This past weekend, we have friends coming from San Francisco, CA to visit us in the New Eastside in Chicago, she told me that she has got great deals finding a great hotel in our neighborhood. I was very surprised about it as normally the hotels around us are very pricy, especially during the holiday season, she told me that it is through Hotel Reservations.

I surved on the website and found that their price is really competitive, such as the five hotels in Las Vegas is asking for less than $60 per night this week. Also, they do offer lots of packages such as a whole vacation package going to Cancun from Chicago for 7 days staying in a five star hotel for only $1,100. I can’t wait to go there now after seeing the great deals.

In addition to hotels, the site also offers Cruise bookings and has a complete City Guide which is better in many ways than Wikipedia as it is concise and contains all the pertinent information for a traveler.  The site is also very user friendly for international travelers and can be used int many languages and multiple currencies. You can book online or call them on a toll-free number which does not cost anything.

The airline FAQ is a great addition as traveling by air is very iffy and you have to know lots of things these days in order to travel by airplane. I am hoping my cousin can make it here without getting arrested. For instance:

Do I need a visa to enter the country I am visiting or traveling through?
Every country has its own laws regarding entrance by non-citizens. Please check the specific laws governing the country you are visiting. It is your sole responsibility to obtain all necessary documentation prior to your departure. Regardless of the ticket you purchase, applicable immigration laws apply.

Please note that a new United States regulation is in enforcement that requires citizens from some countries to obtain a visa if their flight is stopping over in the US, even if the US is not the final destination .

FREE Millennium Park Concert at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion

Members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Edwin Outwater conductor and Savion Glover tap dancer

Mozart Overture to The Magic Flute
Ellington Selections from The River * Featuring Savion Glover
Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. Ravel)

Conductor Edwin Outwater leads Members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with special guest tap dancer Savion Glover performing to Duke Ellington’s Suite from The River. The program also features Mozart’s Overture to The Magic Flute, which honors the memory of Sir Georg Solti, who passed away 10 years ago this month, and a CSO tour de force, Mussorgsky’s spectacular Pictures at an Exhibition.

This concert is generously sponsored by The Port, Washlow and Errant Families and is a part of Millennium Park’s “Blockbuster Week.”

More information at http://www.cso.org/main.taf?p=3,11,6,1&EventID=9166

I just heard about this yesterday, it started last Friday, March 30th and runs for two weeks - through Thursday April 12th.  

“Navy Pier welcomes the arrival of Spring with two weeks of non-stop family fun and entertainment, featuring indoor rides, inflatable slides, interactive games, special entertainment and more inside the spectacular Crystal Gardens.”

Free Admission - $8 Wristband Purchase Required for Rides listed below.

It looks like a lot of them would be suitable for our 2-yr-old so we are thinking of taking her this afternoon.

For more information see http://www.navypier.com/cal_events/spring_fam_fun.html

Melissa writes in the forum –

I-GO Car Sharing, Chicago’s only non-profit car share, has 2 cars in the Millennium Parking Garage. As an I-GO member, you can use these or any of our 51 cars in the city. You never have to own a car again. We even pay for gas and insurance. Membership is $75 the first year, $25 each year after that. Usage of the car on the Standard Plan is $6/hour, 50 cents a mile. As you can see, our service can really help out a lot of Chicagoans. Please help us get the word out. We really want to help people save money, reduce traffic congestion and improve the air quality.

http://forums.new-eastside.com/index.php/topic,26.0.html.

If you have any announcements or other things to share please do!

One of my friend told me a good deal : $30 Huggies Offer

Get a promotional certificate good for $30 off a future Amazon.com purchase when you spend $99 on select Huggies, Pull-ups, and Goodnites products sold by Amazon.com in Health & Personal Care. Offer expires February 28, 2006.

I have ordered ours, actually check out Amazon, I think you will find it on this link: Amazon

Good luck with your deal and hope you find the baby diaper discount useful!
Kristine

I have heard people talking about there are no toy store in downtown. There was a couple a few years ago but they have been closed. We went to the Bloomingdales (900 N. Michigan) last weekend and found a baby store on the fifth floor, it was not very big, but have quite a few things, especially have lots of strollers. It is called Galt. Also, we have a website that you could come to visit and find some strollers through Amazon:

Baby Strollers

Let me know if you find the price is reasonable.

We are using Peapod for our grocery shopping and found it very convenient and less time consuming. This has really saved lots of our shopping time, plus you have people deliver to your door, you do not need to carry the heavy stuff for a long distance. As far as for price, we found that it is a little more expensive than Jewel, but if you consider the other two good points, it is still worth it. Our experience is to get lots of heavy stuff, such as water, juice, milk etc. We also like the organic brand of the baby food, our daughter likes it better than Gerber.

Let me know if you have any experience with it. Click here for $10 in FREE groceries from Peapod!

I put up a new home page for New-Eastside.com, the old one was just a couple of text links. This past Sunday my wife and I went out with the baby and I snapped a ton photos around the neighborhood.

I thought it might be fun to have a trivia contest where you try to match 10 photos with locations on a map of the neighborhood.. for instance the Elevator image above. Maybe I will have that ready next weekend :-).

Let me know if you have any content or information you would like us to post on this site to share with others in the community.