My name is Benji Lanyado, and I'm yours.
For the next five days, I'm going to be travelling from Chicago to Memphis, guided solely by your tips.
I've just woken up.
Today, the Chi City and I are going on a hot date. By the end of it, we will have fallen in love and consummated our relationship in a blur of Frank Lloyd Wright and deep-dish pizza. Actually, maybe not deep-dish pizza, which I profoundly distrust. I'm willing to give it a go, but I'm telling you, it just doesn't add up.
Anyway, I have company. Hollis Bennett is our Nashville-based photographer who has the enviable task of visually capturing our trip, and the unenviable task of trying to make me not look like an idiot in the pictures.
Also on board is Gary Engelbert. That's correct: Engelbert. Gary is one of my oldest friends, and here are a couple of things you need to know about him: 1) Gary is the designated driver for this trip. Tomorrow we're picking up a SUV. Gary has never before driven anything bigger than a Peugeot 205. 2) Gary's constitution frequently fails him when he departs the UK. I'll be giving you (and more importantly, his mum) regular status updates as we travel. Currently: encouragingly calm.
Right, let's do this. I'm at the ACME Hotel in downtown Chicago (thanks to @HeloRighetto for the tip), and I need to get my bearings. What's the first thing I should do in this city?
Tips to the usual places please: @BenjiLanyado, #TwiTrips, @GuardianTravel, or in the comments below.