The Canadian Invasion! The sacking of Chicagoland
 

The Canadians are coming! :mapleleaf: :eek: :mapleleaf:

It's been in talks for a while now, but a road trip is being proposed to commence from Toronto to Chicago, and back again. The current interested parties are me, aberkok, and Martian, with the likely inclusion of Magpie.

As it sits, this configuration will likely see the renting of a Crown Vic to roll across the Great Lakes region and into Chicago. If anyone else is interested in going, we can upgrade to a van so that we can add a few more people.

We are currently looking at doing this over the Victoria Day weekend (the weekend of May 24th), as it is a three-day weekend for the Canucks. This date isn't in stone yet, as everyone still has to weigh in. (Though it would be nice to go on a road trip on Victoria Day weekend in a Crown Victoria.)

I don't really have any more details at the moment, so if anyone else who wants to get involved at either end of this journey, here's the place to post your suggestions and proposals. I just wanted to get things down for reference, and to get the ball rolling, as it were.

May 24th? Oh-ho-ho! I may have to unass myself from the DC area and head out there. I'll be done with school.

Yes, yes.

I demand a crappy hotel where the furniture can be replaced for $200 and 3 futons can be acquired without question to supplement the sleeping area.

Why do I get the feeling we'll end up sleeping in the woods and not remembering how we got there?

Well, the alternative is sleeping with WooDs and not remembering it.

I'm around that weekend, at least at this point. Keep me in the loop on your plans.

ill have to Pm Woods to see if she's interested.

if there's a few of you guys getting together there may be a possibility i could try and make it out there.

Im not driving though...

Hey gang. This looks like it will work for me - I can reschedule my teaching that Saturday (if we are even open... can't remember).

I'll be taking my final road test that Thursday so I might even be able to share in the driving!!

In honor of your arrival... I will stock Canadian Beer. But No Labatts.

We're still not 100% sure of the driving thing. It seems that if it's a rental we're limited to one driver only. When I actually make the booking I will inquire further about adding more drivers, but worst case I can handle 8 hours as long as I get a break in there somewhere (which I imagine we'll all need anyway).

Martian, I think you'd be okay if you switched drivers. I doubt they're going to send a company rep along with you to supervise your rental adventure. As long as you're not hopping curbs and taking out pedestrians, I think you'll be okay. They just do what they do to cover their butts legally.

Martian, I'm sure flying out there would be fairly cheap as well....in the worst-case scenario. Maybe there's even a bus route.

* * * * *

Now that this is starting to shape up, can you local Chicagoians (Chicagoites? Chicagoers? Chicagoivians?) start making recommendations for places to stay?

My cohorts are two newly licenced drivers. For all I know, curb-hopping is a distinct possibility.

...

I think that a car rental is the most convenient. The flights are substantially more expensive. The bus may work out cheaper depending on how many people we have, but it might be worth the extra expense just to have the convenience of it.

Monkie will probably tell you all to stay at her place. It's not a bad idea. Depending on what job I end up doing next and where, onodrim and I may or may not also have a place for people. Other than that, there are so many hotels in Chicago it's hard to recommend anything specific. That said, if you stay in a hotel you should find something either downtown or on the north side.

Well, yeah, there's going to be at least 4 of us. I didn't want to just assume someone was going to put us up somewhere, which is why I floated that out.

With 4-5 people a rented car works out to be at least comparable to other options. Airfare for four to Chicago is around $1000. The all-in price that the guy from Discount gave me for a car rental is $677.33, which includes insurance and all the other fees and gives us 3000 km. That's our worst case on a vehicle.

On the other hand, the same car rented over the internet is $337.35, plus insurance (~$140 for a week). That puts us at around $460 total, plus gas.

For clarity, these are weekly rates -- that seems to be the most economical way to do it.

I haven't looked into the bus fare, so that may be cheaper, but no matter how you slice it there's no way plane tickets can compete with a car.

My place is small but there are ways to make it work. I've got a queen bed, futon, 2 twin pads, and air mattresses. Sleep is just the night time thing anyway right? Probably the biggest thing would be there is just 1 bath.

In my neck of the woods, Park is free on my street and hotel/garage parking is much more reasonable compared to parking downtown ($13 for 24/hr instead of $50/24 hr).

Oh that's a really good point, if you guys drive here you need somewhere to park. You definitely want to focus north for hotels then.

don't be burning anything on the way down guys............:D

Whew - just checked. My bleacher seats for the Cubs/Cards game are the following Friday. Thus far, I'm still around. Let me know when it gets finalized, and I'll start talking to The_Wife about escaping for a bit.

Bringing this back for an update. I'm in the process of grabbing my passport. It's apparently a 4-6 week turnaround according to the website, so I should have that in plenty of time for the trip.

Are we still green means go for this thing?

I am still down for the trip!! I've just been finishing up school stuff (very busy) - so haven't put any thought into planning yet.

...soon.

bring it on, bitches.

Oh how I wish I could go. Even though the thought of crossing the border always gives me nightmares.

Ace - what about a ticket from Vancouver to Toronto, and then get in the car ride with them?

Might be cheaper than an international ticket. Come on.... you know you want to!!

Ace would be welcome, though we might have to upgrade our rental to a minivan.

So far we have the same three confirmed (myself, Baraka_Guru and aberkok) and Magpie is still a maybe. settie was a maybe last I heard, so that's up to five. Ace would be number six.

Accommodations still need to be established, so that's our biggest planning hurdle right now.

Dear friends. It pains me to tell you that I cannot do this trip any longer.

It's come down to choosing between this trip and continued involvement with a very special band (Muskox), as we have a recording session on the Sunday (May 23rd).

Another sacrifice I am making for my art (melodramatic sigh).

What can I do to make it up to you?

You need to do what you need to do. It's an opportunity you shouldn't pass up. We can think of making up for it somehow.

To be honest, I shouldn't be going myself anyway. I'd be financing the entire trip using my already burdensome debt.

Naked pictures of Bea Arthur, obviously. Duh.

Silly Canadian artists.... ;)

Dang, and here I was hoping to use you as a buffer between Baraka and me. We'll have to find another took-wearing pawn now.

Comedy night in Toronto!

Fuck, my co-conspirators just bailed.

Alright. Honestly, it's a hectic time for me anyway so I'm not crying into my beer, but I still want to do this. How about a postponement instead?

postponement sounds good, martian.
If its later on in the summer, maybe my chances of coming will be in my favour. :)

Well BOO. But I understand. The Canadian invasion will move at the speed of molasses, naturally :p

We missed our window. We'll need to wait until land and lake freeze over again.

*hangs up his skates*