And the results! The Whitehall , a long-running modest but nice hotel off Rush St on the Gold Coast.

I needed a cheap room in Chicago. At the very last moment I discovered I only needed 2102 miles to reach the 150K milestone with United Airlines, which brings a trove of free upgrades and other goodies. used lightweight travel trailers for sale My faulty tracking had shown I d be more than 10K miles short of this level so I obviously missed some bonuses or something. used lightweight travel trailers for sale Anyway, on 28 December I planned a quick mileage run round-trip Portland to Chicago which would net me 3484 miles, more than enough for the 150K bonanza.
Credits from United which got me a good fare and I was upgraded to first class on my cheapo last-minute ticket. Although as you can see below, the food is hardly first class, more like Satanic Arby s ( faux turkey product , yuck) – it s really just the extra large seat that matters.
Flights arranged, I needed a last-minute cheapo room in Chicago. I compared newcomer Hotel Tonight against old standby Hotwire . Booking the day of my trip (at Portland s airport), time and monetary savings were essential.
First up, Hotel Tonight . Their hype is that hotels dump unsold rooms at the very last minute, letting you enjoy huge savings. In fact you don t have access to any rooms that night until noon local time. I was intrigued and installed the app on my iPhone. (Although Hotel Tonight has a website , you have to use the iPhone or Android apps to book.)
Hotel Tonight used lightweight travel trailers for sale sussed out my location – Portland – during the login (and their promo copy suggests that they re your best friend for a boozy one-night used lightweight travel trailers for sale stand ). But I needed Chicago; at 12:05 pm Chicago time they had a mere three choices for me that night (despite my prefs stating NOT O Hare I was given a shot at an airport used lightweight travel trailers for sale hotel). On a night with no conventions in town, getting only three choices was pitiful, even if the prices (eg $119 for the Hard Rock) were not bad.
I switched to old friend Hotwire , which I have been using for cheap last-minute hotel stays for years. The caveat with Hotwire is that you don t know the name of the hotel you are buying until after you ve bought it. Vague neighborhood details and even cloudier hotel details mean that there s a lot of random factors involved. Still if you can live within these constraints, you can save huge. (Read all my tips on booking a hotel room here .)
Hotwire uses a mobile web interface instead of an app, but functionality is fine: put in your basic details and see what you get. Chicago-area hotels had plenty of rooms given I got back dozens and dozens of results.
Obviously I needed to narrow down the results given the limited charms of suburbs like Oak Lawn and Lisle. One huge annoyance of Hotwire s mobile used lightweight travel trailers for sale web interface is that there s no uncheck all button which means individually saying adieu to Itasca, Burr Ridge and other distant hotspots. Oh O Hare Intl Airport ORD South, the memories we ll never have.
My choices narrowed to a broad swath of the city from the Loop north, Hotwire still had scads of choices. Of course one of the compromises is not knowing the exact location where you ll stay, as you can see from the vast blob that comprises North Michigan Avenue Water Tower Gold Coast. (Note that in some Hotwire cities, the geographic designations are so vast that about all you can count is being in the same region.)
Even narrowing down my choices, I still get a huge range of places to choose from. A three-star place for $56, another for $72 plus a two-star for $78. Despite any real definition, more stars are usually better, even if you don t really know what they mean. I m trying to go cheap, so there s no reason to go past the first three screens. I m actually not too excited by staying in the Loop (dullsville at night and I ll just have that much further to travel to see friends) or in a Magnificent Mile Area Streeterville area hotel as you can either end up almost in the Loop or out in the desert of high-rise used lightweight travel trailers for sale condos and apartments by the lake. And based on past experience, the two-star used lightweight travel trailers for sale place in Lake View Lincoln Park Wrigleyville used lightweight travel trailers for sale is usually the City Suites Hotel on Belmont where the cheap Hotwire rooms butt up against the all-night cacophony of the El.
Just like the airlines, added fees and taxes turn that $71 into almost $88 , not bad and it s only taken five minutes. After a couple of screens confirming payment details, I await my mystery hotel to be revealed…
And the results! The Whitehall , a long-running modest but nice hotel off Rush St on the Gold Coast. (A side historic note, when Rupert Murdoch bought used lightweight travel trailers for sale – and nearly destroyed – the Chicago Sun-Times in 1984, he forever branded his new hack publisher as a toady by ordering him in front of the staff to take my bags to the Whitehall. )
Less than two hours after landing at O Hare, I was in room 1010 , watching Notre Dame once again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in their bowl game against Florida St. With my bargain rate I couldn t hope for a view beyond my non-view, which would be ideal for reticent exhibitionists . But no complaints, used lightweight travel trailers for sale the price was good for my 20 hours in town and I had a delightful night out on the Gold Coast.
Back in 2000 I was studying Art History at the Christies auction house in London. One day I was browsing through the travel section of a bookstore and saw a Lonely Planet Guide with your name on it. I thought there can t be more than one Ryan Ver Bermoes! So I checked. Indeed it is you from the Observer.
Anyway, I like to travel and I m contemplating a backpack trip through Europe. Start small with 2 weeks in Britain and if I like it, do 3-6 months after I retire. I was reading the Lonely Planet Europe on a Shoestring and saw you contributed to that, too. Just wanted to say Hi!