UA2 SIN-SFO 787-9 Polaris Business to San Francisco, Baseball and Yo-Yo Ma in Chicago

[yflyer]

There was a full service bar...



There were power sockets and USB sockets under the bar counter itself...very convenient!



The bar menu listed complimentary liquor and beverages included in your lounge visit...





...as well as premium items for purchase...







I sipped a glass of Prosecco as I waited for my flight to ORD...



Overall, I thought this lounge was a decent place to spend time before a domestic flight.

[yflyer]

The gate area for my flight to ORD was quite busy...



One of United's 737-900's taking us to Chicago that day...



I boarded with Group 2...



UA Domestic First Class, large leather seats laid out 2-2...



The Economy Class cabin was done up in the attractive new BSI (Boeing Sky Interior), with leather seats in standard 3-3 layout...



...with Economy Plus seats (dark blue headrests with the light blue trim) having greater legroom than the regular Economy seats (light blue headrests, pictured below)...



UA's Economy recline on a 737 relies more on the imagination than the seat actually reclining. This is the extent of recline available...



No seat back IFE either...



...but in place of a seat back screen, there was wifi and entertainment streamed onto your personal device, which was more than acceptable, I thought.

Average legroom...



The armrests could be raised all the way up...



...including the aisle-side armrests, which have a button at the base to depress in order to raise it.



Universal A/C power under the Y seats...

[yflyer]

The bathrooms...



Most (All?) of United's 737 NG's have the new split scimitar winglets, which apparently increase fuel efficiency by up to 2%...



A smooth, on-time take-off on a very cloudy afternoon, for a 4+ hour flight to Chicago...

[yflyer]

During the flight, I checked out the wifi and streaming IFE.

I think inflight wifi/streaming IFE is a decent substitute for a seatback screen on shorter flights. The important thing to remember was to download the United App before taking off, something which the UA gate agent did announce over the PA at the gate prior to boarding.





Pretty decent movie and TV selection...



...although I was rather watch on an iPad or Notebook rather than a phone screen...





Airshow delivered via the app or browser via wifi...



Internet pricing on this flight...

[yflyer]

Cabin service consisted of a round of beverages and the option to purchase food and snacks...



Menus were printed inside the UA inflight magazine...

Soft drinks were complimentary. Beer, wine, liquor and cocktails were available for purchase...



Snacks and food for purchase...





I decided to try their Brioche Cheeseburger...



The burger itself was served warm, and came complete with lettuce, pickles and tomato in a separate ziploc bag...



...along with a selection of sauces...



...which you assembled DIY.

The end result looking quite appetizing...



...yum...



Not quite Shake Shack or even a McDonalds Quarter Pounder...but still very tasty.



I devoured it while watching a pre-loaded episode of Parts Unknown on my iPad. There was just enough space to fit all of it on the tray table...

[yflyer]

I generally dislike narrowbodies on such long sectors as SFO-ORD, but flying domestically in the USA, there usually wasn't much choice.

All that said, cabin ambience for this flight was ok, and an aisle seat certainly helped...



My fight departed SFO at 6pm and arrived in ORD at midnight...



I deplaned into a deserted terminal...



...and caught a taxi to my hotel in downtown Chicago.

Overall a decent flight, about what you would expect flying domestic economy class on a 4+ hour sector within the USA on any of the mainline carriers.

It was ok, as long as you didn't compare it to a 3 or 4 hour international sector out of Singapore, where on SQ and many other international airlines, you would be on a widebody jet, and wined and dined with a full meal service and a free flow of complimentary liquor.

All that said, that burger was delicious. If I had to have dinner on an evening flight on UA, I would be quite happy eating that burger...

[yflyer]

My hotel in Chicago was the Aloft Chicago Downtown River North.



This was a very centrally located hotel, close to Michigan Avenue, the so-called Magnificent Mile. The hotel was located just north of the Chicago River.

[yflyer]

I had checked in online on the Marriott Bonvoy app several hours earlier, so when I arrived past midnight, the room had been held for me.



Like the other Aloft hotels that I had stayed in, this hotel had a lively, edgy decor theme.



The rooms themselves were very similar to other Aloft properties that I had stayed in, with a very similar layout



Two desks facing windows, with a small couch in betweem...



Artwork above the large King bed...



Open concept bathroom and wardrobe, with shower stall and no tub.



There were quite a few restaurants and bars in the immediate vicinity, not to mention a McDonalds as well as convenience stores a short walk away. Shake Shack was just several blocks away as well. The Irish Pub across the street was still lively at 1am on a Sunday morning, so I popped in there for a drink before turning in for the evening.

[yflyer]

The next morning was a foggy and overcast Sunday...



I made myself a cup of coffee using the in-room coffee maker...



...before heading out into the city for an orientation run...



My plan was to head to Michigan Avenue, the main shopping street, then run northwards to the John Hancock Center, before heading back south across the Chicago River to Millenium Park.



It was nice, cool weather for a run...



However, heavy fog obscured all tops of the skyscrapers that made up Chicago's distinctive skyline.

This is all I saw of the iconic 100 storey John Hancock Center that day...



