Most people start dreaming about visiting the land of freedom once in their life and I can totally agree with this idea, as it is one of the best places to see.

It has always been a dream for me to visit the United States. When I was 12 years old it started and after a big planning process I was allowed to spend 2 months in a High School in Illinois. Although I had a bad experience with my host-family, my addiction to the Unites States did not get less, even more.

A few years later I convinced my father to do a trip with me, from New York City up to Chicago. That was the best vacation ever. There are so many things to see, not only the big cities like New York City, Washington D.C., or Chicago. The small cities you can visit on such a trip are even more interesting.

We started our 16 days journey in New York City where we stayed three days in a great hotel close to the main part of the city. Overwhelmed by the usual tourist attractions we got our rental car and moved on to Washington D.C., to visit Obama. Something everyone should see. On our way back to New York City we stopped in Reading, PA and Lancaster, PA to get some more culture connected to some great shopping. Visiting the Amish people felt like being thrown back a few hundred years, in contrast to the various outlet shopping malls where we got the newest fashion. Arriving in the “Big Apple” again, we took a flight to Chicago and immediately at the airport took a rental car to move further into Illinois. There is so much to do although most people first think of corn-fields and just plain land.

One of the best things is to start the old route 66 from Chicago up to St. Louis, MI. That is basically what we did with a few side trips to some really small cities like Kewanee, IL or Toulon, IL to visit some friends. Springfield, IL the home of Lincoln, is for example a really cute city with a  great museum about Lincoln, showing how he lived with his family, including an entire street, that makes you feel like traveling with a time machine into another time. Moving on to St. Louise there is an immediate contrast to this old-fashioned world when you see the “ARCH”. It is a great view when moving up there and even the trip up through the arch is an experience itself, as you move up in egg like cabins, where tall people try to fold themselves in.

On the way back to Chicago one can have nice stops at various Route 66 attractions, for example an old gas station or the Polk-a-Dot drive-thru. A highlight when entering Chicago on the Route 66 is Al-Capone’s wash-street. One tip for all people that are planning to visit that place, do it during the day time. We arrived there about 10 pm and I cannot recommend getting out of your car at that time, although we did, as there are people you can really get scared by in the dark.

In general during our trip we met many interesting people and got to know not only the big cities, which are of course interesting, but I have to admit, the real culture can only be experienced, by going further into that great country. We did that trip twice already and would love to do it again, maybe by enlarging the route a little and taking the entire Route 66 up to Santa Monica, CA.

Author: Sarah Diekoff