A couple of weeks ago, I posed a question in a blog post titled “Back in Business in the Big City,” asking readers if they believe in-person business meetings are making a comeback. Well, I am happy to follow up as I sit on a United Airlines’ flight from Chicago back to Pennsylvania, confirming business meetings and business travel are back and better than ever.

A short, one-night stay at The Peninsula Chicago was jam-packed with meetings for publisher Francis X. Gallagher and I as we scheduled dinner, breakfast, coffee and drinks with a handful of longtime friends and clients located in The Windy City. We are at a place in travel right now where preference is key; some are vaccinated and ready to meet face-to-face, and others are not quite ready yet, understandably. I mean, we did just spend 18 months relying on the internet to connect us to friends, family and colleagues. I speak for myself only, but I was so ready for this trip. Luckily, the group of clients we got to see for the first time in a long time were on the same page as me. So we booked two tickets on United Airlines to Chicago, reached out to our friends at The Peninsula Chicago ,and we were all set.

I spent my first couple of hours walking around Millennium Park and joining other tourists at the world-renowned “Bean” (Cloud Gate), followed by window shopping on Michigan Avenue. Twenty-four hours, a phenomenal hotel night and a couple of meetings later, I sit in seat 1D writing this blog and ecstatic to confirm business travel is working its way back into our daily/weekly/monthly schedules.

A top takeaway was a beautiful evening at The Peninsula’s rooftop bar, Z Bar, followed by an out-of-this-world dinner at Shanghai Terrace (the dim sum of my dreams). That is all I will share for now, but don’t worry, you can find my full review of The Peninsula Chicago in an upcoming issue of Global Traveler, and believe me, you don’t want to miss this one.

Bon Voyage,

— Haley Fogarty, account executive