This morning it was an early start to get up, check out of our hotel and take the free shuttle to San Francisco airport. Our shuttle left at 7am, but we were really close to the airport so it only took a few minutes to get there.

Checking in was straight forward and our flight to Chicago was fine. In fact, we were actually ahead of time by half an hour as the flight only took three and a half hours instead of the full four. There were some cool views over snow-capped mountains along the way. I decided to watch The Tourist which they were showing on the plane, but the mountains were certainly the best thing I saw on the flight.

Once we arrived at Chicago we were met by Chaz, who Stu used to work with a while ago back in Bristol. Chaz now lives in Chicago with his wife, and had very kindly offered us a place to stay while we are here.

Chaz lives along the train line from the airport so it was an easy ride back to his place. We spent the afternoon just sitting around, chatting and having a catch up. Chaz showed us around his big house, and where we have a room and bathroom to ourselves while we are here.

This evening we met Chaz's wife Ellen when she arrived home from work, then we took a drive out to The Blues Bar for dinner. The food here was great and, as you would expect, big portions too. However, probably the most impressive thing was the drinks menu. They had a huge variety of beers, and the waitress seemed to know every detail about each one. By her own admission she had tried them all, and it certainly appeared she knew everything there was to know about them.

It was a great start to our time in Chicago and nice to know we were retiring to a proper bed again this evening.