Possible Chicago Option For Some Folks

[fangrrl_squees]

I'm sharing these findings in case they help you, dear reader, make a trip to Chicago.

Air Tran¹ offers some cheap flights to Milwaukee Mitchell airport (MKE) over Thanksgiving. For instance, a direct flight, SFO - MKE, is $182 r/t with taxes. Unfuckingbelievable.

MKE is, forsooth, about 80 miles away from the location of Chicago TARDIS. Ow.

A shuttle would apparently cost something like $60 each way, which takes a lot of the savings out of the equation.

But! If you can manage it, there is a train for $33 each way that departs from a station near the airport (free connecting shuttle, which proves that the transit authorities out there are far smarter than their counterparts in CA) and will drop you in Naperviille, IL, about six miles away from the convention hotel. Downsides: there's one train a day, departing at 3:30PM, the trip is the best part of two hours, and you have to change at Union Station in Chicago.

(even flying in to O'Hare or Midway, you're going to be spending approxmiately $25 each way on a shuttle, so that's something to bear in mind...)

But if you've got a friend who's willing to pick you up, either at MKE or at Union Station, going this route might be an option worth considering.

Another factor I'd worry about is how much more likely is MKE to get snowed-in than any of the other area airports, being a bit more further north and all - but I know nothing of the local meteorology...

Just wanted to share that with y'all.

¹ - WARNING: These guys define cattle-car flights and, I understand, are leading the race to be the next airline to go under.

Comments

[prof-pangaea.livejournal.com]

if you can get a shuttle from the milwaukee airport to the amtrak/greyhound station, you could always not take a train, but instead take the megabus. it's how i got to the con last year, since i live in milwaukee. if you schedule early enough you'll only pay about five - ten dollars for a ticket. last year i didn't buy a ticket till the day before i left (same for coming back up to milwaukee) and i paid about 22 bucks for each one. technically, if you get them early enough you should be able to get them for as little as one dollar. the megabus is cheap because it only goes to big cities and they don't have stations -- their pickups are usually a block away from the amtrak/greyhound station in town. so it could take you from the station in milwaukee to union station in chicago, where you can buy a metra ticket for five bucks. then call the hotel and let them know which station you're arriving at and they'll send you a free shuttle to take you back to the hotel. hurrah!

[britgeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

I looked at Megabus and the 'only to major urban centers' is an issue.

Last year, I tried to figure out how to get from O'Hare to Lombard via pubtrans on a holiday and it was absolutely ridiculous - something like four hours end-to-end with three changes of train and lots of long, cold waiting.

At that point, spending $30 on the shuttle becomes worth it - but that means I'd be flying to MKE, taking a bus to Union Station (or whatever) and then trying to get a shuttle from there - it's almost as bad. Not entirely untenable, but damned awkward...

(besides, this IS still all academic. I won't know 'til late Sept if I can even manage the con...)

[renn.livejournal.com]

Oh! The hotel actually will pick you up from the Downers Grove train station! Forgot to mention earlier....

[britgeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

That's an MTA station, I'm guessing, not Amtrak, right?

(Getting from the airport to Lombard via pubtrans on T'giving day is a no-go. I looked into it last year and it was ridiculous - something like four hours, with very long waits at each place where one had to change trains. It was the holiday schedule that made it heinous)

[mrsdrtennant.livejournal.com]

I have so much respect for Cosplayers who travel long distances to cons! Luckly I live about an hour away.