Pleasure and Business – US Immigration Adventures

Pleasure and Business – US Immigration Adventures

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…

Immigration adventures.

I’ll be blunt – this is the part of the journey I wasn’t looking forward to by any stretch of the imagination.

Let’s get off the plan, and onto the jet bridge.

Not this way (Domestic Entrance/International Boarding). Down to immigration with you!

Thankfully the queues were short at the border to the automatic passport clearance machines.

Except this time, the machines didn’t like me, and I got a big fat X over my entry docket. So I had to queue up like a bad boy to be interviewed properly.

The X of interview.

Thankfully, the interview was short and sweet, with a re-scan of my fingerprints, confirmation why I was in the USA, and that I had a return ticket to the UK.

A stamp was banged in my passport, and I headed to belt one for luggage pick-up.

With my luggage not even reaching the belt yet, it seems like Chicago O’Hare was at its best. Eventually, my two items spat out one after another, and it was time to head to customs.

Customs took an interest in my two bags, but allowed me through.

Certainly – one of the more invasive questioning sessions I’ve had when coming into the United States, but not the worst.

With me through the border and customs – and after letting my parents know I was safe – it was time to head to my next hotel for the first night.

Three choices were on the menu

• The L (The train system)
• Taxi
• Uber (I’m not a great fan of Lyft after experiences of them in November. I don’t like credit card translations fail on me).

The L is out of the question with the idiot luggage I carry on this trip, as I would be a danger to myself as well as others navigating the L with that amount of luggage. Chicago Taxis aren’t cheap except for the shortest of hops to the hotel zones near O’Hare… therefore – it’s a UberX for the trip.

A few clicks later to organise a UberX , and it was time to head out of the terminal and to the pickup point.

A big hint for users of Uber at Chicago O’Hare T5 – you need to exit by Door 5B and cross over to the far island for your pick-up.

My ride arrived promptly, and soon we were heading down the Kennedy Express way.

Off we go

Being mid-morning, the Kennedy Express way was fair to middling… with a 30 minute drive to Magnificent Mile, with the driver making good time towards East Ontario Avenue, heading to River North and the Magnificent Mile.

Hello Sears Wills Tower

Finally, I was at my home for the first night in Chicago – The Intercontinental Magnificent Miles, Chicago.

Next: The Intercontinental Magnificent Mile, Chicago.