Going To Chicago

Plans are now being made for our annual trip to Chicago, and we are, as always, excited about it. We got a great room in a four star hotel, and cheap airfare. My only concern is that a lot of airlines are canceling flights because of the high price of fuel, which brings me to another subject, the rental car. Mark and I have made three trips to Europe over the years and not one of those times have we rented a car and driven ourselves around. Airplanes, trains, trams, and taxis have been our mode of transportation. We had some adventures where language put us in the wrong train car and cab drivers in Italy scared the hell out of us. In Paris, a cab driver refused to take us into one area, so he dropped us off on the outskirts and we walked in, only later to find out why. It was considered a dangerous neighborhood.

I think the worst experience was on the Rome subway, where Mark thinking it would be like subways in America, put his arm in the closing doors of a departing train figuring they would just pop back open and he'd jump on. With Mark's arm stuck between the doors in a vise like grip, the train started to move. When Mark started screaming in terror, an alert passenger reached up and pushed the emergency button. When the doors opened, he pulled an ashen Mark safely into the train.

It was just about a year ago that Mark and I went to Atlanta and scared each other nearly to death driving. Mark, just being the horrible driver he is, and me being so blind that I drove over a traffic island, barely missing a stop sign, on my way up a one way street, the wrong way. So this time, for our trip to Chicago, we have decided to go totally auto-less. Chicago has decent mass transit, buses, and taxis, so why not use them. We will even be visiting my mom out in Tinley Park, via the Metra Train, or Rock Island as I like to call it. Considering the high price of fuel, parking, and the actual rental fees, I think it will be a good plan.

The only scary and dangerous part of this plan, according to Mark, is when we get to Tinley Park and I call my mom to come pick us up. He thinks her driving is only slightly better than mine. I say, 'so what's the problem'?