My husband is the King of Research. So when it comes to travel and/or big decisions, he is sure to become an expert before making any real moves — and I, for one, am eternally grateful for that. I can be a bit more of a dive-in kind of personality and you often miss really good stuff that way. As he was planning our surprise Chicago getaway, he uncovered the Chicago Greeter program and I’m so glad he did.
Basically, if you book it at least 10 business days in advance, you can take a personalized, private tour of the city. The Chicago Office of Tourism and Culture offers this service free to approved applicants (you basically just need to prove you’re a tourist and staying at a hotel, or something along those lines).
Our tour guide was Jim, who had lived in Chicago for 30+ years and now in his retirement spends his time sharing his love for the city. He was super knowledgeable and took us to see whatever we wanted to see.
We said we liked history and architecture and we had a lunch reservation at 1, so he showed us all the sites and landed us directly in front of our chosen restaurant at 1:00 on the dot.
Ever since our fantastic Venice walking tour with Louisa, I’ve become a huge fan of doing this type of thing in a new city. There is nothing quite like getting the perspective of a local.
More + better photos to come — I especially can’t wait to show you Oak Park! But in the meantime, I thought this was just an awesome travel resource. It would be nice if more cities did something like this program.
How was your weekend friends?
