Things Out of Your Control

Ever since I got my lupus diagnosis, my planning skills have excelled to the max - especially when it came to vacations. I would create itineraries on Excel sheets, listing out all the places to visit and new restaurants that we had to try out. In my itineraries I would ensure that breaks were built in so I would not put myself in a flare. So when my husband decided he wanted to check out a new convention in Chicago, I was game. We had never visited Chicago so we were both really excited. It was just a quick weekend trip so I knew I couldn't squeeze in too much since we were also going to a convention.

Planning is key with lupus

I first looked for flights and decided an afternoon flight going there and coming back would be ideal. That way we wouldn't have to wake up so early and had plenty of time to get ready. I then booked our hotel and decided since we were going to spend a majority of our time at the convention I picked one that was close by to the event. We also don't rent cars and just take Ubers/Lyfts whenever we go on vacation. One less thing to worry about. After that it was time to plan out our itinerary.

Since it was our first time to Chicago and we both love to eat, our priority was deep dish pizza. As a New Yorker, we are very particular when it comes to pizza so we were really curious to see what Chicago had to offer. (Spoiler alert, New York pizza is still supreme.) I also wanted to do plan at least 1 Chicago tourist attraction and decided on the 360 Chicago to see the skyline.

I was so happy with my research and all the spots that we were going to hit up. As a lupus warrior planning is key for me. Now that I had a set plan, I knew exactly what we were going to do and didn’t need to stress out while we there.

An unexpected twist

But what we did not anticipate was the weather. It was rainy on and off. Causing our flight there to delayed be several hours. But luckily for us we had a credit card that allowed us to visit a lounge. (Highly recommend looking into this.) We were able to indulge in free food and drinks until our flight was ready to go, in the comfort of the lounge.

When we were finally up in the air the pilot announced that the storm was headed in our path and they were going to have to divert the route and go another way which added even more delay to our arrivals. But luckily we we able to take a quick nap on the plane. By the time we got to the hotel it was so late.

It was such a tiring travel day but deep dish pizza was calling our name. We booked an Uber and headed to our first pizza spot. That travel day was really one for the books.

Making time to recuperate

We were so exhausted and had to sleep in the next day just so my body could recuperate a bit more. After a good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast we were ready for day 1 of the convention. It was our first time at fan expo so we didn't know what to expect. But it was like a mini Comic Con.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much ample space there was for people to rest, and they gave out free water. The only thing I didn't like was that the crowds just seemed to forget that Covid is still real and barely anyone was masked. But I guess that's just our sad reality.

Wrapping up our visit

By the afternoon, I was getting tired and we decided to head back to the hotel and take a nap. After a good cat nap we were recharged and headed to downtown Chicago and visited 360 Chicago. Unfortunately, the rain was on and off so we couldn't do much exploring and decided to just head home after we tried an Italian beef sandwich. It kind of tasted like a wet Philly cheesesteak.

Once were back at the hotel, we started to tidy up. The next day was day 2 of the convention and we were going to leave and head back to NYC in the afternoon. I like to pack up the day before so it's just easier on the day of check out and we don't have to rush.

The next day at the convention we were familiar with how things were and wasn’t so frazzled. For lunch we tried another deep dish pizza spot and after that we grabbed our bags from the hotel and headed for the airport.

Unexpected twists

But of course the weather had a mind of its own and our flight kept getting delayed and then it finally after hours of waiting it got canceled. It was such chaos at the airport and I was so tired. We had to figure out what to do next so I booked the next available flight I saw on my app and rebooked that hotel we were just at. By the time we got to the hotel it was almost midnight.

We were so tired by this time and knocked out so quickly. The next morning we got ready again and headed back to airport. But when I was checking in it told us that we were too early. I looked at the date of our new flight and it was for the following day. I must have been so tired from the day before that I didn’t even notice the date. So we rebooked that same hotel and dropped off our bags. We decided to make the most of our extra day in Chicago.

Some things can't be controlled

Lucky for us the weather that day was gorgeous. We were able to visit the navy pier and did an architectural river boat cruise. We also hit up another pizza spot. After that we needed to head back to hotel to do laundry because we ran out of clothes. We did not expect that we would be stuck there for 2 days. Luckily though I did pack a surplus of meds and I was fine.

The next day we were finally heading back home. Lessons learned on this trip was to not stress out over things out of your control. I planned as much as we could but mother nature had her own ideas. We went with the flow and made the best of our extra days in Chicago.