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Donovan

Donovan

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Thought I'd get this one started in the slow period. We may drive down there, which would be nice as far as having a car to get around. However, I hate the traffic in the Chicago area. Has anyone flown in and just used the train system? Looks like you could fly into O'Hare, take the blue line to the Loop Friday and stay in a hotel downtown a couple of nights. And on Saturday take the red line up to the purple line to the stadium and then back downtown after the game. It would be a lot of train riding, but it avoids driving hassles and parking hassles.
 

Donovan said:
Thought I'd get this one started in the slow period. We may drive down there, which would be nice as far as having a car to get around. However, I hate the traffic in the Chicago area. Has anyone flown in and just used the train system? Looks like you could fly into O'Hare, take the blue line to the Loop Friday and stay in a hotel downtown a couple of nights. And on Saturday take the red line up to the purple line to the stadium and then back downtown after the game. It would be a lot of train riding, but it avoids driving hassles and parking hassles.
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Yes, I've done this exact thing and I have to imagine it's much easier, cheaper, and a shorter time investment than trying to drive and park. The ride each way took between 45 and 60 minutes as I recall, and we were staying at McCormick Place.
 

Donovan said:
Thought I'd get this one started in the slow period. We may drive down there, which would be nice as far as having a car to get around. However, I hate the traffic in the Chicago area. Has anyone flown in and just used the train system? Looks like you could fly into O'Hare, take the blue line to the Loop Friday and stay in a hotel downtown a couple of nights. And on Saturday take the red line up to the purple line to the stadium and then back downtown after the game. It would be a lot of train riding, but it avoids driving hassles and parking hassles.
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I have no experience taking the train from O'hare but I would definitely recommend taking the train to Evanston from downtown for the game.
 

Blue Line to downtown is about 45 min to an hour. I would think this is a great way to go as you could stay downtown then take red line to purple up. Also right off the red line is wrigleyville which is a great place to party and there is a gopher bar in the area if there is another gopher sport playing that day. I am too lazy to look and see.
 

Have taken the train from O Hare downtown frequently (and will be doing so this year with my brother for the game) and it works out really well, plus it's cheaper and less of a time commitment than driving. Anyone booked hotels or anything yet? And does anyone have bar/food recommendations? Thinking we'll fly down Saturday AM early and stay over Sat night then fly back Sunday because it just works easier with my call schedule. Anyone else planning on doing this or have done it before?
 


I was just scanning gophersports.com to buy tickets to the Northwestern game. It says on the website that the game will start at 12:00 am (same time as the Purdue game).

Seems kinda strange to kick off at midnight.
 

They have good barbershop quartets in Skokie.
 


Donovan said:
Thought I'd get this one started in the slow period. We may drive down there, which would be nice as far as having a car to get around. However, I hate the traffic in the Chicago area. Has anyone flown in and just used the train system? Looks like you could fly into O'Hare, take the blue line to the Loop Friday and stay in a hotel downtown a couple of nights. And on Saturday take the red line up to the purple line to the stadium and then back downtown after the game. It would be a lot of train riding, but it avoids driving hassles and parking hassles.
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I've never had a car down there for this trip - if you hate traffic like me, you're better off. Along with the other suggestions, you can also take an Uber. I think from where we were, it was around $20-25.
 



dpodoll68 said:
Yes, I've done this exact thing and I have to imagine it's much easier, cheaper, and a shorter time investment than trying to drive and park. The ride each way took between 45 and 60 minutes as I recall, and we were staying at McCormick Place.
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I flew into Midway for the last game a couple years ago. Stayed in the Loop. Took the train to the game. Back to the Loop. Orange line back to Midway. Flying into Midway is cheaper (IMHO) and it takes only about 30 minutes to downtown. About an hour train ride to the game.
 

The "L" works great for getting to the game - from almost anywhere. We always stay in the suburbs, take the "L" to the game, then to Wrigleyville and/or Downtown, then back to suburbs. Works great, have fun.
 

Make note of the fact that NU has changed the seating arrangements since our last visit to Evanston in 2013:

"First, our student section and marching band will be repositioned to Sections 111-114. We’re excited to offer our student body a vantage point closer to the field of play, with better views of the action and video board, and the opportunity for more television exposure with which to represent Northwestern.

With that, Sections 134-136 and 235-236 in the northwest corner of the stadium will become the portion of Ryan Field allotted to the visiting team (previously in Sections 101-104).

