#180 He Likes Extra Leg Room

I don't know how we managed it, but on our final day in the lovely city of Chicago we ate an amazingly satisfying hotel breakfast, grabbed some coffee, shopped an entire outlet mall, went to lunch, ate cupcakes, and drove to the airport.

It was one wild crazy day.

Joel tried a few different methods of getting us to stay. 

This post, however, will not be dedicated to the perfect hamburgers we enjoyed for lunch or the outlet mall with the most efficient parking garage and interesting art within its walls. Among the eyebrow raisers was this guy hanging on the ceiling:

Instead I'm going to educate you on my first ever experience with Frontier Airlines. At first, I thought it didn't warrant a full blog post. Then we went through baggage claim on our way home and I decided I would most certainly have to give a blow by blow of our experience with this airline.

First. A brief history of my airplane experiences:

The first flight I ever took in my life was when I was 17-years-old for my senior class missions trip to Mexico. My second flight was at 19-years-old to Paris with my grandmother. The third flight of my life was at 21-years-old for my honeymoon to St. Thomas. Since then, I have flown fewer times than I can count on one hand. Hubby, on the other hand, flies often for work. He is even accumulating miles (something my lack of flight could never comprehend) as well as several free hotel stays.

Perhaps the underlying reason for my limited flying is the simple understood matter for flying in general: It isn't cheap.

Yet the desire to travel, to go here, to go there, still persists within.

We did the road trip scene for a little, and we've learned that trips over 10 hours long aren't too much fun. At least, not on the drive back home.

When more than once I was told that there was an airport in my backyard (Trenton) and that I should be flying instead of driving for such lengthy 8-12 hour trips, I decided I needed to look into it.

Until you experience it yourself, you can only hope that the word of others is consistent with the value of the product being recommended. Flying, especially, is something with which you certainly don't want a negative experience because of someone’s lousy recommendation.

I’ve broken this analysis into four different categories which I think most travelers will agree are of the utmost importance:

Price

For this particular trip, tickets elsewhere were starting at $100 more than the tickets we ended up purchasing. We could have gotten our tickets for around $30 cheaper (each!) if we hadn’t opted for extra leg room. Five to seven inches of extra leg room, with seats at the front of the plane, starts at $15 more per seat. If I were you, I would opt for the extra leg room. I haven’t seen that option anywhere else…that is, unless you’re flying first class.

But if you’re flying first class, you probably aren’t worrying about price too much, are you?

Frontier is constantly offering deep discounted tickets running from $39 a flight. The only issue is that you are confined to their flight dates. We left on a Wednesday because that was the only date that Frontier was flying to Chicago.

Boarding Time

No need to arrive several hours before your flight takes off! As long as you are at the airport and parked an hour before your flight you should be fine! The parking lot is fairly large, but if you aren’t a need-to-have-a-close-spot searcher, you’ll be able to find any old spot rather quickly. The walk from the parking lot to the building took us no more than ten minutes.

Since only two flights go out at a time, checking in and checking your luggage are super quick, too. They have machines to check-in with, however, they weren’t working. We stood in line for probably fifteen minutes, checked in, checked our bags, and had less than an hour to wait to board.

*HOWEVER* There were several people in line who played their chances too close to the edge and were too late to check-in for their flight. There are signs everywhere saying that if you are not checked in 45 minutes before your flight takes off they will not board you!

Space on the Plane

Hubby and I only brought book bags onto the plane. We really didn’t want to mess will all that carry-on nonsense of fighting for space. However, it seemed as though there was plenty of space in our overhead area.

Again, the seating was ama-a-a-a-a-zing! The extra leg space spoiled me, and now I’m convinced I will never be able to fly without the same amount of leg room. On our flight to Chicago the plane wasn’t full, so I was also fortunate enough to have an empty seat next to me. The flight back, sadly, I had to share our row with a gentleman who had just had his left forearm tattooed.*

*Note: I was sitting to his left.

This was an even greater testament to their space because I managed to endure the entire flight without bumping up against the man or his loosely bandaged ink.

Customer Service

The flight attendants were all cheery and helpful. They seem more at ease and relaxed than other flight attendants I have been in contact with. The captain of our flight out added a little humor to his announcements, especially when he told us the fine for smoking on a plane was something like $2,000. To which he added, “And let’s be serious, folks, if you had $2,000 lying around you would be flying United today”.

