London to Chicago, John Hancock Building and Kasim gig

I have 7 Kasim Sulton gigs in 12 days plus loads of driving and fitting in updating my websites (it’s plural now!), checking into work each day, sightseeing and hopefully getting some sleep so my travelogue for this trip won’t be as detailed as on previous travels!

I’d got to bed at about 11pm last night as I had to get up at 3am today to leave at 3.45am and drive to Heathrow. I dropped off my car and caught the shuttle-bus to Terminal One where I very quickly handed in my case (I’d checked in online yesterday) and went through security.

I caught the 7.45am Heathrow to Chicago United Airlines flight and it was almost full. I’d taken the last remaining window seat so I was right at the back but thankfully they still had both choices of breakfast remaining. I haven’t flown United for a while and I wasn’t too impressed with the food…American Airlines is much better. The films weren’t anything that I fancied so I read, watched something on iPlayer on my laptop and then read again. I gave a huge sigh of relief once we were west of Iceland so safe from the ash cancelling my trip!

We landed half an hour early at 10am Chicago time (6 hours behind UK time) but it seems that 3 planes had just landed before us so it took 1.45 hours to get through Immigration – the longest it’s ever taken me in all the times I’ve been to US! I picked up my rental car and drove to my hotel which I reached by 12.45pm. I’d arranged to meet Rebecca in downtown Chicago at 1.45pm so I had a very fast but much needed cuppa and got to her only about 5 minutes late.

We went up to the 94th floor of the John Hancock Building. We travelled in the fastest elevator in the US and it certainly made my ears pop! There was an amazing view from the top. The Sears Tower (now the Willis Tower) is taller but this building has great views over the lake.

The tall bulding on the right is Sears Tower:

Afterwards we had a cuppa in the café below and a chat and then Rebecca went to collect her friend Mandy while I had a wander around downtown Chicago.

The traffic to The Abbey Pub was quite heavy so I got there about 10 minutes late for our 5pm dinner but Rebecca and Mandy didn’t arrive until about 5.40pm! They allow people who eat there into the venue first but, as we were still eating, we joined the back of the priority queue so there weren’t any sets of three seats together when we got in so we sat by the window. As I’d been up for over 24 hours by this point it was quite useful as the daylight helped keep me awake!

There’s a detailed review of the gig at KasimInfo.com but it was a fun gig and Kasim played some of my favourite songs (and left out most of my least favourite too which was a bonus)!

I left soon after the gig as I felt tired and got back to my room by 10.30pm and was asleep by 11pm! I’m staying in a Candlewood Suites out near O’Hare Airport (not that I’ll have much time to use the kitchen in the room!).