, walking towards the pick up area there were quiet a few Uber drives looking to pick up cash rides but none seem to be anywhere close enough to what I wanted to pay and decided just to wait the 10 minutes on a ride I eventually got.
Tonight's hotel was Best Western O’Hare/ElkGrove which was a good 20 minutes from Chicago O’Hare airport and booked with Qantas on another points bonus.
The next 5 nights was at the Holiday Inn Express Magnificent Mile it was about 2 miles north from Downtown Chicago and the start and finish lines of the Chicago marathon.
To get into Chicago from O’hare cheapest way is to take the L train (Elevated train, as some of the tracks in downtown are Elevated)
There are 3 and 5 day passes available, I should have looked harder to find the 5 day pass as the 3 day pass was the default option so 3 days for US $15.00 isn’t too expensive. I think the 5 day pass was $25.00.
After taking the train I then transferred to a bus to the hotel. I then caught another bus to the downtown start area which is covered by the 3 day Ventra pass, I also started looking at locations for dinner, before any marathon you really need to eat more than you want to.
On the Holiday Inn Express I had 3 days paid, it was like $500 AUD a night and I somehow got 2 days on points,
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