However, our flight home could have used a little better communication from Frontier to its passengers. Hubby and I arrived at the airport extra early since this was a regular airport and not the wonderland that I now consider Trenton-Mercer Airport. We wandered the airport for the hour or so that we had to kill and then found a spot to wait near our gate. The time to board came and passed without any notification that the flight was delayed. The time for the flight to take off came and passed without any notification that the flight was delayed. People began to get antsy. Grown men were walking back and forth in front of the gate, continually asking an off duty Frontier employee sitting near me what he knew about the plane’s tardiness.

This is what confused boredom in an airport looks like.

Then finally, about a half hour after our flight should have taken off, employees for this flight started to show up. It wasn’t until we were on the plane that we learned the flight had been delayed due to the weather of the area the plane had just come from.

Finally,

Baggage claim at the Trenton-Mercer Airport made me feel like I was living in the 1970s…or some kind universe where we have lost all our technological advances. After getting off the plane (By the way, I forgot to mention, you load and unload the plane outside! Like this is Air Force One or something!), you go into this large garage like building and wait. Then the luggage is tossed onto the ‘belt’ by men outside the garage.

I was convinced this was the way the first airports ever handled baggage claim.

Overall, I’ll definitely fly Frontier again. The tickets are cheap, the seating was amazing, and any negatives were easy enough to endure for savings and comfort.

#177 He Endures Jazz Clubs

I hate when vacations are over. I always find myself thinking on and off throughout the following week something like this: "Last week at this time, I was here (fill in random place or excursion of my trip), doing this (fill in related action). Now I'm stuck back here (New Jersey, work, home), doing this (something not so fun) instead." 

It doesn't help that today was a miserably yucky, humid* and rainy day in New Jersey while last Thursday was an almost spring-like day in Chicago.

*It did reach 65 degrees, which was nice, but the exchange for warm weather from cold included stickiness and a spike in allergens.

Getting our car at the parking lot that protected it all night.**

**Confused? Read my last post for understanding.

For the morning, we planned to do a little laid-back shopping. I'm slowly learning my shopping preferences for when I'm traveling in new cities. Though I love shopping in general (chances are I would be content shopping even in a dollar store), when I am on vacation I prefer shopping in two kinds of places: 1. Outlet Malls 2. Independent Boutiques

We managed to squeeze in a quick trip to the Fashion Outlets of Chicago on Saturday before our flight.* From the massive amount of options, we were able to find plenty of boutiques to browse around, and even had time to stop into some luxury shops with ridiculously overpriced items that we may never in our lives be able to afford, nor want to afford.**

*Note: This outlet mall had the best parking lot I have every experienced in my life. Digital signs of how many spaces are left in each area, plus a red or green light over spots to show if they were filled or not.

**Second note: I’m totally lying. If someone offered me the $500 Armani jacket I was drooling over, I’d wear that puppy in a heart-beat. 

Armitage Avenue in Lincoln Park was our first shopping stop. It was lined with all sorts of novelty stores and boutiques, my favorite were the Green Goddess Boutique and Laudi Vidni.

Laudi Vidni is a custom leather handbag store and I was resisting all desire to splurge on one of their 21 originally styled handbags, custom made with fabric and finish of my choice. I took one of their cards to taunt myself with and so that my inner fashionista can have something to crave for the next time we visit Chicago.

Green Goddess Boutique had everything from clothes to antiqued furniture to funky jewelry. With prices ranging from fair to crazy expensive, I managed to find myself two pieces of jewelry that will now and forever always remind me of our trip. The only thing that dragged us away was the need for coffee, and of course, pastries. (Read about it at The Orange Strainer). Here’s a sneak peak of some of our goodies:

Guess you’ll have to read the post to see what was inside…

We spent the early evening shopping along Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, which was basically made just for me. One whole mile of high end, low end, and every kind of designer in between--be still my heart! 

I basically butchered this pretty simple name, each time choosing a different 'M' word to attach with ‘mile’. I wish I could say that they were all at least adjectives, but I'd be lying: Marvelous, Millennium, Maleficent...yeah I have memory commitment issues. 

Simplest way to spread love. Cold? Need a scarf? Take it.

Though its crime rate is surprisingly higher than NYC (at least according to neighborhoodscout.com), the streets of Chicago had a more open and cleaner feel (which I suppose translates to me as safe). Though Hubby swears Chicago had a distinct smell to him upon exiting the airport, I felt overall that this city is doing a pretty good job at dressing to impress.

Naturally, one cannot go to Chicago without trying pizza, and as a Jersey girl it wasn’t just a ‘Should do’ it was a ‘Must do’. We ate dinner at Giordano’s, and though I’ll be blogging about it eventually let me just say this; Chicago puts up a good fight against New Jersey.*

*Don’t worry, Jersey. We still win. You already knew that, I’m sure.

