chicago

We had been planning this trip for a good while. It started out as a spa trip but due to extra costs, we decided to change it up and try to visit as many places as possible while keeping costs relatively low. To be honest, the hardest part of the whole trip was planning everything out, and looking back I’m glad nothing got delayed/canceled. With train tickets leaving at six in the morning, we all (except Yeowoon) arrived twenty minutes early before the departure time. As the clock ticked closer to six Yeowoon stilled hadn’t shown up, and we faced the reality of leaving her behind, but around five minutes prior to departure, she finally showed up, which was a huge relief. Her reason was poor traffic/driving, either one of those. 

Onboard the train, we had two hours to kill. Jonathan and Ryland brought card packs, and we were allowed to move freely around the cabins, so we ended up in the lounge cart playing card games for pretty much the entire trip. I ended up learning how to play Poker, albeit I still had no clue, and kept going all in just for fun. Upon arrival, the Chicago Union Station was beautiful. The station was huge, with an elaborately decorated ceiling. We exited onto some street and noticed that the Willis Tower was close to the station, so we went inside to the lobby area and chilled for a bit, looking over our plans for the day and filming a short video on Andy giving Zhaohan a chiropractic session.

After Zhaohan’s chiropractic session, we walked through Millenium Park, taking in the city life. We later headed towards the Bean, where this photo was taken. Looking back on this photo, it’s hilarious. Everyone has a different expression. Starting from the right, Jonathan looks like he’s vibing. Andy looks distressed, Zhaohan looks crazy, Ryland looks deep in contemplation, and Yeowoon is ???. Anyways. After plenty of photos at the Bean, we headed over to an escape room, which I honestly thought wasn’t going to be great, but it was pretty fun. We were also booked with two strangers but they were very nice. The theme was a prison escape, and it was very immersive. I thought it was gonna be kinda lame with locked boxes and stuff but no, they had whole separate rooms with different puzzles for each.

We headed towards Navy Pier to kill some time before dinner. Of course, we had to go on the Ferris wheel and a few other rides. The weather had started to worsen, and as we began our ascent in the carriage, it got really foggy, resulting in a nice view of the fog. Apparently, there was a small storm, and it was very windy. Combined with the fact that the carriage stops three times, it was a very unsettling experience. Especially with Zhaohan clowning about saying “look outside, we’re only held on by two joints, imagine if they break”. 

After the pretty sad experience of a Ferris wheel, it was almost dinnertime. We took a bus from Navy Pier to the restaurant, and on the way, we (Zhaohan) tried to recreate the signature “Sheeeeesh” image by wearing a cap backward, half lip bite, and one hand pointing at the elbow. It was pretty bad but hey, gotta keep up with the latest trends. The restaurant we reserved specialized in Korean bbq. While planning the trip everyone said they wanted to stop by one of these places as Chambana doesn’t have any good Kbbq places. Good food, good place, and Yeowoon did a great job explaining what went well together and how to not mess up the cooking process (which, in her opinion, we did. But “Our food had soul” - Jonathan, which I agree with.)

Our train home departed at 8 pm, so before we boarded we stopped by a local Hmart to buy some snacks and get a picture in front of it. Looking back, I don’t know why we took a picture, but another one for the scrapbook. It was nearing 8, so we headed back to the station and boarded. The ride back was chill. I was tired and ended up sleeping for a bit, the rest started playing Among Us, then transitioned to talking about random topics. Overall, the trip was great. It was the first time getting outdoors independently and while it was a bit pricey, the experience and memories were absolutely worth it.