Friday: mostly travel, a bit of Chicago

I believe I woke up on Friday upon arrival in Cleveland, where I would transfer to a different bus and continue on to Chicago. Note: here begins an extended discussion of Greyhound logistics that I (and a surprising number of Greyhound employees) do not completely understand. Feel free to skip this paragraph. So in Cleveland, there was another series of miscommunications about the interaction between the Discovery Pass and Express versus non-Expres bus routes. A ticket for an Express route, as far as I am able to gather, costs exactly the same as a regular route but you are guaranteed a seat and the bus is one of the ones with wifi and power outlets. Since I began my trip, I have at various times boarded an Express route bus just by showing my pass to the driver (which is what happens on non-Express routes); showing my Pass to the ticketing counter and getting a set of printed boarding passes through to my destination; or showing my Pass to the gate agent and being told that I need a printed boarding pass and then being told that they can't or don't print tickets at that station. In Cleveland, they told me they couldn't print tickets, that my connection to Chicago was an Express route that was already full of people with guaranteed seats, and that I'd only be able to get on if somebody didn't show up. This was worrying but ended up being quite wrong because the bus to Toledo was only half full. So, I showed the Pass to the driver and hopped on board.

Can't say that the roads between Cleveland and Chicago made much of an impression on me. Traffic into Chicago was rough and we arrived about an hour late. I made a quick stop to pick up keys to a condo generously supplied by an awesome Samaritan, then met a law school friend for beer and burgers at the Billy Goat Tavern. An excellent watering hole with a friendly and competent bartending staff, cheap beer, and a complete lack of any natural light. After a few rounds and a shot of Malört (certainly not good, but more weird than disgusting--FYI, that wikipedia entry has some swear words) we then headed to the Signature Lounge in the John Hancock Center. Swanky and a great view. Then, after all that, I caught a midnight screening of RoboCop, which I will never tire of seeing. All in all, a good start to the Chicago leg.