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Budget Guide 2013: Chicago

by Grant Martin on

The neighborhoods that makes up the city of Chicago are in constant motion. It is a city of crime, segregation and flourish, a city of constant despair and rebirth. Because of that cycle, there’s always a neighborhood on the cusp of development or the brink of disaster, which means new edgy properties opening and closing – and vying for the tourist dollar.

It’s that competition that keeps the mainstream market on its toes. New budget hotels and restaurants on the outside neighborhoods have forced downtown spots to rethink the concept of “budget” and position new properties for a thriftier bunch. Find those new properties or visit the outer neighborhoods and you’ll find the best budget destinations in this city; then throw in a well-built public transportation infrastructure and one of the busiest national airports and you’ve got the perfect formula for an inexpensive weekend trip.

That’s not to say that all of your choices have to be limited to $2 taco stands and the youth hostel parked 30 miles west of town. “Budget” in Chicago can be experiencing celebrity-chef quality at food truck prices or a new boutique hotel at half the cost of the Waldorf Astoria. It’s the second city for a reason: it’s cheaper than New York, it’s less pretentious, it’s easier to access and its people are friendlier. Stick around, and your wallet might beg you to stay.

Hotels

Hotel Lincoln: Hotel Lincoln opened up in early 2012 after a massive renovation. Managed by Joie de Vivre, the hotel is a perfect mix of boutique and budget. Rooms are smaller, but unique and kitschy, and with its location next to Lincoln Park there is rarely a poor view. J Parker, the roof bar, is a swanky evening hangout that attracts a younger crowd, while Paul Virant’s Perennial, downstairs, is among the best restaurants in the city. From $119, based on the season. jdvhotels.com/hotels/chicago/lincoln 1816 N. Clark

Longman and Eagle: Though the restaurant in this Logan Square establishment doesn’t fit into the budget category, the inn upstairs certainly does. With only six rooms and a different design in each, Longman and Eagle is the perfect combination of boutique hotel property and high quality food. Appointments in each room include Danish furniture, reclaimed wood and vintage artifacts, and with each reservation comes two wooden nickels good for a whiskey downstairs. Give Will at the front our best. longmanandeagle.com 2657 N. Kedzie

Public: Ian Schrager’s Public hotel opened up in late 2011 and quickly gained traction as one of the hottest properties in the city throughout the following year. This is partially due to the F&B properties on the first floor. The Pump Room mixes modern lighting and design with a warm aesthetic and a hip clientele. Like the Ace in New York, young folks come here for the sole purpose of socializing, with naught an elevator taken to the residential floors.

Visitors that do stay overnight are privy to a clean and minimal design, with light tones, simple furniture and basic wall appointments for distractions. It’s the chic sort of quality one would expect from a four-star legacy – bundled cleanly inside this north side boutique. From $195. PublicHotelsChicago.com 1301 N. State Parkway

Eat and Drink

The Burlington: Neighborhood bars in Chicago tend to inherit the traits of their residents, and in Logan Square, the hipsters head to The Burlington. Dark, Spartan and unassuming, The Burlington packs in a wide variety of live shows and DJ sets for those interested in the musical offerings of Chicago, and for those just looking to socialize there’s a great budget bar selection separated from the stage as well. Try out the PBR + Jim Beam special for $5. TheBurlingtonBar.com 3245 W. Fullerton

Pork Shoppe: Pork Shoppe recently opened up on the north side of Chicago among a crowded field of barbecue joints in the city, but it’s earned a respectable home. Barbecue here is savory and tasty without being over the top, and the dining room is small, simple, casual and friendly – just like it should be. For best results try the fabulous lunch special of 2 Texas Brisket Tacos, Fries and a Soda for $5.95. porkshoppechicago.com 2755 W. Belmont

Xoco: If you’ve got a celebrity chef palate but don’t want to spring for the four-figure dinner tab, look no further than Xoco in the River North neighborhood. The brainchild of Rick Bayless, the same chef who runs Frontera Grill and a spattering of other restaurants, Xoco is a quick fire, Mexican-inspired restaurant that serves up delicious tortas, bowls and salads at exceptionally reasonable prices. The carnita bowl, which has delicious slow-cooked pork and potato-masa dumplings is a winner at $11.50. And if you miss Xoco, try out the Tortas Frontera in O’Hare airport on your way out of town. rickbayless.com/restaurants/xoco.html 449 N. Clark

Lush Wine and Spirits: Wine tastings aren’t unique to Chicago, but they certainly are perfected here. Among the best are those held at Lush Wine and Spirits, where every Sunday between 2 and 5 p.m. you can stop by for a free tasting of the newest bottles on the shelves. Stop by one of their three locations in University Village, Roscoe Village or West Town. lushwineandspirits.com Multiple Locations

Budget Activities

Headquarters: If you were born any time after 1975 there’s a good chance that video game culture is threaded into your DNA. And while many of us grow (or are forced) out of that phase, there are still fond memories attached to Ms. Pac Man and Street Fighter II. Headquarters, a bar in Lakeview, is the perfect place to journey back in video game time.

