On my first trip to HongKong as an adult. The drive and spark of an adventurous spirit arose on that trip, inspiring myself to plan on traveling more. Since then, living on a tight budget, I was able to visit Chicago, Canada, New York, & London. All the while living back and forth between Los Angeles, California & Seoul, South Korea. So until my love for travel fades, I’d love to share with you the places I’ve been to and want to visit.
A City with Such Beautiful Architecture & Culture
Chicago has always been a place I wanted to visit because of my favorite movie, My Best Friend’s Wedding. Arriving at the airport, it immediately felt like I was walking through the set of the movie. The cleanliness and lively feeling it had, already set the mood for how I was going to feel the rest of the day: inspired & excited! Picking up a coffee and roaming the airport to find Terminal 1 to get to my sister, whom I was traveling with. We flew in from different cities because she had a wedding to attend prior to our trip. Once I found her, she led me to the metro card stand and got me a Ventra card (your reloadable ticket [card] for the train & bus). We hopped onto the train and we’re off to the city to stay with our friend.
We settled in and took a nap, since we both took a red eye. then we set off to see the Magnificent Mile. Which is a vibrant bustling area filled with upscale shops, luxe fashion, cool restaurants and posh hotels. Was I wowed the first 3 blocks down from where we were staying. The architecture all around was stunning. Being the interior designer student and learning so much about architecture, I had a deep understanding and appreciation for it all. The cornices, store signs, and even down to the lamp posts, each turn was outstanding. My sister had taken me to our first food stop, Portillo’s Hot Dogs. I didn’t know it’s a huge no no to put ketchup on a Chicago style hot dog (trust me you don’t need it). Their hot dogs were amazing, I just wish I didn’t make the ketchup mistake. Later we had walked through millennium park and it was quite beautiful. I could imagine myself living there, spending summers sitting in the concert hall listening to jazz & sipping wine. As well as the bean being as magnificent as you expect it to be. Its bigger than you expect; but definitely recommend going earlier in the morning when there is less fingerprints on it.
The Bean
After that we went to the Buckingham Fountain and lake shore. We sat there for a solid 30 minutes just marveling at the intricacies of the sculptures on the fountain. As well as the seeing the lake across the street from it. The day after my sister had surprised me with a brunch reservation at the 3ARTS Cafe. This cafe is within the restoration hardware store in Chicago. It had excited and tugged every interior design vein in my body! I was a child in a candy store of furniture, as funny as that is. We spent a solid 2 hours there and had amazing food. We then went to Lincoln Park, it felt more suburban than in the city. We walked through the park stopping at the dome and having a small photo shoot. There were a lot of bees & it was very humid that day. However we truly enjoyed walking through. Later we met up with some friends and went to the aquarium. The ease of having so many excursions in one area is amazing. We also had gone on a ferry ride as tourists do and listened to, The Way You Look Tonight by Tony Bennet. On our last few days we enjoyed deep dish pizza and sitting in the park with La Croix, cheese, & bread. We also spent time at the Art Institute of Chicago. It is definitely way to big to explore all in 5 hours so I definitely recommend doing an all day thing if you enjoy museums. Overall I had truly enjoyed my experience in Chicago. Seeing people out eating and drinking mid-week with friends at a restaurant, the courtesy of the people, and the beauty of its architecture made me want to live here at some point in my life.
