Chicago's Holiday Season Packed With New Experiences

Fans attending Chicago Bulls home games this season have a chance to enjoy not only a game, but also an opportunity to win nearly 20 giveaways.

When Daniel Materna and his wife booked a recent trip from Chicago to Los Angeles, they carefully selected their flights. The couple was keen to fly on a United Airlines 787 Dreamliner, specifically, to enjoy the lie-flat Polaris seats in the business-class cabin.

As the holiday season arrives, Chicago transforms into a winter wonderland with a myriad of festive activities and events that capture the spirit of the season. From sports enthusiasts to art lovers, families to couples, there is something for everyone in the Windy City. Here are some things worth exploring this holiday season.

Bestowed on high performing restaurants that present exceptional cooking, a Michelin star can shake up a chef’s entire culinary ethos. The rating considers five important factors: quality of ingredients, agreement of flavors, mastery of techniques, menu consistency, and, interestingly, the personality of the chef as experienced through their fare.

Get ready to unwrap your holiday spirit this festive season on Yas Island Abu Dhabi with an extravaganza of unparalleled entertainment, exclusive family-friendly packages and fun-tastic experiences for guests of all ages. This multi award winning destination, Winner of World’s Leading Theme Park Destination 2023 Yas Island also won awards for World’s Leading Theme Park 2023 - Ferrari World, Middle East’s Leading Water Park 2023 - Yas Waterworld and Middle East’s Leading Adventure Tourist Attraction 2023 - Clymb at this year’s World Travel Awards

Disclosure: TPG accepted a comped round-trip ticket from United for the SFO-CHC flight to get access to the events and executives on board. TPG paid $574.67 for a positioning flight to SFO and for other associated costs, such as hotel and ground transportation.

United Airlines is betting big on Spain: On December 6, the carrier announced that for the first time, it is launching new nonstop service between San Francisco and Barcelona for summer 2024. Together with its other Spain routes, that marks a 30 percent increase in flights to Spain in 2024 compared to 2023.

President Joe Biden is a self-described train fan, commuting between Washington, D.C. and Delaware on Amtrak for decades as a Senator. Now to beef up U.S. passenger rail, his administration is doling out more than $8 billion, including funds for two high-speed trains in California and Nevada.

Young budget tourists are putting off trips to New York City. Maybe it’s because they are finding it harder to find affordable rooms.

United Airlines is launching a new route next year from San Francisco to Barcelona, making it easier to get to the popular European city in time for summer.

While recently planning a trip to Aspen, which is going through its biggest winter expansion in half a century (read more here), I was chatting with a local tourism representative and told her I was going to look into flights. Her response? “You want to fly United.” When I checked, United was indeed the easiest and most affordable way for me to fly to Aspen.

Turkish Airlines flies to 345 destinations in more different nations than any other carrier in the world, with one of the newest and most acclaimed airports as its hub. It also consistently ranks among the very best airlines and just won–again–Best Airline in Europe in the 2023 Skytrax World Airline Awards, the industry’s most influential, beating out the likes of Air France, Swiss, Lufthansa, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. It also took home four other Number Ones in the awards, including Best Economy Class Seat in Europe and Best Business Class Cuisine worldwide. (I recently wrote in detail here at Forbes about another award-winning carrier, Qatar Airways, which has won World’s Best Airline and World’s Best Business Class among other titles).