Jordan and Jaxs World Tour

It’s amazing that a little bit of research can go a long way on the road. We always make a point of heading to the closet Barnes and Nobel or Boarders book stores when arriving in a new city.  Once you grab a seat, you can flick through the travel guide of the city you’re in to get some tips, then jump online on the free wifi  to get more details of the activities that you liked the look of.

This being said today was a hotel swap day.  Being the savvy budget travellers that we have become – we managed to score a BARGAIN of a boutique downtown hotel, right of Michigan Ave and overlooking the Chicago river.  Carrying our bags to the new hotel was a small sacrifice to pay for the fantastic new hotel that we had checked into – especially as it was AGAIN cheaper than a private room in a hostel!

Today`s agenda was to make the most of the Magnificent Mile, and get some shopping done.  Shops lined the streets, with favourite stores like Apple, Victoria Secret, Nike and more.  If your a shopper then you’d be in heaven.   Jax seemed to strike it lucky again, and walked out, bag in hand, of her favourite jewellery store Pandora….twice!

If it wasn’t for the reading we had done earlier in Borders yesterday morning we wouldn’t have known about the next tip in Chicago.  Of course visitors have the choice of two `Sky Scraper` towers to ascend and get amazing views over Chicago. Either the Sears Tower `Sky Deck`, of the Hancock Observatory.  Despite being slightly shorter – we chose the Hancock Tower, but instead of heading up to the observatory on the 93^rd floor and paying over $20 for the privilege, we instead headed to the back of the building and jumped on our own elevator up to the bar on the 96^th floor….for FREE!  Instead we used the money on what we would have spent on the admission, on getting some cocktails and watching the sunset over Chicago!  It doesn’t get any better than that!

To top off the day – after descending the tower we found the famous `Cheesecake Factory` restaurant at the bottom.  With its 22 page menu, it wasn’t easy for a first time visitor, but after a through read we had an absolutely delicious meal!

Could we fit in desert? It is of course the `Cheesecake Factory`, so we finished off with a slice of Red Velvet Cheesecake, and rolled back to the hotel!

It seems the money we saved from the planning in advance, paid off with some special drinks and dinner – just don’t tell Borders!\