Jazz Showcase was a solid ten-minute walk from Giordano’s. Any longer and this girl might’ve needed a cab because as soon as the sun went down the spring tease we had been getting all morning instantly transformed back into the brisk chill of winter.

Reviews of Jazz Showcase said to get there early for good seats, so naturally we got there early….45 minutes early. In the NYC world, 45 minutes early usually means you will get a good seat, but you might not be the first one there. In Chicago, it means you are the first one there.* The trio was still practicing, so we waited in the lobby with not only some of the staff of Jazz Showcase, but also the founder, Joe Segal, who can be found in the same spot for every show, greeting his guests as they arrive.

*It was Thursday, so perhaps weekends are different.

The ten minute wait before they opened the doors was worth it. There are two different pricings for Jazz Showcase: $25 general seating, $35 reserved. We went for the $25 seating since most of the reviews said that there isn’t really a bad seat in the house, but that you should arrive on time to actually get a seat. They were right. We were escorted in and told we could sit anywhere that didn’t have a ‘reserved’ sign. Half a dozen tables at the front of the room had reserved signs, but the cozy, over-sized couch seating four in the middle of the room was sign-less.

As we settled into our couch I was certain of two things: 1.) I was glad I had purchased the $25 tickets; 2.) I was glad we got there early.

Wouldn’t it have stunk to have to sit on a boring ordinary chair for $10 more when there was an open opportunity to sit on a comfy couch?

Going to a Jazz club always spells love for me because Hubby has a deep, deep hate for the genre in general. This always makes me sad because in another life I would have been a jazz pianist, I’m sure.

Our entertainment for the night was pianist Chuchito Valdes accompanied by bass and drums. I’m always amazed at how these three instruments can blend to make such a smooth, enjoyable sound. As a violinist, I’m fascinated by bass players. Most of the time they aren’t the spotlight, but when they are they shine by covering the neck of their instrument with stretches of their fingers I didn’t know were humanely possible. Towards the end of the performance Valdes played a solo with such a combination talent and emotion that the room was frozen for just that moment in time, awestruck with the place he had taken us and the saddened stillness he was able to convey.

I think, just maybe, even Hubby enjoyed it.

#176 He is a Chicago Bulls Fan

Last week, Hubby and I went to Chicago. 

Our expectations were low, but it isn't Chicago's fault. You can't really have high hopes for the second city when you have the greatest city practically at your doorstep. Truthfully, we were only there for a much needed visit with my brother and sister-in-law. Even still I might have had the teeniest speck of regret over not booking a trip to the Bahamas instead. After the winter we have had, going to the Windy City prematurely chilled me to my core.

Though it takes second place in city size ranking (and truthfully, now sits in third, behind LA), Chicago proved itself to have an allure and appeal close, I stress the word close, to that of my beloved NYC.

Instead of flying out of Philadelphia or Newark as we usually do, we decided to try the Trenton/Mercer airport that we have heard tell about from family, friends, and coworkers. The highlight of the airport is location, ticket price, and speed (only two flights go out at a time, therefore check-in is phenomenal).

The highlight for me?

Five extra inches of leg room and an empty seat beside me for our two-hour flight.

This is what luxury looks like.

I was in heaven. It was basically the best flight of my life.

Hubby and I stupidly skipped breakfast (we had to be up and out by 5:00 am) and were starving by the time we reached our family. This led to a trip to a local bakery, Bravo Bakery, which Joel and Mallory had cased out before our arrival. You'll have to wait to read about most of our foodie adventures over at The OrangeStrainer but I’ll give you a peek into how well we ate during our trip:

That right there is a basket full of heaven.

While I was booking our flight to Chicago, Hubby was checking to see if the Bulls would be playing. Thank goodness they were or I would have heard about that for longer than I would like.

Once we sugared ourselves up with pastries and coffee, we were ready to head into the city. Our hotel was about thirty minutes from the city center which had its ups and downs. The major up was that we were on a quiet highway, near some great coffee shops (a Caffé Bene to boot!). The major down was what followed at the end of our night.

It's pretty good*, so read on, dear reader, read on.

*Good meaning horrible.

We decided that since the basketball game was that night, we should probably connect with a train to get into the city. There was no way we were going to park at the stadium--that madness was certainly not what we had signed up for with this trip! So, we parked at the closest train station to our hotel. 

Mistake number one.

Jefferson Station of Chicago is one spot I will never, ever forget. Nor will I forget the self-park lot across the street.

More to come on that.

Are you sensing the terrible horrible thing that happened?

