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Once again Sean Furnival and team put together a brilliant package for our holiday. We cannot thank him enough for his efforts and making our holiday a fantastic memorable experience.
As always a huge thank you to Doug for all his help with our trip. We had an amazing time and are so grateful for all he did.
Very good service - we never worry about booking with DialAFlight as we are confident everything will be done as requested
Everything on this amazing trip dropped into place for us - we can’t praise DialAFlight enough and we have no hesitation in recommending them. Simply the best.
I was kept informed and you have always been helpful
Libby and Raphael were very helpful in dealing with our queries and organising the flights and hotels. It's a pity BA couldn't live up to their reputation with delays on both flights, outbound 2 hours and inbound 7 hours.
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Gary was extremly helpful and efficient. The whole process was easy
Our flight was cancelled a couple days before departure. Your team immediately got on to the airline to sort things out as the alternative we were offered was not very convenient.
Perfect service as usual
Kept in touch throughout the booking. Good deals. Easy to deal with
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Super service as ever...and so pleased you made it through the pandemic! Amy is a star
What more can I say. The best!
As always Fraser and Gino were excellent however very sad to know that Fraser will not be my agent anymore. I wish him well in his new role on the overnight team helping customers out of hours.
As always, Jane is outstanding. Her call to me to make sure our Covid tests were all set up and conforming to the requirements saved us from a catastrophe on the day of flying as I had not reserved the right tests originally.
Excellent service and very personal. I’ll definitely be back. Thanks Saf.
We really appreciated the extra support you provided as the government regulations changed during our trip.
Reid was very helpful. Made sure I got all information and on time but he also followed it up with a call to make sure I understand what was needed. Really appreciate your patience.
As usual Mike, everything went according to plan at the airport with our documentation and Fit to Fly. Thank you once more.
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I had a one hour transfer at Heathrow which my agent changed to a six hour so I didn't miss it but I got there in time for the 1 hr and having to wait in the airport was uncomfortable.
Fantastic, informative, accessible and friendly service
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Roy was extremely helpful. Will definitely use you again!
Staff provide a friendly, helpful and personalised service with a high level of professionalism. We had to have our flights and hotels changed and staff could not have been more supportive finding the best prices possible
Great service as always.
We were in the Pump Room bar of a hotel on Chicago's Gold Coast, one-time favourite of the Rat Pack.
My friend Melissa, who has lived in the Windy City for decades, approached the full and large coupe of vodka martini with lips puckered. Her cocktail looked capable of stunning a bull elephant. 'Clint Eastwood was here last time I dropped by,' she said, casually.
We tripped into the night air and headed down to the junction of Rush St and North State. This is the apex of Viagra Triangle, where silver-haired 'manthers' with big wallets and young partners drink Napa Valley's grandest crus.
FIRST PORT OF CALL
'Let's check out Hugo's Frog Bar,' said Melissa. 'It's more French than anything in Paris.' She was right. I live in France.
'Hey look, it's JB Pritzker,' she said loudly, pointing at a portly 50-something sitting nearby. 'He's standing for Illinois state governor next year for the Democrats. He's also the owner of Hyatt hotels.' In a stage whisper, she added: 'He's worth $3.5 billion.' Two glasses of good sauvignon blanc came to $50, but Melissa coughed up before I had even fumbled for my wallet.
SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE
Chicago is the place to come if you are a food lover who likes sport, art, music and architecture. And bars. It's cooler than New York, easier to get around and, despite a reputation for violence, is one of the friendliest places on the planet.
After the Frog Bar and a stupendous dinner at upmarket steakhouse Maple & Ash, we went to Buddy Guy's Legends.
This is a sprawling cavern of a Chicago Blues bar where you could easily bump into Eric Clapton, Robert Cray or any number of big blues names. Buddy himself was playing to a full house. I nursed a pint or two of Guinness slumped on a barstool.
Above me were the Stratocast-offs of Keith Richards, John Lee Hooker and BB King.
Owing to jetlag I don't remember much after that, until waking up in the New York Life Insurance Building in the financial quarter. This elegant art deco early skyscraper was recently converted into the Kimpton Gray Hotel.
ARCHITECTURE
Built by William LeBaron Jenney, the father of the skyscraper, it's one of the finest buildings in a city whose architecture is more restrained and refined than that East Coast dazzler, the Big Apple (though Trump Tower strikes a jarring note on Chicago's otherwise elegant riverside).
Around the corner from the Gray is a very well-known location from many films, including the recent Batman films – the Chicago Board of Trade building, with its statue of the Roman goddess Ceres on the roof.
We later took a skyline helicopter trip, flitting among the rooftops, which put the scale and grandeur of the place into perspective.
Chicago rears up from the shores of Lake Michigan – from a swamp where Algonquin Indians grew onions and garlic.
Still a little jetlagged the following morning, I cycled the river path and then a short stretch of Lake Michigan before visiting the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the second-largest opera venue in the world (New York's Met is bigger).
It's a staggeringly grandiose palace of art deco and art nouveau, which opened a week after the Wall Street Crash. Maria Callas made her U.S. debut here. That afternoon, the echoey palace of sound was full of ghosts.
Down on the pedestrianised Chicago Riverwalk is the City Winery, beside the bridge made famous in the great car chase in the 1980 hit movie, The Blues Brothers.
A LOVELY END TO THE TRIP
The Winery buys grapes and makes its own wine, so Melissa and I shared a carafe before wandering across the river to the House of Blues, the music venue co-founded by The Blues Brothers star Dan Aykroyd.
It was pretty empty because it was mid-afternoon, but was still full of atmosphere.
After a delightful cruise on the vast lake and a spin around the Museum of Contemporary Art, it felt like my whirlwind trip to Windy City had blown itself out all too soon.
First published in the Daily Mail - February 2018
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