Why move our roaring students away from the Wildcats, and the visiting fans behind the Northwestern bench? Because the football team will have the ability to use both the east and west sidelines during the 2014 season. The team will choose its sideline on a game-by-game basis depending on which location offers the stronger competitive edge in a given week. Additionally, this change will provide fans on both sides the experience of being near the team during select games."

Kind of an odd decision on their part, but if you buy tickets in a specific section hoping to sit behind the Gophers' bench (which has historically been on the East side), that may not be where you end up. Since this isn't a prime time TV game NU may not make this an issue, but be aware at the very least.

http://www.insidenu.com/2014/2/7/53...l-shuffling-seats-and-sidelines-at-ryan-field
 




husker70 said:
If you are going to Chicago park the car and take either the Metra or the L. You can get just about anywhere, or stay anywhere you want. Out of Chicago you can take the L to Evanston, or you can take the Metra to Central Avenue.

Metra map http://metrarail.com/metra/en/home/maps_schedules/metra_system_map.html
L line is the Purple Line http://www.transitchicago.com/
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This is what I did 2 years ago, drove there with my brother on a whim and found a good deal on a hotel near the airport. Worked out great taking the line around Chicago but I don't think I would go back. The stadium atmosphere and pre game scene really really sucked.
 

Kuato Lives! said:
This is what I did 2 years ago, drove there with my brother on a whim and found a good deal on a hotel near the airport. Worked out great taking the line around Chicago but I don't think I would go back. The stadium atmosphere and pre game scene really really sucked.
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No doubt. The atmosphere at jNU is a yawn. But, tough to beat being in Chicago for the rest of the weekend. Compare it to West Lafayette where the atmosphere is just as bad and instead of Chicago you are in, well, West Lafayette.
 

Spoofin said:
The "L" works great for getting to the game - from almost anywhere. We always stay in the suburbs, take the "L" to the game, then to Wrigleyville and/or Downtown, then back to suburbs. Works great, have fun.
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Which suburb?
 

Donovan said:
Which suburb?
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I have done this trip more than once. My favorite place to stay is in Skokie (Holiday Inn there is a great choice). Not for the barbershop quartets, but because it is a short "L" ride to Evanston, Wrigleyville, Downtown, etc. that local also allows you to drive in (and out) from the North while avoiding most of the Chicago traffic. Some great pizza places in that area as well. However, you could pick nearly anywhere near an "L" station (or downtown) and make this approach work.
 


This is our second trip for the Northwestern game and we are doing it the same as last time because we had a blast. Drive into Chicago park the car and forget it til leaving Sunday. Take the train to the game and back. On recommendation from a friend we are thinking about hitting Buffalo Joe's in Evanston post game as it is walking distance to from the Davis street rail station.

Heads up for planning your pregame. Bars in Chicago won't serve alcohol before 10am(maybe 11am?) on the weekends so don't plan on a morning bloody or screwdriver before the game unless you bring the fixings yourself.
 


Game time on GopherSports.com says "TBD". Earlier in this thread, someone mentioned noon. Any idea?
 

BarnBoy said:
Game time on GopherSports.com says "TBD". Earlier in this thread, someone mentioned noon. Any idea?
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Game time hasn't been announced yet, and probably won't be until 2 weeks prior. Somebody earlier said 12 a.m., which I assume was a placeholder on the ticketing website.
 

dpodoll68 said:
Game time hasn't been announced yet, and probably won't be until 2 weeks prior. Somebody earlier said 12 a.m., which I assume was a placeholder on the ticketing website.
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Do you think it's a safe bet that it won't be a prime time game?
 


My wife and I just booked our flight to CHI for this weekend. If you're cool with dealing with the convoluted fee system, Spirit Airlines has fairly cheap round trip flights (Thursday early evening through Sunday night for us, 2 people (and an infant) = $312 by checking only 1 bag and not selecting seats in advance). We're lucky to have my wife's aunt to stay with in Roscoe Village, an easy transit ride away from Evanston. Anyway, hope to see some of you there!
 

I knew hotels wouldn't be cheap, but they are a bit more than I was expecting. Little option below $200/night.
 

