My Spontaneous Weekend in Chicago

(during a pandemic)

Hello my blogging friends. Guess what? I had to travel DURING COVID.
When I tell you I was worried FOR NO REASON… It was honestly pretty peaceful and maybe even a better traveling experience than it normally goes. Believe me, if it were up to me, I wouldn’t have gone out to travel! I had to go back home for a sort of family emergency to help my mom out so that’s why this was a super spontaneous weekend in chicago! Here’s how it went…

My airport / plane ride experience to Chicago

So there I was looking for plane tickets available for wednesday morning on a Monday afternoon. Yes I looked for tickets two days before I had to leave. This really was a spontaneous trip and I was pretty much forced to leave.

Well anyways… my ticket for a 4 day round trip to Chicago ended up being $260 incl. tax. I’m guessing it would have been cheaper if I had chosen less days, but I had some things to do that would need more than 2 days. So I chose to arrive in Chicago on Wednesday and come back on Saturday.

airlines to choose from

I chose Southwest Airlines because I have chosen other planes before and they are awful or straight up LIARS. Delta, for instance, charges you for your bags, but once you get there they charge you AGAIN. They also have ZERO leg room. Similar experience with American Airlines.

I decided to always go with Southwest after those incidences because you can carry many bags (carry ons) with you and 2 big suitcases are free as checked bags.

(nope, you won’t get charged again when you get to the airport)

Another amazing perk is that Southwest requires you to wear masks BUT doesn’t include when you’re eating or drinking (weird and absurd tbh but some are impatient and can’t hold off taking off their mask for 2+ hours).

Southwest also makes you sit separated so the middle seats are empty during COVID. I don’t think it’s a 6 foot distance more like 2 feet which is ridiculous, but what can you expect. At that point, you might as well not complain and just get yourself a private jet.

It’s our fault for having to travel, I suppose. LAX was BUSY on a Wednesday morning 6am and my flight was the fullest compared to the ride back.

The ride wasn’t that bad though. Maybe a 5/10 because I was freezing and the people closest to me were eating with their masks off. Luckily the guy in the seat next to me (after the empty seat) never seemed to take his mask off.

the start of my spontaneous weekend in chicago!

So once I landed in shy-city, of course I had my ride pick me up (my mom). I’m very lucky I don’t have to do uber or get a hotel. Thank you universe!

I arrived at Midway Airport because it’s so close to my house and easy for my mom to navigate and find me.

Well, there we were back in Chicago city with the congested main streets, but the drive home was pretty nice since I had my music blasting.

We went straight to doing business and doing what needed to be done, which was the reason I went there in the first place. Well actually, first we went home I got dressed/refreshed and went shopping and returned some clothes my mom needed to return, THEN we went to do what I went there to do.

shopping experience

Surprisingly, masks are being worn MORE than what I see here in California. That’s not to say Chicago is doing better with covid compared to California, but I believe people in Chicago are less likely to try to rebel against scientists and doctors and would much rather not be bothered or bother anyone and will simply just WEAR A LITTLE FN MASK. 

But also, California is just bigger so there’s more chances people will not want to wear a mask here.

Let me just give a pat on mi back because I LOST WEIGHT. I’m really pleased I didn’t buy much at all, but I thought I might as well get these two tops I got because I don’t have many new nice clothes in California. So I bought the one pictured and then I got another cute one that I used to sleep, but I plan on using it if I go out to the beach, not sure when that will ever happen..

buying VEGAN TAKEOUT for the first time in forever

WE FINALLY got to eat some vegan soul food. I visited this lovely little establishment that is really TUCKED away. Guess what, it got PACKED when I got in there an hour before it’s closing time! My order was finished about 30 minutes later because of how busy they were.

I assume they only had one cook and didn’t expect many people to arrive?

I will def go back whenever I go back home. The mac and cheese, idk, it’s not like any I’ve ever EVER had! Much better than the vegan Amy’s Kitchen frozen food I got that same week from Target. That’s why I love buying from small restaurants, it’s much better than the popular big brands you find at the big chain stores. Small business is always better, remember that!

So I didn’t really take many pictures of the experience, but don’t worry I will probably be going back to Chicago for this business I was doing with my mom. What happened was I was going to buy from another vegan shop called The Black Vegan. Click here for their facebook!

