In 2021, we want to give you some special editions of the Travel Book throughout the year. Whilst there is still so many places to write about, I think it is also really fun to write about actual experiences that I have had whilst travelling. There have been so many interesting stories so I thought what better way to celebrate them then by telling you all about them

Memories Of The Freezing Cold

If there is one thing that has always stuck with me when it comes to travel is the little stories and things you see and witness along the way. There is one thing that has really stood out in my memories and it takes place in Christmas time of 2011.

We were in Chicago for Christmas, we had gone to the Windy City in the summer of the same year and loved it so much that we decided to return. This time round it wasn’t hot, instead it was freezing cold, in minus temperatures and freezing cold.

I have written on this site alot about the experiences at Christmas in Chicago as it is so festive and magical, however, there is something I haven’t spoken about and it makes me feel sad everytime I think about it. I have been to many places that have a percentage of homelessness but I had never witnessed it like in Chicago.

I know that we have homelessness in the UK but I had never seen it as bad as I have in America. I had witnessed it before in Boston where there was outside soup kitchens on Christmas Day, however in Chicago it felt different.

The one image I will never forget is a homeless man walking down the street in freezing cold conditions with no socks and toilet tissue boxes as shoes.

Another night it was -8 and we went to a local pizza place to grab food to sneak back into the hotel. Outside there was a homeless man that was physically shaking with so much snow piled around him. So that night we didn’t just grab food for us we bought that man hot drinks, soup and a whole pizza, he was so geratful that we had.

This isn’t an article to be preachy, it was just a memory that stays strongly in my head and it makes me sad everytime I think about it.