Chicago-Useful Information

We went to Chicago for 2 days in July of 2025.

I wish I had known:

Ventra is an app to use public transportation in Chicago if you want to just use your phone. Buying a day pass and using it on the bus was easy. It was loaded to my Google Wallet. However; at the time, their website made it seem like I could buy additional day passes for my family and then just scan a new one. That was not the case. I bought additional passes for my husband and kids. The bus driver told me only one pass can be used per phone. So if your kids each have their own phone you could download the app on each one and then they each have to scan it. After a call with the helpline to figure out what to do; we found out that for the kids to ride they’d need paper day passes & my husband either needed to download the app and get his own day pass or get a paper pass too. The person I spoke to told me we could buy them at CVS. That was not true. Thankfully the nice lady there pointed us to the train station down the street where we could actually buy day passes. Had we just known we needed paper ones and what to do it would have been quite simple. Actually using public transportation in Chicago, once we all had day passes, was simple. We used Google Maps to tell which train or bus to use. They would not refund my money for the day passes on the app. They did move the money to some kind of fund for single use. But I doubt we go back; so we’re just out that money.

Transportation:

See above

Using public transportation was the best way to get around to a lot of places in the main touristy area, in my opinion.

Tips:

We use ROAD iD to order wristbands when our kids aren’t old enough to know our phone numbers by heart. We put their name, our names and numbers and where they’re from on them. It gives us a little more peace of mind while we’re traveling.

The best part:

The Field Museum