Pleasure and Business – A trip to Chicago and Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg with American Airlines and British Airways
In this adventure…
- Pleasure and Business Mixing things together (again)
- Off to Heathrow
- Cathay Pacific Lounge and the American Airlines Lounges
- AA47 London Heathrow to Chicago O’Hare, Main Cabin Extra aboard a 787
- US Immigration Adventures
- Intercontinental Chicago North Michigan Avenue
- Deep Dish Pizza fun
- Travel Technology: Canon 40mm F2.8 STM with a Canon 100D
- Hyatt Regency O’Hare
- Back to O’Hare, British Airways Terraces Club Lounge
- BA294 Chicago to Heathrow Airport in World Traveller Plus
- From pleasure to business, BA Galleries South
- BA962 London Heathrow to Hamburg in Club Europe
- IBIS Budget Hamburg
- Currywust Nacht
- Back to Hamburg Airport, Hamburg Airport Lounge
- BA967 Hamburg to London Heathrow in Club Europe
- Pulling it home
- My calf muscles hurt…
Last year my timetable went all over the shop with events colliding together.
Well, my luck seems to run two for two, with both me being in Chicago during the end of March, and Hamburg for Aircraft Interiors Expo, requiring a bit of balancing, and a lot of luck.
Who says my life is boring? Well considering I work with a VMWare installation with client hardware that isn’t up to scratch to keep my life interesting, but that’s beside the point.
Nothing like mixing pleasure with business at all.
This trip was booked back to front… mainly because I wanted to secure flights on certain times. So, without any logic, I booked my flights to Hamburg first.
Why?
Flights were pricing stupid at the time of booking, with economy flights pricing £415 in EuroTraveller, and £713 in Club Europe.
Considering I paid £500 or so for flying RETURN to Chicago… that’s a little rich for my wallet.
Thankfully, I have a thing called “a battle pile of Avios”. For 18,000 Avios and £50 co-pay for a return ticket, this is a no-brainer in terms of cost savings compared to the cash fare.
So, with that flight booked, it was time to sort out my return flight to Chicago. I did a lot of experimenting on tickets, but in the end, I went for simple as opposed to complex routings.
The bottom line: I needed to be in and out of Chicago. Getting to Chicago I chose American Airlines – mainly because it was the first flight of the day, and a chance to try out their Boeing 787-8. On the way back, since I needed to be rested a bit – I brought a World Traveller Plus seat. I thought about buying Club World, but for the length of the flight – I couldn’t justify it.
In terms of paying for the flight, I went for a Cash and Avios payment. Why? Whilst the pound is in the doldrums, and the possibility to reduce the fare to how much I would had paid in Economy – it seemed like a good idea at the time.
It still does.
So, let’s do hotels. I’m going to be slightly different. Yes, the Hyatt Regency O’Hare will feature – that won’t change.
The first hotel would be a little different – this time it seems that the Intercontinental in down-town Chicago would be a fun option (as well as rather good on the budget front). It would also mean me saving a few pennies on Uber’s left right and centre, as well as being downtown for once (as opposed being near the airport).
And as for Hamburg – its trade show season, so good value hotels are hard to find. So, it’s off to the IBIS Budget.
Don’t look at me like that when I say IBIS Budget. The problem in the area I’m staying in is that prices that they’re just overpriced when its conference season. And whilst AirBnB’s are attractive, to be honest – I want my own space after events to fall asleep in, in a semi-controlled environment. Although I need glasses to avoid the green paintwork.
Who knows – they might have remodelled the hotel. Anything is possible.
So, here’s the map to make everything go:
Maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper – copyright © Karl L. Swartz.
Oh, and to get to and from London, a National Express coach on the way down, and a mixture of Heathrow Express and Chiltern Railways on the way home.
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