Our Chicago trip "on the cheap"!

[Karenj2]

DH and I are planning a trip in October to Chicago, because DH got tix to the ND/USC game banana. Originally, we were going to fly into South Bend and stay there, but now we're able to do this MUCH less expensively...

- DH's cousin lives in Chicago, so instead of getting a hotel, we're staying with them (saving us between $300-$600). Not to mention we won't have to buy breakfast out (although I was originally looking for a hotel with a free breakfast).
- Because we're staying with them, we can fly directly into Chicago instead of taking that extra flight to SB. (Saving $350 and about 3 extra hours!!)
- We're renting a car, and DH has performance points from work that he can get Avis rental car GCs, so we'll only pay OOP about $50 (saving about $150).

So, not including food, the game day tickets and souveniers (since we'd probably spend the same amount), we could have spent about $1820, and instead we're only spending ~$720.

Also, we could have gotten the flight completely free because DH had enough performance points to use towards the flights too, however we decided to buy the tix OOP because there was a 12% "fee" for using their travel services. Instead, we're getting Disney Gift Cards for our next trip with the remaining performance points - about $500!!! YAY!

 

[Familycircus]

Is there a specific reason why you are renting a car? Parking is expensive in Chicago. We took our kids to Chicago in March for a few days and did just great using the public transit. You could get 1 day or 3 day passes and ride everywhere.

 

[stout]

We tried for USC, but ended up with three for Labor Day weekend instead. This is the first time we are taking our DD5--she is so excited. We are flying into ORD as well, staying in Rosemont, and renting a car. We are also planning a Friday night trip to Lou Malnati's!
DH is also flying down to RDU for the Wake Forest game.
I love the fact that DH loves the place he graduated from, but man, it makes the fall expensive!

 

[bear_mom]

Is there a specific reason why you are renting a car? Parking is expensive in Chicago. We took our kids to Chicago in March for a few days and did just great using the public transit. You could get 1 day or 3 day passes and ride everywhere.

I agree with this, we avoid driving to/in Chiacgo whenever possible. Traffic is bad and parking is WAY expensive - it would double (at least) the cost of your rental car and that is if you parked it in one spot and left it all day. A visitor's pass is $5 for 24 hours...........

Emily

 

[mrseace711]

Did you look into Niles, MI hotels? I live in SB literally a 5 minute drive to ND =) Niles is just North of SB and you could be at ND in 15 minutes. The traffic from Chicago is pretty bad and gameday forget about it =/ Niles is a nice little city (I grew up there) local restraunts very budget friendly, if your staying a few days you can catch a morning movie at the theatre for $2.50(before 6pm movies is $4.00 after 6pm $5) a person, large fresh popcorn 1.75, large drink 1.50, candy 1.00 after the movie walk down by the river (the movie theatre is next to the river) then browse the antique mall (childhood favorite) and there are a few other antique stores all in that downtown area theres other little shops down there Im sure you could enjoy =) The hours in traffic would be avoided, the SBN airport is small easy to get thru I prefer it to the crowded CHI airports with long line waits. Just a thought =)

 

[Karenj2]

Is there a specific reason why you are renting a car? Parking is expensive in Chicago. We took our kids to Chicago in March for a few days and did just great using the public transit. You could get 1 day or 3 day passes and ride everywhere.

I agree with this, we avoid driving to/in Chiacgo whenever possible. Traffic is bad and parking is WAY expensive - it would double (at least) the cost of your rental car and that is if you parked it in one spot and left it all day. A visitor's pass is $5 for 24 hours...........

Emily

We're renting a car because DH's cousin lives in the 'burbs, and we need a car to get to Notre Dame for the game. Otherwise I would have completely skipped getting one - we've used the public transit in Chicago before and I had no issues...

Did you look into Niles, MI hotels? I live in SB literally a 5 minute drive to ND =) Niles is just North of SB and you could be at ND in 15 minutes. The traffic from Chicago is pretty bad and gameday forget about it =/ Niles is a nice little city (I grew up there) local restraunts very budget friendly, if your staying a few days you can catch a morning movie at the theatre for $2.50(before 6pm movies is $4.00 after 6pm $5) a person, large fresh popcorn 1.75, large drink 1.50, candy 1.00 after the movie walk down by the river (the movie theatre is next to the river) then browse the antique mall (childhood favorite) and there are a few other antique stores all in that downtown area theres other little shops down there Im sure you could enjoy =) The hours in traffic would be avoided, the SBN airport is small easy to get thru I prefer it to the crowded CHI airports with long line waits. Just a thought =)

We were looking for hotels all over, but then DH's cousin offered to let us stay there for free - can't beat that! (Plus, she's babysitting for us, and she has a son our daughter's age.) I'm not looking forward to the traffic going to the game, but it's a night game, so we figured that we'll go earlier in the day and just hang out on campus. The drive home will either be really good (if we win) or really bad (if we lose). Thanks for the tips, though! We'll keep that in mind for future ND visits!

 

[Karenj2]

We tried for USC, but ended up with three for Labor Day weekend instead. This is the first time we are taking our DD5--she is so excited. We are flying into ORD as well, staying in Rosemont, and renting a car. We are also planning a Friday night trip to Lou Malnati's!
DH is also flying down to RDU for the Wake Forest game.
I love the fact that DH loves the place he graduated from, but man, it makes the fall expensive!

Luckily, we're too far away to do this too often. Hubby only requested the USC tix in the hopes that we'd get them, and it paid off...

 

[CoP Luv]

DH and I are planning a trip in October to Chicago, because DH got tix to the ND/USC game banana.

How exciting! We put in for that game too, but it didn't work out for us this year. Have a great time. We drive from the 'burbs all the time and it's easy as pie!