I turned round and headed back South along Michigan Avenue towards the Chicago River. As I ran, I marvelled at the architecture around me...



There were stunning structures all round, some new, but many from another era...



To me this all seemed similar to Manhattan, and yet quite different...



I spotted the Apple Store...



...a beautiful glass structure along the Chicago River...

[yflyer]

The Chicago River was teeming with boats of all shapes and sizes, with many tourist vessels taking tourists on river cruises and tours...



Further ahead, I spotted a lush green space...



This was Millenium Park...



...where one of the main draws was Cloud Gate, a stunning sculpture by architect Sir Anish Kapoor.

If there was an iconic spot for selfies or wefies in Chicago, this was probably it...



What was nice about this sculpture was the fact that you could go right up to it -- even under it -- and touch it.



Even up close, the perfectly smooth and reflective surface appeared unblemished and pristine, without any visible seams.

[yflyer]

Also at Millenium Park was the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, where musical events were often held.

This was an outdoor theater with both proper seating...



...and an extended grass verge...



Elsewhere in the Park, there was a Pokemon Go festival on...



This was a very nice day to be out in the park...



I continued my run along the banks of Lake Michigan...



...enjoying the view of boats bobbing in the distance, and large ducks closer to shore.



Quite a few other folks were out on their Sunday walk...



I continued along the running / cycling track along the lake shore, towards the Chicago Riverwalk, which ran along the river...



...and eventually reached the Riverwalk itself, along the banks of the Chicago River...



This was a great route along the river, with a lot to see. Apart from walking or cycling along the trail by the banks of the river, you could also cruise along the river itself, either on a boat, or by paddling your own kayak...



...which apparently many people did...

[yflyer]

A lot of Chicago's architecture could be admired from the river....



...and there were cruises organised which specialised in doing just that: architecture cruises, where the skyscraper history of Chicago would be told....



This pair of skycrapers caught my eye, not just because of the distinctive shape of the buildings' facades, but also because of the berths for boats built into its lower levels...



This was a very satisfying orientation run of the city...



...with a total distance of about 9km. The planned route was in blue, with the actual route in red, including the time spent wandering around Millenium Park and the Cloud Gate sculpture.

[yflyer]

It was too foggy during my run on the first day to see the tops of the tallest buildings in Chicago. I only saw these later on, when the sky cleared up for one or two days during an unseasonally wet and cloudy week...

Later that week, while walking in between offices and meetings, I finally caught glimpses of the top of the John Hancock Center...



...and also the top of the Willis Tower, previously the Sears Tower...



Wills Tower was the tallest building in the world until 1998, when it was topped by the Petronas Twin Towers in KL.

Other distinctive buildings in Chicago were the art-deco style Carbon and Carbide building...



...and the Trump International Hotel and Tower...

[yflyer]

I enjoyed my meals in Chicago. One of my first meals was at Shake Shack, located 600m from the Aloft...



Queues were fairly short that day...no need to queue as long as for the Shake Shack at Changi Airport's Jewel.



The burgers on the menu looked impressive...



...and so did the hot dogs.



It was always nice when a burger joint served wine and beer (In addition to some very impressive looking milkshakes and concretes...)...





But how to decide? Burger or Hot Dog?

Well, I had just done a 9km run...why decide at all. I ordered both...



...along with a can of Half Acre Pony Pilsner.

I started with the hot dog...



This was surprisingly refined and delicate...with a lot of flavour from the hot dog and the accompaniments, which included spicy green chilli peppers...

With hindsight, I would recommend starting with the burger first, because the hotdog had stronger, more piquant flavours, whereas the burger itself was all about the more mellow and rounded taste of the meat and cheese...



The burger was just remarkable...as good as I remember it to be -- full of beef flavour and oh-so-juicy. No idea how the burger at Shake Shack Singapore compares, but this one really hit the spot!

[yflyer]

For a late night supper, I decided that I needed an Asian food fix...

Well what did you know, right round the corner from the hotel was Ramen-San, a ramen joint that was open at night, even on Sunday!



I didn't quite know what to expect...was this going to be a traditional ramen shop transplanted from Japan?

It turned out to be a trendy, buzzing, modern joint with loud music, a full bar, and a youngish crowd...



The menu looked promising enough...



...and so did the drink list...



What was a sake bomb, I asked my server...

"It's a shot of sake along with half a glass of beer...", he replied.

The list of Japanese whiskys looked impressive as well.



I ordered a Sake Bomb...



...hmmm...not a bad concept...I resisted the urge to order another...

My ramen was delicious..



....every bit as tasty as a good ramen in Singapore, if not as profound as the best you could get in Tokyo or Osaka...



My only caveat was that the broth was served hot, but not piping, steaming, hot. This wasn't a one-off: I returned 2 other times to Ramen-San during the week, and each time I ordered the same ramen. It was always delicious, but the ramen itself was never quite as hot as I wanted it. If it had been, it would have been perfect. The cynic in me thinks that it was served at this temperature so that folks could eat it faster, resulting in greater turnover. Or maybe they were afraid of lawsuits in case someone was scalded. Who knows. I really liked the ramen here, but if the broth was just a little hotter, temperature wise, it would have made a good ramen great...