I went 2 years ago and am going again. I did not want to go to West Lafayette so Chicago it is. I am driving down through Milwaukee which I did before to avoid most of the traffic hassles. Staying in northern suburbs and not hitting downtown this trip. I know Wisconsin has a home game on Saturday so I will hold my nose when I go through Madison. The rates were pretty decent on Friday night on expedia. I am staying in Milwaukee on Saturday night, Driving straight through is fine but if it is a late start I would rather make it a long weekend. I hope to see lots of maroon and gold. If you haven't been there before the area is similar to the area around Summit Avenue except there is a rundown stadium in the neighborhood.


Go Gophers !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Donovan said:
Thought I'd get this one started in the slow period. We may drive down there, which would be nice as far as having a car to get around. However, I hate the traffic in the Chicago area. Has anyone flown in and just used the train system? Looks like you could fly into O'Hare, take the blue line to the Loop Friday and stay in a hotel downtown a couple of nights. And on Saturday take the red line up to the purple line to the stadium and then back downtown after the game. It would be a lot of train riding, but it avoids driving hassles and parking hassles.
Click to expand...

Chicago traffic can certainly be awful and unpredictable, but the game is in Evanston, not Chicago, and on the side of the metro area closer to Minnesota. If you can delay your arrival in Illinois to after 8PM Friday, or early Saturday you probably are not going to have a real traffic issue. The problem with this plan is that much of the appeal of attending a Gophers game at Northwestern is the opportunity to spend time in Chicago, not get stuck in Winnetka and then drive south to for the game only.

I prefer to drive to Milwaukee and head south on I94 to Chicago, and sometime I will divert from the tollway and drive on Illinois 45 that has some stoplights and goes through the old money suburbs along the lake north of Evanston. I find a lot of the traffic headaches associated with driving to Chicago center around I90 between Rockford and the Chicago city limits. I also find the number of toll booths to be awful on this stretch. This method adds about 18 miles to the trip, but Milwaukee traffic is light, and the drive less annoying.

It is possible to navigate around Chicago by car fairly easily once you are there, but the bigger problem is the incoming interstate traffic, especially if something like Lalapalooza is going on. Getting from the loop/ near north side to Evanston is fairly easy on Lakeshore Drive to Sheridan, or even on Clark Street.

For me the biggest challenge in driving to Chicago is finding free parking in the core city by my hotel after 5PM, or else getting stuck paying awful daily parking rates near the hotel. ($45-70 per night) For me visiting Chicago means I need to stay at a hotel on either side of the Chicago River, or north of the river, fairly near the lake/Michigan Ave/ State St. area. I will settle for the main loop/ Grant Park if I have to, but being right off Michigan Ave is the key. Being able to walk to the Oak Street Beach, or North Avenue Beach is also a plus. I probably need to fly to Midway and take the Orange Line to my hotel then take the RED/ Purple lines up to Evanston for the game.
 

Do not book a Hotel now if you want to avoid paying a lot. You will pay full retail for sure if you book a room now. People are paranoid about planning trips and that is one factor that drives hotel pricing models.

Wait until the Tuesday night before the game and start looking around on Priceline and Booking.com. Play around on Expedia and the other mainline sites or Hotwire to get a ballpark price, then bid 20 or 30 percent lower on Priceline. Start bidding with the 4 star hotels and drop a level later if your bids are rejected. This buys you more opportunities to resubmit without waiting 24? or 48 hours if you exhaust all your bidding options. Worse case is that you sniff around on the other sites and get a deal. The main sites (Travelocity, Expedia, ect) are all going to have the same deals. If you can get onto Booking.com , or even the non bidding Priceline options, and some of the lesser known sites you might find some better deals. Do not pay full retail on the hotel sites or book too early.

If your bids get rejected wait until Thursday night or Friday AM and do the whole thing again. Worst case is you end up paying about what you are seeing now, the day before you get there.

You are never going to get good deals on Hotel rooms weeks before the event, and in a high capacity like Chicago you are not going to end up without a room. If you were going to Penn State, or Bloomington Indiana, then you need t worry about capacity and booking early.

For me a trip to Chicago is not complete without walking along or swimming in Lake Michigan, walking on Michigan Avenue, eating some good walk up street food (Polishes, Roast Beef, Burritos) and hitting some of the bars on Clark Street, Division, and even Rush. Being in one of those big Hotels in that zone I wrote about makes this all easy. Dealing with cabs in Chicago is easier and cheaper than many places as well.
 


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