Step into this bar under the red line and you’ll see a score of vintage games ranging from the ’80s up to the 2000s surrounding a dozen high tops and a well stocked bar. But the best part? The games are all 100 percent free. Just stop by the bar and grab a few drinks to get your evening started. Hqbeercade.com 950 W. Wolfram

Maxwell Street Market: Each Saturday morning, a stretch of Chicago’s South Loop is transformed into a vibrant and raucous flea market. Vendors range from those selling fruits and vegetables to those selling tractor parts and bulk Mach-3 razors at a deep discount. You can find everything here, and the environment is friendly and busy. cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/maxwell_street_market.html 800 S. Des Plaines St, 7 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Brew and View: If you happen to be in the city during a weekday, a few of the venues around the city turn their concert-floors into cheap spots to catch an old movie and drink a few beers. Brew and View up in Lakeview is probably the most popular. You can catch a double or triple feature here for only five bucks and beer is pretty cheap too. Just don’t ask for water, that’s almost as expensive as the beer. brewview.com 3145 N. Sheffield

Get Around

Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) passes work on both the elevated (el) trains and public buses in this city, which for most travelers should take care of all of your travel. You can pick up day passes for $10 or three-day passes for $20 at O’Hare, Midway or almost any train station, then use those cards to swipe as you go.

Google Maps and Transit are the bibles of navigation for most locals; simply plug in your destination and get directions from your current location to find the easiest path home. If you haven’t got that functionality, remember that the city is divided into a grid and that State and Madison (downtown) is at 0,0. So Belmont, 32 blocks north of Madison is at “3200 North” while Western, 24 blocks west of State is at “2400 West.” Most buses go either straight north-south or straight east-west, and if you want to intersect with a train just ask the driver.

Budget Tip

If you’re looking to get the skyscraper views of the city from the John Hancock or Willis Towers, check out the Signature room on the 95th floor of the Hancock Building. It’s adjacent to the observatory, free, and rarely has a line. You can stick around for a (pricey) drink that’s less expensive than the cost of admission to the observatory, or if you’re really frugal, take a walk around and head downstairs.

[Photo credits: Kentaro Yamada]

Finding My Inner Speed Demon At Indy

by Lillian Africano on

Never knew I had a taste for speed. Never chewed up Jersey Turnpike miles singing “Born to Run,” never flipped the bird at the drivers I left in the dust. Nope. Though I drive a traffic-cop-magnet red car, I have never gotten a speeding ticket; I just go with the flow of traffic.
But something happened when I arrived at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Anticipation. Excitement. Something new was about to happen at this place where racing rules, where drivers and their zillion-dollar cars roar around the 253-acre oval, and where 40 million fans worldwide scream for their favorites. Yes, I’m one of those who love to watch, but today wasn’t about watching; today I would actually see and feel what it was like to be in an Indy car, barreling around the track at speeds I’ve never experienced.

My warm-up would be a ride in an Indy pace car with superstar Sarah Fisher, who retired as a driver in 2010 after competing in her ninth and final Indy 500 – the most number of starts for a woman in the 94-year history of the event. To me, Fisher is an icon, the first and only female team owner in the IZOD IndyCar Series – and the first female team owner to win an IZOD IndyCar Series race. My pulse quickened as I walked toward the pace car, a modified Chevy convertible. Introductions out of the way, I asked how fast we would go, hoping I didn’t sound too much like a wuss who feared getting car-sick. About 120-130 mph, she replied. This sounded, well, fast, for an open car. “Girls drive smoother than guys,” she said by way of reassurance. Okay, superstar driver trumps doubts.

I belted myself into the passenger seat. Removed scarf, jewelry, sunglasses – anything that could be whipped off my person. Engine starts, we peel out – and OMG, my hair stands straight up on end, the G force plasters my body to the seat as we round the first turn. I’m forced to the right and stay stuck there until I’m pushed to the left. My eyes shut; my jaw clenched. But OK, the ride was smooth.

As we went round and round, I opened my eyes. Fisher was relaxed, smiling, enjoying the drive. And suddenly I was, too, energized by the experience of going really fast, yet feeling safe in her expert hands.

Still, when the ride was over, my legs wobbled a little as I got out of the car. I thanked Ms. Fisher for the experience. Yeah, it was really smooth, I said, and she smiled.

And then came the main event. For the Indy Racing Experience, I was going to climb into a two-seat IZOD Indy Car for the ride of my life. And “my” driver would be IndyCar Series veteran and two-time championship runner up, Davey Hamilton.

