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Comment by SOBE,PIR 6/4/10 IT Mom, Italy on July 18, 2010 at 5:38pm

A shuttle from the airport to your hotel can cost up to $75 each way - we are referring to companies like Super Shuttle. The train can only go where the tracks lie, so that is never a good idea to use to get to your hotel! Does this help?

Courtesy busses from the airport to the rental agency are free and provided by the rental company - they all have them. Yes - I rented from Hertz.

Comment by Sailor's Sweetheart on July 18, 2010 at 5:29pm

Oh my gosh, you ladies are SOO amazing! I feel so greatful to have found this website and to have "met" you! Thank you very much for all of your advice on how to try to make this happen as stress-free as possible. I will be sure to rent a car now :) Also, I have been wanting a GPS anyways so now I have an excuse to go buy one, hehe! Or, even if I rent on in the car it is only $12 more, tha is awesome Sobe! That was with Hurtz?
Stephanie - $75 one way for shuttles, yikes! That is a lot! Is it that how much it costs when/if you take the Metra down to Chicago to sight see? Is that the shuttle you are talking about? I think Sobe said there is a $7 weekend pass?

Comment by SOBE,PIR 6/4/10 IT Mom, Italy on July 18, 2010 at 5:04pm

Ditto on renting a car - will save you lots of money in long run. BIG ditto on bringing a GPS or asking for one with rental car. It only cost me $12 a day to rent one with car. HUGE time saver - and time is precious when you only have a weekend with your new sailor! I had even less time because he was a G&G. Great advice JESSICAB!!!!

Renting a car at a big airport is not that big of a deal, just ask for help finding the rental site. At O'Hare, you walk out of baggage area and follow signs to catch a courtesy bus for your rental company. It's a very short drive, they drop you off at the agency which is right next to airport. Be sure to plan on extra time to gas up and drop car off when you fly back home - don't cut it too short!

Comment by SOBE,PIR 6/4/10 IT Mom, Italy on July 18, 2010 at 4:45pm

SailorSweetheart: Because our son was a G&G, we didn't get to do the train. But I checked it out anyway just in case we wanted to do something after he flew out. What I did was call the info number on the metra-rails site and talked to the nicest person ever who answered my million questions. I had the site up and could see all the train lines and he walked me through it.
Turns out, my son's flight left at 1pm from Midway Airport on Saturday, so we just drove into downtown Chicago. I plugged in "Aquarium" on the GPS and it lead us directly to the Sheed Aquarium - which is by all the other hot spots (Rigley Field too). We parked in underground parking ($20 a day) and walked all over. Caught a water taxi near the aquarium over to Navy Pier ($7 each way) and cruised that area by foot and had dinner. It was a great day - but we were tired after being up at 5am to meet our son at the airport by 7am. On Sunday we went to the Chicago Botanical Gardens (between Great Lakes and O'Hare airport) and that was AWESOME, it's huge. Parking cost $20, but the admission is free and we spent 4 hrs there before we drove back to airport that evening to catch our flight home.

Comment by Sailor's Sweetheart on July 18, 2010 at 4:32pm

Sobe: Very good points! Thank you. I think I will try Enterprise and see if they will pick me up at the airport. I certainly don't want to be scrambling at such a huge airport, especially at night! I want more than anything for the weekend to be as relaxing and as smooth as possible. I don't want to have to get stressed out about the logistics so I am trying to be a good planner :) Thank you SO much for all of your help and suggestions, I really appreciate you! It looks like the green line on the metra will take me to Chicago from GL but then how do I get to the Navy Pier (and other atractions) in Chicago? Taxi? Buss? What did you do?

Comment by SOBE,PIR 6/4/10 IT Mom, Italy on July 18, 2010 at 4:25pm

Sailorsweetheart: Our flight arrived when it was dark, so I would avoid scrambling to find buses at night near an airport - but that's me. Have you tried Enterprise? "they pick you up"! When I booked our flights with United online, an add came up for a discount for Hertz, so we booked it. It was $167 for a midsized car with GPS (a must) from Thurs to Sunday. There are always discounts for being a AAA member, or AARP (that's me!). Try calling the numbers on the flyer you got with the form letter for some local discounts for Navy families.

Whatever you do, please be safe. We were not scared in Chicago, but it is a big city and you don't want to look like a tourist. BTW - getting on a bus with luggage makes you a tourist!

Comment by Sailor's Sweetheart on July 18, 2010 at 4:17pm

Sobe - So would you reccomend just renting the car at the airport and driving up to GL instead of finding transportation to the Metra from the airport and getting to a smaller town to rent a car? Either way, I will likely try to use the metra to sight see in Chicago over the weekend to avoid getting lost and paying high parking fees, thank you for that suggestion :)

Comment by SOBE,PIR 6/4/10 IT Mom, Italy on July 18, 2010 at 4:08pm

You cannot catch the metrarail at O'Hare, you have to scramble a bit on other public transportation to get to the Metra-Rail that goes up to Great Lakes - it's across the street from the Base. RENTING A CAR is the best and cheapest route to take. However.... using metra-rail to go into downtown Chicago with your recruit is a GREAT idea. All the new sailors get discounts on train tickets, but you can buy a $7 weekend pass (good for Sat AND Sun) with unlimited usage. It will save you a ton of time trying to find parking at Navy Pier or where the musemums are, and parking can run $20 a day downtown.

Here's the web site: www.metrarail.com

Comment by SOBE,PIR 6/4/10 IT Mom, Italy on July 18, 2010 at 3:58pm

sailorssweetheart: I did some checking on metra-rail when we were ready to go. Give me a moment to find those notes and I'll respond!

Comment by SOBE,PIR 6/4/10 IT Mom, Italy on July 18, 2010 at 3:57pm

I am posting this on several groups - please read:

There are several of us on various groups that are writing letters to recruits who haven't gotten mail (or rarely get mail). We do this several ways, #1 - we write a "dear recruit" letter and send it to someone we know and ask them to give it to someone who doesn't get letters. Sometimes we send 3 copies of that letter (typed and hand signed) if there's more than one person not getting mail. We include our name and address at the bottom, in case they want to write back - but we continue to mail the letters whether we hear from them or not. Of course, if a recruit were to write back telling us to stop, we would (has never happened yet). I can't tell you how rewarding it feels to do this - it's better than sponsoring a family at Christmas!!!! The letter should be motivating and inspirational, maybe ask them a few general questions and tell a little about yourself and your recruit/or experience, send some funny stuff too if that's your style. I tell my guys (all have been male so far) that I know bc is difficult and they can use me as a sounding board if they have issues. #2 - Now.... if we have a recruits name and address, we mail the letter directly to them.

So.... if your recruit has told you that they are people who don't get mail and you want someone to write a letter to some of these recruits, I'm happy to do so. I would need you to send me a private message on this site and provide me with your recruits name and address. I would write a quick note to your recruit asking him/her to pass out the letters. It's up to you, but I am here for those recruits! I cannot imagine what it would be like to not get any mail - my son lived for it, it's the only thing that kept him sane in bc!

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