Puester wrote:

> Dave Smith wrote:
> > The Bubbo wrote:
> >
> > A few years ago went on a trip to
> > Europe with two brothers and their wives and I got outvoted on just about
> > everything. I had horrible Italian food in Germany, over priced food at prime
> > tourist areas in Paris and was outvoted on more interesting places. The next time
> > I was over there I located some of the places I missed out on during the previous
> > group trip, which is the last group trip for me. Never again.
> >
>
> We had that experience once in Portugal and Spain and solved it by
> eating lunch together and going our own ways for dinner.
>
> We ate at smallish, native restaurants and they went to the dining room
> at the Ritz or similar every night. We don't go to Europe expecting to
> eat prime rib; they did.
>

Good plan. I tried to get away from the group. The problem was that younger brother
didn't speak French or German and did not want to be left to fend for himself, and the
other brother's wife is a controller who wanted to call the shots. I almost got away
from them for lunch the day after the Italian dinner in Germany, but they found me. I
tried to get away on Paris too. My ploy was to tell them what I was going to do and
that if they were interested to meet me in the lobby at a certain time. Maybe I should
have skipped out earlier than arranged because what ended up happening was that one
couple would be down there waiting but then wanted to wait for the other couple.

I almost envy people who can travel as part of a group, except that for many of them it
seems more a matter of need than want. They cannot have a good time on their own and
always need someone else along with them. I can understand individuals preferring
company but it is unfortunate that couples need someone else to come along. My wife
followed the same general itinerary at a later date and had a great time. We went to
the places where we wanted to go and ate in the restaurants where we wanted to eat, and
we didn't waste an hour or two each day waiting for other people.