I’d had to sign a whole bunch of releases that said if something bad happened, it would be on me and not the track. Fair enough, though it did feel funny to give my medical information, the name of my doctor, the name of the person to be contacted in case of emergency. Then I had to suit up, just like the drivers do. I got myself into a way-too-big fire suit that wasn’t made for a small woman, but OK, it was protection. Fire gloves, too. My head was bound in a knit balaclava and on top of that came an enormous helmet with a face shield.

All this stuff was wearing me; I felt like the little kid in “A Christmas Story” who complained he couldn’t put his arms down. By the time I came face to face with Davey Hamilton, I couldn’t speak – and I couldn’t lower the big fat package I had become into the very skinny and low-slung seat. Someone’s arms lifted and pushed me into the car, strapped me into a harness so tight, I felt as if I had become part of the car. It was actually a good feeling – snug and secure with no room to move.

And then with a thunderous roar, the car shot forward and was soon hurtling around the track at 180 miles an hour. But this time I was one with the car, no shifting from side to side, no lurching stomach, no feeling the push and pull of G force as we rounded the oval.

Eyes wide open, I watched empty grandstands fly by, imagined them crowded with screaming people and pulsing with life on race day. I laughed aloud inside my face mask, high on the thrill of speed. So this was what it was all about. This is what makes professional drivers risk life and vehicle time and again, what makes crazy teenagers take crazy risks on hot summer nights at the Jersey Shore. This was a fantasy I’d never had, but living it felt great! And much too quickly it was over.

Drivers do 200 laps around this track during the Indy 500; the Indy Racing Experience, which I’d just sampled, costs $499 for a three-lap ride. The rides need to be booked months in advance as they’re offered only on select dates for people 18 years of age or older, under 6’5″ in height, and under 250 lbs.

Is the ride worth five hundred bucks? If you can afford it, hell, yes. If my check book were fatter, I’d do something like this regularly, step outside my comfort zone, jump out of a plane like George Bush did every year on his birthday.

Experiences like this are available all over the country. The Richard Petty Driving Experience puts you in a NASCAR race car at more than 20 venues, including such celebrated tracks a Bristol, Daytona and Talladega. Or, you can do a ride-along. Prices range from $159 to $3,499, depending on the length and complexity of the driving experience.

At the Mario Andretti and Jeff Gordon facility, prices range from $129 to $2,299. Prices at the NASCAR Racing Experience start at $129 for a NASCAR ride-along and go to $364.99 for driving a race car that had once been driven by such NASCAR favorites as Jimmy Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Dale Jr.

For speed lovers with big budgets, the Richard Petty Fantasy Racing Camp in Las Vegas (March 10-13, 2013) is four full days in Las Vegas; it starts with meeting Richard Petty and Dale Inman and includes getting behind the wheel of a 600 HP NASCAR race car, learning short track driving skills, road course driving skills and participating in a speedway challenge at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Spring Mountain Motorsports Racetrack Road Course. The price is $10,500, with a limit of 12 participants.

As for me, I’m back to just watching and driving with the flow – for now.

[Photo Credits: Lillian Africano]

Missing Aircraft Located In The Antarctic, Crew Lost

by Kraig Becker on

Search and rescue teams have located the missing aircraft that went down in Antarctica last week after being stymied for several days due to bad weather. A SAR team out of New Zealand spotted the plane from the air over the weekend and described the crash as “not survivable.” A search group consisting of specialists from that country and the U.S. was able to approach the DH-6 Twin Otter airplane yesterday, where they recovered its flight recorder and other parts. The mission was quickly called off, however, due to unsafe conditions surrounding the wreckage.

The plane was making a routine supply run from the South Pole to an Italian base located near Terra Nova Bay last Thursday when it went down, immediately activating its emergency locator beacon. Winds in excess of 100 mph and heavy snow prevented any kind of rescue operation from being mounted at the time, so SAR teams and anxious family members could only watch and wait. Once the weather improved, however, the plane was spotted on a steep mountain face near the summit of Mt. Elizabeth, a 14,698-foot peak located in the Queen Alexandra Range. It appears that it flew directly into the mountain with none of the crew surviving the impact.

Because of its location on the mountain, the plane is in an unstable position, making it unsafe to approach right now. With that in mind, search operations were called off yesterday with teams returning to their bases. The bodies of the three crew members will stay onboard the aircraft until they can be safely retrieved at a future date.

The Twin Otter aircraft was owned and operated by Kenn Borek Air based out of Calgary. The company specializes in flying scientists, explorers and adventurers to remote locations all over the globe. The pilot, Bob Heath, had a great deal of experience flying in polar conditions.

Our condolences to the friends and families of those who were killed in this crash.

