Ed Pawlowski wrote:
> George Leppla wrote:
>
>> I used to sell bus tours years ago and they are pretty popular. My
>> personal objections are that I hate riding in a bus and sticking to a
>> schedule. When I am on vacation, I like a little more leeway in the
>> daily schedule than a bus tour allows.
>
> On the Colette tour we were on, you had a couple of days of free time. We
> stayed in Venice for three nights, IIRC and one of the days had nothing
> scheduled. If you elected not to go on the group tour, so be it, that day
> was yours too. Only obligation was to leave to the next destination with the
> group.
>
> It is not something I'd do all the time, but it is a good introduction. SF
> used a cruise, this is a similar thing over a smaller area than she traveled
> in. When we went on our own, we rented a villa and stayed in the same
> place for a week and took day trips as we saw fit. There are tradeoffs in
> that we did not see as many places over a larger area, but we did see more
> of the localized stuff and interacted more with the locals. Buying
> groceries, for instance, rather than buying a meal at a restaurant. Buying
> wine for $3 a bottle rather than $15. We used to go to the same store most
> every day. I'd teach the owner a couple of words in English, he'd teach me
> a couple of words in Italian.
>
>
>> My business objections to selling bus tours was that often a tour
>> company would cancel a tour if they didn't sell a minimum number of
>> seats. It isn't fun calling people and telling them that the vacation
>> they thought they were going to take had been canceled at the last
>> minute and nothing else suitable was available.
>>
>>
>>> When you went to an attraction, they had a reservation and we walked
>>> right in while other tourists were standing lin line. There were
>>> many choices if you did not want to go with the crowd.
>> Yep... that is the way to do it. It is a good system. Most tour
>> operators who run tours for cruise line people offer similar services.
>>
>
>> I have never been to Europe and probably won't for for at least a few
>> years... and may only go the one time. Right now, I am thinking of
>> flying to London, spending a few days there, then doing a river cruise
>> through Germany, then heading to Rome for a few days. But the time
>> needed to do it right is more than I can take off while I am still
>> working.
>
> To do that right could take 3 to 6 weeks. Or you could take 6 months Once
> in London, it is a short train ride to Paris for a couple of nights too.
> (on the way to Germany?) I like Rome, but I like Florence and surrounding
> area even more. Even if you are traveling on your own, consider a local bus
> tour in Rome to see the highlights for a day and then go back to areas
> you've missed or want to see more in depth.
>
> The killer for the trip is the value of the dollar against the Euro.
>
>
That sounds like our trip. We did London for 3 days then took the train
to Paris for 3 days. Then we flew to Budapest for a day and got on the
river barge.

We spent a day in Amsterdam after the river barge and then flew to
Seville where we spent 3 days taking day trips to Cordova and Granada
and then touring Seville.

From Seville we went to Barcelona and took a Mediterannean cruise that
stopped in Nice, Florence, Rome, Naples and Palermo then back to Barcelona.

We were supposed to spend a couple of days in Barcelona and take a
transatlantic back to the US but DH got sick on the cruise and we spent
a horrible week in Palermo. He was in the hospital for 5 days.

This trip to Barcelona and transatlantic cruise were the "do-over" It
was well worth the wait.

--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.