The transit system in Chicago is not at all like NYC. First of all, the obvious, it isn't underground. Which is actually a little trippy. It is so much louder that my ears were singing afterwards. In NYC all roads lead to the Subway. In Chicago, it is more like 'some' roads. The strangest part was that it was busier at night (as in, 10:00 at night) than the afternoon hours.

It was well past lunchtime when we began searching for DMK Burger to help sustain us until dinner. If you can call it dinner. Due to the time of the game, we had to make our dinner reservations for 5:00 pm. Which in my world is insanely early for dinner.* Add in the fact that it was about 1:30 pm and we still hadn't eaten lunch, and you've got one confused set of tummies. 

About ten minutes into searching for the DMK burger Hubby had chosen (we realized last minute that there are several locations in Chicago) we realized it was in the Soldier Field stadium. Naturally, instead of calling it quits, we walked around about half of the stadium until we could speak to a live person who could tell us what we already feared. 

What's the saying? If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans? Yeah, that's the one. We were really cracking God up that day.

Our next plan was to head to the Flower Show at The Navy Pier, but that was a good half hour away. So instead we headed over to The Field Museum which was featuring a Viking exhibit. Hubby has some sort of Scandinavian heritage and therefore has a healthy curiosity of Vikings. We grabbed a bite at the museum's cafe so that I didn't turn into a Viking myself and attack everyone. The food was...typical. Let's just say I won't be blogging anymore about that part of the trip. 

If you want to feel like you have stepped into the movie "A Night at the Museum" you need only visit a natural history museum such as The Field Museum. Visitors are greeted by "Sue" the T-Rex who is "the largest, best-preserved, and most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex ever found. Sue measures 42 feet long from snout to tail and 13 feet tall at the hip. She boasts 58 dagger-like teeth...".

Sue is truly a magnificent sight to behold, as were the other dinosaurs in the dinosaur exhibit.

The Viking exhibit was packed with information and mind blowing artifacts such as sewing needles the size of small pencils, a millstone which really put Matthew 18:6 into perspective, and Viking ships.

Viking Age Burial Boat

If you are into this sort of museum (I'll be the first to admit, it isn't everyone's cup of tea) plan your morning and afternoon around it. We were still adjusting to being in the city and to our packed to-go-to list that we didn't get to spend too much time there.

Our dinner reservations were calling, and even though we had eaten only a few hours ago the craving for a quality meal was rising. Again, you'll have to read about Little Goat Diner and our amazing dining experience over at The Orange Strainer, but trust me, this is one meal description you'll want to read!

It was either an eight minute, $10 taxi or a 30-minute walk. 

Can you guess which one we chose? That's right...the taxi. There was no way our full bellies would get there in time walking.

I hadn't been to a basketball game since high school, which also means I haven't been to a professional basketball game in...ever. 

For someone who isn't anywhere near being a sport enthusiast, I enjoyed myself immensely. We were only a few rows from being as far as possible from the court, and it only added to the fun! At half-time, we walked over half of the stadium in search of their main store so that Hubby could search for a jersey. Thank goodness they had it! We also picked up Jon a Benny the Bull mask, because how couldn't we get that for him?

It was somewhere around 10:00 when we finally reached the train station to head back to Jefferson Station and our car. Like I said before, the ride back was far more entertaining than the ride into the city. It started with a few other Bulls fans marked by their Bulls gear of ski hats, jerseys, and t-shirts, and quickly became a mixture of far more colorful individuals. There was the one gentleman wearing a red bandanna who conspicuously took it off and pocketed it about five minutes before getting off the train (that was my personal favorite). A few rows in front of us sat a group of oddly matched women with ages ranging mid-twenties to late forties. Mixed between was a random scattering of couples, friends, and acquaintances. By far, the most hysterical, was the last group of men to board the train. Four men with a certain boy band reject flair about them got on and stood holding tightly to the straps hanging from the ceiling. There weren't any other seats available, but as they opened up three of the men immediately sat while the fourth, remained standing. This was fine by me, because it gave me extra time to take in his greased back hair, and dangly earrings made of Lego pieces, gears, and something that I'm certain may have been bone.

I could have slept right there amid the motley crew of train riders, but our stop came and I realized how eager I was to get off. Until we stood before the parking garage with its gate down, locked in place, and the words "Cash only, Open until 10:00 pm" nastily glaring in our faces.

One of my biggest fears had come to life. 

After the twenty minute wait for a taxi, and a price tag I'm not willing to talk about yet, lesson learned. Loud and clear, Chicago. Lesson learned.