North America 2022 : August 31 Day 2 Recovery Day

Back when we were younger and it was easier to get over the weird things that long-haul flights do to your body and soul, we tended to hit the ground running, setting up things to see and places to go from the first morning. Not any more. Now we aim to take it relatively easy on the first day, walking a lot, getting in as much sunshine as we can, and generally trying to stay awake until at least dark the first night in order to re-align our body clocks.

That’s the plan anyway. It’s been at least three years since we’ve been able to test it.

After 4-5 hours sleep in the morning we were up, not feeling the best. The body is wondering what time it is, and the brain wants to go back to sleep; drinks lots of water and keep taking the tablets.

While Robyn was showering I was finally able to figure out which options to select to ensure my US/Canada eSim in my mobile phone was working properly. Nigel Rowe, an ex-New Zealand fan now living in Chicago, had been in touch and wondered if we were up for lunch. We were so long as it was light. First rule of eating in the US: realise that main evening meals are going to be rather large and reduce breakfast and lunch accordingly.

Robyn and I caught up with Nigel in the lobby of the Hyatt. He was on his lunch break and we didn’t have a lot of time. A quick wander through the bowels of the hotel, past various convention rooms being set up and we found a small arcade of food shops. Sandwiches were ordered and lunch was had by the river. I hadn’t seen Nigel face-to-face in some years though we had corresponded via FaceBook and email, so it was good to catch up.

Then it was off down Michigan Avenue in search of the T-Mobile shop in order to get Robyn a sim card for her mobile phone. We got a reasonable deal but not a great one as it didn’t allow for voice calls in Canada. We figured we could work around that, hopefully.

After that it was walking, lots of walking. Back down Michigan Avenue to the river, then down towards Lake Shore Drive, a turn up along the lake through Maggie Daley Park to Millenium Park, and the over to Cindy’s Bar for a drink on the balcony overlooking the park towards the lake.

Chicago is a lovely looking city – at least this downtown area. There are a range of interesting neo-gothic buildings (the Wrigley and Chicago-Tribune buildings in particular) which look to be in excellent condition, and few art deco buildings scattered about.

Wrigley Building

Chicago-Tribune Building

Millenium Park

View from Cindy's Bar

The day had been hot – for us as we attempted to acclimatise – and we were tired by the time we finished. Back to the hotel restaurant for a meal, a couple of beers and a rather early night.

We’d walked about 12,000 steps in the day. We could only hope that was enough.