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    Windy City Travel

    4.3 (83 reviews)
    Closed 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
    Updated 3 months ago

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    Reviews With Photos

    Glacier Bay
    Caron C.

    Cassie worked hard to find me an amazing inside passage cruise with Silver Seas. It was a great value, and a 5 star experience. Thanks Cassie!!! We had the best 20th Anniversary...

    Ocean View

    Our second time using Kathy with Windy City Travel & could not be happier! Reached out to Kathy last minute to help us escape the February cold & in a few weeks she put together an amazing trip to Cartagena, Colombia. We stayed at a beautiful hotel with ocean views and close enough to the Old City of Cartagena. We are looking forward to Kathy planning our next trip!

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    4 months ago

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    Lynn F.

    Thank you for sharing, Thomas!

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    10 months ago

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    Lynn F.

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    8 months ago

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    Lynn F.

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    3 years ago

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    Lynn F.

    Happy anniversary! Thank you for sharing about your experience.

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    2 years ago

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    Lynn F.

    Thank you for your kind words, Benjamin. Sounds like an amazing trip.

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    1 year ago

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    Lynn F.

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    2 years ago

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    Lynn F.

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    2 years ago

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    Lynn F.

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    3 years ago

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    Lynn F.

    Thank you for sharing, Kim! We look forward to working with you again.

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    4 years ago

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    Lynn F.

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    3 years ago

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    Lynn F.

    Thank you, Vanessa! Appreciate your kind words.

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    2 years ago

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    6 years ago

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    Lynn F.

    Thank you so much for your kind words. We appreciate your support.

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    3 years ago

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    3 years ago

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    Lynn F.

    Sounds like a great trip. Thank you for sharing.

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    3 years ago

    Michelle over at Windy City Travel was excellent, nary a glitch our entire vacation.

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    Lynn F.

    Thank you for sharing about your experience, Peter!

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    5 years ago

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    Lynn F.

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    7 years ago

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    Lynn F.

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    2 years ago

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    Lynn F.

    Sounds like an amazing experience, Thank you for sharing, Sharon.

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    5 years ago

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    Lynn F.

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    2 years ago

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    3 years ago

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    Lynn F.

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    5 years ago

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    Lynn F.

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    4 years ago

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    Lynn F.

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    4 years ago

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    Lynn F.

    Thank you for sharing about your experience and congratulations!

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    4 years ago

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    Lynn F.

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    6 years ago

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    9 years ago

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    7 years ago

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    Taryn W.

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    15 years ago

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    Lynn F.

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    13 years ago

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    17 years ago

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    4 years ago

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    Lynn F.

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    15 years ago

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    Lynn F.

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    10 years ago

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    7 years ago

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    Taryn W.

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    4 years ago

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    Lynn F.

    Thank you for sharing, Dawn. Sounds like an amazing trip.

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    5 years ago

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    Lynn F.

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    6 years ago

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    Lynn F.

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    15 years ago

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    Page 1 of 3

    Ask the Community - Windy City Travel

    Review Highlights - Windy City Travel

    Kathy booked us airfare, hotels, tours and drivers in Rome, Florence and Venice and we could not have been more pleased.

    Mentioned in 7 reviews

    Read more highlights

    Magical Mystery Tours

    Magical Mystery Tours

    4.3(12 reviews)
    0.2 miOld Town, Near North Side

    As a preface, this company is currently under investigation by the Better Business Bureau, the…read moreFederal Trade Commission, the Consumer Protection Division of the Illinois Attorney General's office, the Consumer Resource Center of Washington State, and several financial and private institutions. I will update this review accordingly, if that changes. But here's why: The TLDR: A) the company does not responsibly or efficiently apply the money you send them toward your accommodations, B) they engage in deceptive billing practices, C) they ignore clearly specified preferences when booking additional accommodations/excursions, and D) when questioned about any of the aforementioned aspects, they delay response or cease responding altogether. Here is my point-by-point experience with Magical Mystery Tours (MMM) and their deceptive practices. 1. The company did not responsibly apply our money towards hotel/flight accommodations. We booked travel from December 10-19 of 2004 and the company later revealed, under pressure, that they did not book ANYTHING until early December. In the best case scenario, flight and hotel were booked TEN DAYS before our trip began. In no scenario could this have been the cheapest timeframe. (see picture 1, a segment of an email from MMM). 2. During the trip, our preferences were not adhered to. We informed MMM that we were vegan during our preliminary correspondence. They proceeded to book us reservations at several restaurants with no non-meat (and certainly no non-dairy) options on the menu. Despite this, we showed up, trusting MMM had made some sort of arrangement. The restaurants in question said they were informed of no such thing. The same story played out with 3 other excursions we had them schedule that included meals. 3. When we returned and asked for a breakdown of costs, MMM included a Paypal Transaction Fee of over 3% of the total vacation cost. It is explicitly stated in the Paypal User Agreement that merchants may not pass on the merchant fee to the seller. They must have known this, but were counting on me not knowing. Ultimately, they did refund the fee, but only after being pressed--partly why I continued to distrust and investigate the rest of the bill. 4. When we requested original receipts, our request was denied, despite the their advertising otherwise (see picture 2, a screenshot of their website BEFORE we requested original receipts). After requesting this, they promptly changed the wording in an attempt to hide their billing (see picture 3, a screenshot of their website AFTER requesting original receipts). 5. After sending the before/after screenshots of the changes to their website, and applying additional pressure, they sent undated and unverifiable screenshots of receipts, refusing to send anything else. 6. There were several discrepancies in the final total trip cost relating to the percentage taken as an MMM "fee"--which were substantial. After several follow-up emails were sent regarding this, MMM ceased communications. (Note: the amount in dispute was less than $200. Imagine if you were challenging more than that...) The takeaway: Be careful when dealing with MMM. Do not pay a "transaction fee." Do not book unless promised original, dated receipts beforehand. Demand proof that your travel preferences will be adhered to. Double-check the math of your bill afterwards. My advice: Do not book with MMM. There are many other companies offering this service without deceptive practices: Pack up + Go, The Vacation Hunt, Black Tomato, Rustic Pathways Mystery Trips, Blind Experiences, Guess Where Trips, etc...

    We had the absolute best surprise trip experience with Katie and MMT! We had done a surprise trip…read morewith another travel agency previously, and MMT was above and beyond more exceptional in every way. A few highlights: 1. I appreciate the thoroughness of the survey. Based on the questions, you can tell that MMT puts a lot of thought into the nuances of the experience for their customers. 2. I LOVE the customizability, especially with the budget. We weren't sure what our budget should be. Katie was immediately transparent on the minimum budget MMT would recommend in order to provide the experience we were looking for. We ended up giving a larger budget than MMT's minimum recommendation and were issued a refund of unused funds at the end. 3. Katie was timely and thorough in her responses to all of our questions throughout the process. She was sure to double check every detail before finalizing anything. 4. The excursions planned for us were INCREDIBLE and aligned with our survey exactly. It was the perfect combination of activity and downtime that we requested. I cannot wait to book our next surprise trip with MMT!

    Photos
    Magical Mystery Tours - Picture 1, a segment of an email from MMM

    Picture 1, a segment of an email from MMM

    Magical Mystery Tours
    Magical Mystery Tours - Picture 2, a screenshot of their website BEFORE we requested original receipts

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    Picture 2, a screenshot of their website BEFORE we requested original receipts

    Windy City Travel - travelservices - Updated June 2026

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