[Photo Credit: Spencer Klein, NSF]

Gadling Gear Review: Brooks Range Mojave Waterproof Down Jacket

by Kraig Becker on

Anyone who enjoys cold weather adventures probably already knows that down is the best insulator for keeping us warm when the mercury begins to drop. Lightweight and comfortable, down can be used in a variety of products that help us enjoy the great outdoors, even in extreme conditions. But the material has a major flaw that has, at times, limited its usefulness in the past. When down gets wet, it tends to clump up and lose its loft. Worse yet, in cold conditions wet down will freeze solid and become practically useless. That has all changed with the introduction of a revolutionary new water repellant down called DownTek, which is just now making its way into a number or new products.

One of the first products to hit the market that uses DownTek is the new Mojave Jacket from Brooks Range Mountaineering, a company that specializes in creating gear for extreme environments and activities. The jacket features 800+ fill wrapped in durable, weather resistant fabrics and includes an attached hood and high-quality zippers designed for use in cold, wet conditions. In short, it is the perfect jacket for mountaineering, snowshoeing, cross country skiing or nearly any other cold weather activity.

The Mojave was built with active outdoor enthusiasts and travelers in mind and its design reflects this. Some down jackets can be overly bulky and hamper movement, which makes them less than ideal choices for some of our more active pursuits. But Brooks Range knows that its customers are looking for products that will allow them to hike, backpack and climb without restrictions so their products are built to support those activities. The result is a jacket that performs amazingly well while still providing nearly unrestricted motion while on the trail.Of course, all of this doesn’t mean very much if the jacket, and more importantly DownTek, doesn’t perform as advertised. Fortunately, that isn’t an issue here, as the Mojave provides everything you would expect out of a down jacket and so much more. The water resistant fill is simply a revolution in terms of cold weather gear, making this garment far more versatile and reliable than similar products that don’t use this new type of down. Better yet, the same process that makes the down fill water resistant also adds anti-microbial and anti-bacterial properties, ensuring that even after it gets wet, the jacket remains clean and odor-free, something that any traveler can appreciate.

Those aren’t the only qualities that will make this jacket popular with travelers heading to cold weather destinations. In addition to the Mojave being very warm and comfortable, it is also highly packable. Unlike similar products from competitors, Brooks Range has created a jacket that can be compressed down to a relatively small size so at to not take up much room in your luggage or backpack. That is much appreciated by those of us who like to travel as light as possible without compromising on the performance of our gear.

It isn’t often while testing a product that I realize it is a significant leap forward in terms of performance, but that is exactly what the Mojave represents. DownTek gives this jacket, and the other products that it is being used in, properties that standard down simply can’t compete with. It does add a bit to the price tag of course, but as far as I’m concerned, it is worth every penny. The Mojave costs $299, which isn’t dramatically more expensive compared to similar products without the water-resistant down, but it is more expensive nonetheless.

If you’re the kind of person who wants a down jacket for keeping you warm while you run errands around town or shovel the sidewalks in front of your home, then a standard down jacket may completely fulfill your needs and expectations. But if you happen to be an active outdoors enthusiast or traveler, you shouldn’t settle for a product that doesn’t perform as well as it could. With the Mojave you won’t have to make those compromises and you’ll have a jacket that will keep you plenty warm and dry no matter how bad the weather gets.

National Geographic Expeditions Celebrates 125th Anniversary With New Travel Options

by Kraig Becker on

Exactly 125 years ago today the National Geographic Society was officially formed. Its founders set out to create an organization “for the increase and diffusion of geographical knowledge” and considering everything that Nat Geo has accomplished over the years, I’d say they succeeded. The Society will celebrate this important milestone in a variety of ways throughout this year, including adding a number of special itineraries to their award-winning travel service, National Geographic Expeditions.

Exploration and discovery have long been at the heart of what drives the National Geographic Society forward and the trips that they have scheduled to celebrate their 125th anniversary reflect those values quite clearly. All told, there are ten itineraries to choose from, ranging from a seven-day excursion to Mayan ruins with Nat Geo grantee William Saturno to a 38-day epic journey through South America that includes stops in eight countries. Other options include a visit to East Africa to spot primates and a sailing adventure along Canada’s wild coast. There are even four specially designed photographic adventures that combine amazing destinations with photo workshops. Those destinations include places like the Grand Canyon, Tanzania and Morocco.

Of course, many of these itineraries are available from competing travel companies, often at a lower price. But what sets the Nat Geo Expeditions tours apart are the amazing men and women that you’ll have the opportunity to interact with along the way. For instance, on the photo expeditions you’ll hone your own skills by learning from Pulitzer Prize-winning photographers, while the other trips are led by NG Explorers-in-Residence, writers, biologists and more. These extraordinary people can provide experiences and insights that simply can’t be found elsewhere.

Checkout the entire list of National Geographic Expedition tours on the company’s website and help Nat Geo celebrate its 125th anniversary in style.

[Photo Credit: National Geographic]