Good morning, Noel, and welcome to Tripatini! It's great to have you with us -- and we think you'll find our site productive as well as interesting and enjoyable.

To get the most out of Tripatini, we recommend you take a moment to join several of our many groups which you may find of particular use, such as Eating/Drinking the World; Illinois and the other 49 states; Cruising; The Caribbean and the various island groups; Resorts Corner; Spas; Hotels/Motels; Airfares/Air Travel; Eco/Sustainable Tourism; and plenty of others covering many other topics and most destinations across the globe.

FYI, on your profile you'll see a green bar marked "Text Box," which you can turn into a box containing not just text but also photos and even videos about yourself, your travels, your restaurants, and more; including your restaurant names and info in your profile can benefit both you by generating interest in Chicago-bound travelers. You also have the option of creating profiles for your restaurants in order to boost their presence on our site.

Finally, if you would, please be so kind as to spread the word among your travel-interested friends, family, colleagues, associates, and clients. It's fast and easy to use our "INVITE" function above left on the navigation bar to enter e-mails (even your whole list at once!). Finally, please join our Facebook fan page and follow us on Twitter (see front page info box); we'll be happy to reciprocate!

Thanks much for joining us; we wish you an outstanding rest of 2010, and it goes without saying that we look forward to seeing you online.

Cheers!