V-Flyer

We've been looking for a city break in the USA and had decided on Chicago, but when looking for flights on Virgin Holidays, they are coming up with Delta (plus you have an internal flight to get there)

Looking on the VS website there is no schedule for May 2011.

Are VS pulling out of Chicago?

Chicago has been seasonal for the past couple of years.

IIRC, the flights this year started towards the end of May.

Nick

I thought they pulled out of Chicago some time ago.

VS stopped flying to Chicago post-911, then restarted it before reducing the service to a summer schedule.

In 2011 the current schedule of May to September, was, if I recall correctly, being extended to April to October.

However, I have just read that the A330 that was planned to operate ORD next year has been cancelled and the route is reverting to a A343 for the summer. My guess is that because the configuration is not finalized, VS haven't released inventory as yet.

PS, there are few better city breaks than Chicago, you'll have a great time!

Thanks everyone.

Slink09 would you recommend Chicago? If I'm honest I wasn't that keen to start with, (we've been to NYC and Boston and I wanted to go back to NYC)

Leanne wrote:Slink09 would you recommend Chicago? If I'm honest I wasn't that keen to start with, (we've been to NYC and Boston and I wanted to go back to NYC)

Great city
Great architecture
Lovely people
Nice beaches
Great night life
Wonderful restaurants
Loads to do
Fab shopping
Great sports clubs

Any which one you want to dive into?

slinky09 wrote:

Leanne wrote:Slink09 would you recommend Chicago? If I'm honest I wasn't that keen to start with, (we've been to NYC and Boston and I wanted to go back to NYC)

Great city
Great architecture
Lovely people
Nice beaches
Great night life
Wonderful restaurants
Loads to do
Fab shopping
Great sports clubs

Any which one you want to dive into?

To be fair - apart from all of that and the great views of the lake and the top hotels and the great Blues clubs and the fact that its closer than the west coast - there not much else!

I'd certainly recommend Chicago foe a visit.

Great shopping as well as a wide range of museums and galleries.

DocRo wrote:To be fair - apart from all of that and the great views of the lake and the top hotels and the great Blues clubs and the fact that its closer than the west coast - there not much else!

Ha ha ha - and gangster history too!

Ooohh thanks, the shopping may possibly swing it for me Would 4 nights be enough?

Just spoke to VH and VS start their flights on 23rd May, which is annoying as we wanted to go over our wedding anniversary at the beginning of may, but hey ho.

I'm there for business next week - it's a great city.

Another thumbs up for Chicago here from me too.

Leanne wrote: Would 4 nights be enough?

.

Yes you can have an action packed trip in 4 nights and still have time to shop !

I spent 5 nights there and loved it. Would definately go back.

Vince

Plenty of non-VS options on this route - United, AA and BA all direct from LHR all-year-round.

VS with a connection to US domestic in Boston/Washington/NYC could be a possible too.

Right its all booked for May 2011.

Spoke to VH last night and VS do fly there but the schedule doesn't start till the end of May so we've opted to go then instead of the beginning of May.

We always fly long haul with VS so another airline wasn't an option

Very excited now..... ^)

So I have a few recommendations for eateries that might not always be obvious to tourists thanks to two days on a sales blitz last week.

For a mega-traditional Chicago spot - Shaw's Crab House on E.Hubbard.

For an entertaining lively burger joint - Rockit Bar and Grill
W.Hubbard

For the best ribs in Chicago - a total hole in the wall place called Twin Anchors - been there for ever, really ordinary looking but great food.

For pre or post Cobs game - Vines on Clark.

For a little exotica, anywhere in the aptly named Boystown comes to mind, but I particularly enjoyed a bar called "Wang".
Be warned the decor in the bathrooms is not for the faint of heart!

napamatt wrote:So I have a few recommendations for eateries that might not always be obvious to tourists thanks to two days on a sales blitz last week.

For a mega-traditional Chicago spot - Shaw's Crab House on E.Hubbard.

For an entertaining lively burger joint - Rockit Bar and Grill
W.Hubbard

For the best ribs in Chicago - a total hole in the wall place called Twin Anchors - been there for ever, really ordinary looking but great food.

For pre or post Cobs game - Vines on Clark.

For a little exotica, anywhere in the aptly named Boystown comes to mind, but I particularly enjoyed a bar called "Wang".
Be warned the decor in the bathrooms is not for the faint of heart!

Ooohh thanks napamatt, if anyone else has any recommendations please feel free to post.

Leanne wrote:if anyone else has any recommendations please feel free to post.

Definitely book up a tour with a Chicago Greeter; it's a great way to see beneath the first level of the city...

...and then, in no particular order, but all of a tourist nature..

For sights...Navy Pier / Hancock Tower / Lincoln Park & Zoo / The Bean / Untouchables Tour

For food (of not exactly the haute cuisine kind)..Gino's East / RJ Grunts / Adobo / Lou Mitchells (for a diner breakfast)

For disreputable drinking Billy Goat Tavern (has to be the original at 430 N. Michigan Ave at Lower Level). "Cheezborger! Cheezborger!"

Would love to go back to Chicago...

The architecture foundation has some fantastic walking tours with access to buildings the public dont normally get into.

http://caf.architecture.org/Page.aspx?pid=698

Apparently, this lot can be quite entertaining.

Not that I would know. No sireee.... not me....

(also available in New York, Chicago, Las Vegas, Orlando, Tokyo, Berlin, Stockholm, and also touring all over the US)

rich1664 wrote:Apparently, this lot can be quite entertaining.

Not that I would know. No sireee.... not me....

(also available in New York, Chicago, Las Vegas, Orlando, Tokyo, Berlin, Stockholm, and also touring all over the US)

i have wanted to see them for years!

tontybear wrote:The architecture foundation has some fantastic walking tours with access to buildings the public dont normally get into.

http://caf.architecture.org/Page.aspx?pid=698

Spot on - and their River Cruise is also wonderful, as it offers views of the great buildings from perspectives you would otherwise not be able to access. TBH, you could easily consume 4 days just doing architecture-related tours. CAF do a "Bike the Lakefront" tour that's a lot of fun if you like that sort of thing, and for something definitely off the beaten path I'd take a ride to Hyde Park, check out the U of C campus and the Robie House.

This gal is doing all the CAF tours in a year (there's 85 of them!):

http://www.85tours.com/

It's a useful blog for what you can expect to see in several of the tours, since you won't have a lot of time there it might help you figure out which tour would be best. I'd still probably pick the river trip over anything. I did it 15 years ago the first time, and loved the place ever since. Oh, s@d it, we're going back next year

If you have even the slightest interest in sports, go spend an afternoon at Wrigley Field - great place. Ask the locals at the game about Billy Goat, then go grab a drink at the bar as pjh suggests.

MarkedMan wrote:This gal is doing all the CAF tours in a year

D*mn, those sound interesting, May have to go back. One place I forgot to mention was the Money Museum at the Federal Reserve Bank.

Brilliant thanks guys. We are both into sports so will do anything involving that.

River cruse was on our list too, I'm justing hoping they are going to be running when we go as a lot don't start till June.

Money Museum sounds good to as Hubby is a banker ( ) ) we usually incorporate anything like that into our breaks too.