{"id":1002,"date":"2015-05-10T16:54:55","date_gmt":"2015-05-10T16:54:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/?p=1002"},"modified":"2019-06-18T17:13:38","modified_gmt":"2019-06-18T22:13:38","slug":"5-things-to-avoid-when-navigating-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/5-things-to-avoid-when-navigating-chicago\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Things to Avoid When Navigating Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are quite a few things that suburbanites and out-of-towners don\u2019t always know about the big city, so in an effort to help out, here\u2019s a short list of some things to avoid when navigating Chicago.<\/p>\n

Walking by Yourself at Night
\n<\/strong>Unless you\u2019ve been living under a dad bod fat roll (hey they\u2019re trendy now), you\u2019ve definitely heard this one before. If you\u2019re going to be out at night, make sure you\u2019re with at least one other person. Unfortunately we live in a world that holds more weirdos than we\u2019d like, and even though we always think nothing would ever happen to us\u2014it\u2019s better to be safe than sorry. This is doubly true for women.<\/p>\n

Permit Parking
\n<\/strong>You can\u2019t just park on the side of the street anywhere in Chicago, and this goes for neighborhoods too. There have been so many times I thought I finally found the perfect spot before looking up and seeing that dreaded \u201cpermit parking only\u201d sign. Nothing is worse than the letdown you experience when you think you\u2019ve finally found a spot and then you have to hop back in and find another. Except maybe\u2026<\/p>\n

Rush Hour
\n<\/strong>Sometimes rush hour can be pretty unavoidable, but if at all possible, you\u2019re going to want to sidestep this horribly forsaken process of crawling through the city. I really doubt I need to tell you why rush hour sucks, but if you\u2019re interested in my thoughts on it, let\u2019s just say I\u2019d rather be hit by traffic than stuck in it. If you\u2019ve got a good parking spot, just chill out and grab some grub (and maybe a beer) while you wait for it to die down. If you\u2019re looking for a place to hang, here are our top River North bars<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Driving Timidly
\n<\/strong>Out in the burbs, it\u2019s easy enough to just wait for nice big opening in the traffic to make that left turn. Typically, this gap in traffic will come soon enough, so it\u2019s really no big deal. Well\u2026 that\u2019s different here. I\u2019m not saying to drive like a maniac (we have plenty of those already), but if you\u2019re hoping that some nice soul is going to slow down or let you in front of them when you\u2019re trying to change lanes, you\u2019re probably going to have a bad time. Don\u2019t get me wrong, there are some polite drivers here, and certain areas are undoubtedly better than others, but you\u2019re probably just going to get stressed out if you\u2019re being a little timid behind the wheel.<\/p>\n

That Guy
\n<\/strong>You know who I\u2019m talking about\u2026 He\u2019s loud, he\u2019s obnoxious, and (depending on your gender) he\u2019s probably either letting you know that he\u2019s a \u201creal man\u201d or trying to pick a fight with you. Trust me, nothing you say to him is going to sway him from his douchyness. Just pay him no heed and keep moving.<\/p>\n

Side note: Don\u2019t be that guy. I would imagine he looks something like this…<\/p>\n

\"Justin<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are quite a few things that suburbanites and out-of-towners don\u2019t always know about the big city, so in an effort to help out, here\u2019s a short list…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2279,"featured_media":1004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[755],"tags":[159,345],"class_list":["post-1002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-category-things-to-do","tag-chicago","tag-things-to-avoid"],"yoast_head":"\n5 Things to Avoid When Navigating Chicago | UrbanMatter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There are quite a few things that visitors don\u2019t always know about the big city. 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