2013-2014: The Years of Airports

I've been traveling a lot over the past year or two, and managed to make it to 18 airports across the United States.

At the beginning of the year when I got home from trips, I found myself talking to friends and family on the phone about these travel experiences and rating the quality of the airport. When you get delayed, it seems to overtake your travel experience and every little detail (or nuisance) stands out.

I started to keep track of airports and rank them on five criteria: cleanliness, food, proximity to coffee, availability of outlets and if there is free wireless Internet. The overall conclusion is that airports in mid-size cities have invested the most in great airports, and bigger & smaller cities have a long way to go.

One thing to keep in mind is I usually travel American Airlines, so these ratings might be biased to the American Airlines terminals and reflect the quality there.

✓ = yes

~ = iffy 

No: n/a 

Some overall notes

Airport Ratings

AIRPORT	Cleanliness	Food	Proximity to Starbucks or other good coffee shop	Availability of outlets	Free Wifi?
ORD Chicago O’Hare	✓	✓	✓	~	No
O'Hare is huge and generally, a pretty clean and safe airport. Outlets in mass have not been installed  yet, but hopefully in the next few years some improvements are made. McDonald's and Starbucks locations are pretty frequent, Frontera Grill has some fabulous Mexican food and there are great food courts after security.
MDW Chicago Midway	~	~	✓	~	No
Midway is Chicago's second-tier airport, and its ratings probably how that :).
LGA New York LaGuardia	~	~	~	✓	No
LaGuardia is an interesting airport because all of the good food is before the gate, except for Auntie Anne's and a quick sandwich/bagel shop. It's been installed with plenty of outlets, but there is no free WiFi and the short ceilings make it pretty stuffy. You would think the Big Apple would have a better airport!
DEN Denver	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Denver is a progressive airport and nothing about it has ever been a letdown. The gates are easy to get around, everything is clean, available and straightforward.
SEA Seattle	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Seattle was another impressive airport, and the wifi was fabulous.
MSP Minneapolis-St. Paul	✓	✓	✓	~	✓
I wasn't in MSP for a ton of time, but everything about it was up to par.
DFW Dallas	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
For being in a conservative city, Dallas has a pretty progressive airport. I've never had connectivity issues with the wifi, but the most difficult part of this airport is its huge size and using the tram to get to the right gate on time. Best gate = Gate D. I even had the airport tweet back at me when I shared my experience on Twitter about this pleasant experience!
PHL Philadelphia	✓	✓	✓	~
The Philadelphia airport was very impressive, especially because of the upscale shopping. Great experience here!
STL St. Louis	~	✓	~	~	No
I really don't like the St. Louis Airport. It feels grungy, but does have a lot of quick-service restaurants (QSRs) and fast food. Parking is fairly easy when you drive there.
MCI Kansas City	✓	~	~	~	✓
The KC airport is a circle and has security lines based on the gate you are going to, so the lines are pretty short. The wifi works well, but there is minimal food so pack accordingly.
SDI San Diego	~	~	✓	~	No
I've spent a lot of time here in and out of Project Mexico trips, and it's another one that gets the job done. It hasn't been redone in awhile (at least at the gate I've been around), but there is coffee around and everything else is just okay.
SFO San Francisco	✓	✓	✓	✓	Yes
Another impressive airport, and a lot of funky furniture around.
DTW Detroit	~	CDRs- casual restaurants	✓	✓	✓
Detroit is known for having a large Delta hub, but the American gate was nice as well. It was recently redone and is fairly clean, but in my two-day trips there, I've gone into bathrooms where soap has not been refilled in 24 hours.
BDL Hartford	✓	~	✓	~	Yes
I've spent a lot of time in this airport for work, and being a smaller establishment, it gets the job done. There are only a few restaurants (The Black Bear Saloon is the popular one), but enough coffee to get by. The WiFi works in some spots but is faulty in others.
CLT Charlotte	✓	~	✓	No	No
For being Charlotte, North Carolina- a fairly mid-sized city, this was an incredibly busy airport. I flew US Airways here, but on a 15-minute connection and switching terminals, I walked by three Starbucks and plenty of shopping…and noticed the chairs are incredibly comfortable. Outlets were a rarity, but WiFi is free and easily accessible. Naturally because it's the South, I was surprised to see bathroom attendants too, making the bathrooms even more clean and a pleasant experience.
ATL Atlanta	✓	✓	✓	~	No
Atlanta was pretty difficult to navigate with a variety of tram stops to get you across far distances, but no sign to tell you how far baggage claim actually is and if you need to get on the tram. Some terminals had better restaurants than others, there is plenty of coffee around and the bathrooms were high quality.

MKE Milwaukee	✓	✓	~	No	No
Without flying out of MKE, I learned it was easy and quick to get in and out of there when we dropped my sister off as she flew back to Nashville. The parking "cell phone lot" was a garage that connected right to the airport door, and we walked on in and had a nice, sit-down lunch. Regardless, I still looked at it from the lens of the five criteria.

COU Columbia, Mo.	~	~	~	No	✓
Columbia Regional Airport has been a pretty big joke in my four years in college at Mizzou. At least it's up and running!

Parlor Pizza: A West Loop review

After walking by what looks like an incredibly fun rooftop destination twice this summer and seeing it was still under construction, I learned from a Sosh email that Parlor Pizza Bar in the West Loop had just opened.

With Meredith and Anastasia both working in the West Loop, we met up on Monday after work to give it a shot and watch the Bears game!

Parlor has a fun atmosphere that looks a lot like Hubbard Inn in River North - classic, fancy but relaxed. There were a lot of menu items so we split some appetizers and pizzas for a very nice evening - definitely recommend you try it out.

Pulled Pork nacho bites - a winning appetizer!

The popular "Craziest bread" appetizer, living up to its name. Jalapeños, cheese, peppers baked in - spiciest taste I've tried in awhile. I wouldn't get it again but had to try it once.

Truffle oil, cheese, spinach leaves and no sauce. GREAT pizza to start off with and my favorite item we ate! 

The three of us with our  potato bacon pizza