For about a week  from 01 October 2000 to 08 October 2000, my manager and I were in Chicago to attend Intershop training as well as Global Mobile Commerce Summit organised by Motorola Mobile Commerce Core Solutions Center.

It was my very first time to "leave" Singapore and travel overseas. The only country which I had visited was Malaysia when I was six years old. It was also my very first time to board an airplane.

I departed from Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 1 on 01 October 2000 (at around 6 am Singapore time) and arrived at Chicago O'Hare International Airport on 01 October 2000 (at around 3:30 pm Chicago time) after a long journey of about 20 hours. Initially, I felt uncomfortable with the time zone differences since Singapore is 13 hours ahead of Chicago. This means that when it is day time in Singapore, it will be night time in Chicago and vice versa.

I stayed at Hyatt Regency Woodfield Hotel (Schaumburg, Illinois), which is a very "small" hotel along Golf Road (It was also my first time staying in a hotel). Every morning, when I stepped out of the hotel, squirrels were seen running around the hotel's garden. The air was also very fresh.

Due to the tight time schedule, I only managed to visit JC Penny, Sears and Godiva Chocolates @ Woodfield shopping mall which was opposite the hotel. I also visited Long Grove Historical Village which is a small town.

Surprisingly, hamburgers were not the only food available for lunch or dinner. I was brought to several restaurants serving Chinese and Italian food by my US colleagues. However, they are always served in very huge portions that almost everyone will "da bao" (takeaway the leftovers). The Chinese restaurants will always give "fortune cookies" at the end of the meal. Inside each cookie, one will find a small slip of paper with "lucky numbers" on it. Connie's Pizza was simply delicious since the crust was thin with lots of toppings.

The most unforgettable breakfast which I had was at Walker Bros. The blueberry wafers which I ordered was served with real blueberries and not blueberry jam. Very fresh and delicious !!! I happened to taste MacDonalds Big Breakfast @ the Chicago O'Hare International Airport on the last day of my trip. Unlike the Big Breakfast in Singapore, it also comes with 2 additional pieces of Hotcakes - Really a BIG breakfast !!! The MacFlurry was available with other type of toppings such as peanuts and M&Ms candies besides the Oreo cookies in the "Singapore version".

I also happened to drop by Motorola's Museum in Schaumburg when I was attending the Global Mobile Commerce Summit. 

This trip was definitely an eye-opener for me. In addition to visiting Chicago, I also managed to "visit" Japan Narita Airport and San Francisco Airport for about an hour each during my flight transit.

Copyright© 2007 by Chue Wai Lian

Last updated on Wednesday, 26 December 2007

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