I was about to place my order but last minute I checked the time and it was about a 30 minute drive but I had to be somewhere else in an hour, so I wouldn’t make it if I had ordered with them :/

The good thing is, now I know what I’m gonna be doing! Anytime I visit Chicago I will buy from small vegan shops and post about them to get the word out. Maybe eventually I will do mukbangs and asmr’s of me eating their food, idk, I just want to do anything at this point!

Tell me what you think of this reviewing idea below!

Seeing my cat and enjoying central a/c (which cali homes lack)

Well I was with my kitty again, my BEBA. Ah how I love her! She got chubby since my mom and her are mostly in quarantine and my mom is pretty lazy and doesn’t play with her. They eat and then lay down, and basically that means your cat will get chubby which is bad because they usually get SICK fast.

I’m very worried for that. My cat Gati died just for eating something she shouldn’t have so now that my Beba is chubby I don’t want her getting sick just for being overweight, that’s just another worry I got on top of cats being usually fragile. Now I’m thinking of ordering a cat condo/tower for her to get herself to do something since my mom is too lazy to play with her LOL

Related Reads : Dealing with the loss of your pet

The a/c in my home in AMAZING. I appreciate good a/c because I just can’t do anything in heat. I sound like a spoiled brat, but I hope in the future everyone in the world can enjoy good a/c if they’re like me.

I sleep so amazingly in our place. I really recommend getting a/c if you have a home. It’s worth it to sleep comfortably in a good setting. It helps a ton with focusing. Here in Cali, I am always so lazy to do anything because it’s just too hot in my room. It’s really unfortunate.  

Flying to california / the plane ride back

So there I was getting ready to fly back home to my husbo. Yes, I was ready to quarantine because we do not want to get my grandma in law sick, she’s the oldest person I know and can you just imagine if I was the reason she dies? I would never forgive myself. 

Anyways, this time I was smart and brought a LIGHT blanket. You don’t think the plane will get cold, but with Covid, they turn the a/c all the way up. Either wear a sweater or be like me and wear a long sleeve and a light scarf to cover your thighs, that’s where it will freeze the most.

Midway Airport was so so EMPTY. My flight was around 12pm on a Saturday. I was going to Arizona so I was a little scared because I don’t like switching planes, and I was especially worried because I don’t hear many good things about Arizona.

The flight was great because I didn’t have to sit next to anyone at all. There was only another lady in my row but not in the seats next to me. 

Behind me though, the kids (who weren’t kids at all more like 20 year old red necks) were kicking my chair the whole flight. I didn’t let it bother me it was sort of like a rocking chair, but it was starting to get annoying because I knew they were purposefully doing it and getting up and pulling my chair to get themselves up. Like how annoying can you be? You must hate yourself if you do those kind of things and are not even a child. 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by im kikita 🌿 𝓼𝓸𝔂𝓿𝓲𝓻𝓰𝓸.𝓬𝓸𝓶 (@soyvirgos) on Jul 11, 2020 at 8:22pm PDT

I arrived to Arizona and my next flight was much MUCH NICER. The airport was calm and clean and social distancing was much more enforced than anywhere else I’ve been to. My plane was filled with 45 people! I was sitting in front of a school of Native families or friends, not sure but it seemed like they were on some kind of trip. They were funny and calm. I think everyone including me slept on that flight.

Now that I’m back home, I am 100% more motivated to work hard to get my own place, hopefully buy a building and rent it out for cheap for people in NEED of a place to stay, and also start my small cat sanctuary. I just miss my cat so much so I need to work harder than I have been if I want her here with me. Overall I would say my trip was great. Nothing bad happened at all and I also got to see my cousin. I didn’t mention that because really, she just accompanied me to get vegan food because I didn’t want to be alone. Covid hangouts be like that. If you want to have a spontaneous weekend in chicago, I say go for it, especially if you’re not into being close to people. Covid really restricts anyone from being super close to you.

Thanks for reading my spontaneous weekend in Chicago diary!

Have you ever been to the WINDY city? Would you ever visit someplace on a whim like me?

Talk to me whenever you need to on here or my socials<3

Read more: 2020 life update | Songs to make you feel happier! | Support these Black Creators Today!

LOVE, KIKI

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