Your calls always answered within 5 rings.
Geoff always provides a great service and makes sure everything is sorted before we depart. We have used DialAFlight many times. Excellent service and organisation
Jerry was great, as always
Amy Hibbert always provides an excellent service
I have used DialAFlight on several occasions. I find the personal service, provided efficiently and courteously on all occasions, is a welcome reassurance during an increasingly digital travel world.
Exceptional service from Gavin Dattani who organised the itinerary for our trip to America. All hotels were of a high standard and in ideal locations.
Philip was super helpful all the way through. Highly recommend
Excellent service from Leah - she looked after all of the details and changes we requested and answered all of our questions and queries promptly and concisely. Brilliant and friendly service. Will definitely recommend in the future.
Updated info on the holiday was excellent. As usual great service
As with all previous bookings Ellis got everything sorted perfectly. Would not go anywhere else when sorting out our intricate holidays.
Love that you always get it right. I appreciate that you are always just a phone call away and I had the best holiday, thank you
Getting us Business Class seats on a BA flight the same day that an Air Canada flight was cancelled was nothing less than superb. Thank you and well done Brody and your Team.
All went very well. Thank you for your help.
Michael has been booking my flights and holidays for many years and has always ensured my trips are as expected and stress free.
Spot on as always from Declan - we will be emailing very soon for next year
So easy to book flights - UK operatives, a bonus. Wouldn't use anyone else. Any changes are immediately passed on to you. Knowledgeable and pleasant people to do business with.
Great work from Simon
Doug was excellent keeping in touch and making sure everything went without any problems
Always a first class service.
So glad I changed airline to Virgin - this was a much better choice as they looked after me very well.
Responsive prior to flying and when we needed to amend the return flight. Would highly recommend - was great speaking to an actual human!
Thank you so much for booking us an amazing trip to New York to celebrate my sister's 60th birthday. We were central to everything. Hotel was brilliant. The lounge at Gatwick was a great start to our holiday too. Thank you Sam
Easy to deal with and very good at offering different options to make our holiday run smoothly
Jim on the ball again, and with an upgrade for the return flight, marvellous
Excellent service at Heathrow and O'Hare. All staff very helpful and friendly.
Excellent service - staff very knowledgeable, give good advice and answer all questions
My last minute twin city trip to the US was booked easily and went smoothly
Perfect booking and arrangements as usual.
All very easy, no problems
Marshall is the greatest. All went extremely well and Passenger Assistance worked perfectly. Thanks for all your help
Wowzer … what a fantastic trip we had to Nashville! We’re only just getting over it a week later. Thank you so much DialAFlight, particularly Dylan, who is our go-to guy for big group trips. You did not disappoint. Fantastic memories made with family and friends. Already thinking about our next trip…
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
More articles below...
Not quite what you're looking for?
We can easily customise an offer to suit your exact requirements