First a BIG thank you to Ryan & Josh (and the corgies Bernie & Elsie plus Nordstrom) for their hospitality and the warm welcome to their home. We (my mum and I) have spent a total of 11 days at their house to have interviews at some Universities. Their house or rather mansion was built during the glorious Chicago times end of the 19th century and was remodelled from scratches. But they preserved the old charm enhanced with the amenities of our modern times.
Just listing the reasons why we love this place and hosts: 1.)Rooms as spacious and lovely decorated with amenities like heated bed sheets. (Came in handy as the weather was flipping from cold to warm. )
2.) 1. level of the house is common rooms with a fully equipped kitchen, washing machine, tumbler plus Butlers pantry providing you with all necessities for a little money.
3.) Super convenient location just a 5 minute walk from the Green Line Kedzie station and a 20 minute ride to the inner city. Plus bus station is there as well. We were able to reach all of our destinations with conveniently with the CTA mostly even with the Green line.
4.) If you have a car - the parking is free in front of the house. Saves you tons of money and nearly 100% available.
5.) Great level of safety with a combination locked front door and cameras. We were two women so this was important to us.
6.) Nice company of other guests with interesting conversations and even going out. (Thanks Martin for the lovely dinner!) But due to the spaciousness you decide how much of company you like.
7.) Best dog therapy ever from Bernie and Elsie. Sorry they were away for a couple of days. We tried to spoil them with treats with the generous permission of Josh.
7.) SuperHosts: Ryan and Josh are great in answering all (100%) of your questions, easy communication and super helpful with advice e.g. when flying back from O'Hare airport Ryan suggested to take Uber to Logan Square and then the Blue Line. GREAT advice - made our trip back easy-going.
9.) Ryan and Josh were simply great people to be around. Ryan took even the time to drive to Costco to get us some stuff we could not have gotten otherwise.
This goes out especially to the ladies thinking of booking a room as we asked Ryan the same.The place is absolutely safe when you take to the regular precautions you do in a big city. We always felt good.
Thanks for the wonderful time at your home which added to the success of our stay. If you have the opportunity - Stay there. As it says on Airbnb: it is a rare find. Hope to see you in Germany guys!