My recent trip to the windy city
I recently headed over to Chicago to see one of my best mates who has been living there for the last 3 years.
The best thing about knowing someone in a new city is their local knowledge of all the best cafes, underground bars and restaurants to visit. Chicago is one enormous city over flowing with eateries and trendy bars, the biggest struggle is deciding where to head first.
The first couple of days were spent cruising round the city on the eco bikes which if you ever get a chance to do I’d highly recommend it. It’s a great way to get outdoors and discover the city assuming you don’t mind getting beeped at from every driver in Chicago! Plus you can have a few beers along the way. Good times!
I was only away for 8 days but I still managed to fit in 3 of the big 4 sports. Ice hockey, basketball and American football. To catch the American football game we headed down to New Orleans for a weekend. It was an incredible experience. The game was on a Sunday afternoon but you would have thought it was a Saturday night from the way the crowd was into it. The place was electric!
The food in New Orleans definitely wasn’t what I’d call healthy! I was pleased to get some fruit and veg back into the body when we returned to Chicago but it was good to sample a few of the delicacies like beignets for breakfast, which is basically a doughnut absolutely covered in icing sugar.
We also ate crocodile burgers, spicy jambalaya and countless shrimp dishes. To me sampling the local cuisine is what travelling to different continents, countries or even cities is all about and I have always been one for giving anything a go.
Whenever I’m travelling or away from home I always like to keep my training sessions up so that I can enjoy the food and lifestyle without coming home feeling like I have a mountain to climb. Even if you get home and feel a little behind the eight ball think how much further you would be if you let it all go.
I trained most mornings whilst I was away, nothing crazy and mainly sticking to high intensity sessions.
