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The trip to start a life well traveled!

Banner picture above - Wall of love Montmartre France.  I love you in 300 languages.

Does it get any better moment

IT CAN’T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS became the theme of our fantastic trip.   Not the trip of a lifetime (which felt like it at first) but a trip to begin a new lifetime post kids.

As we traveled from city to countryside we’d leave one idyllic place, expecting that the next stop would be an emotional letdown.  Instead there was joy. Each location was dynamic and captivating in its own way.  By the fourth day the phrase caught on – it can’t get any better!  But it did!

From the wonders of Paris:  food, museums, the Eiffel tower and so much more….

To Beaune in the French countryside with castles and walled cities…

To Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland, whose majestic mountains and waterfalls take your breath away…

Followed by Munich, lovely and amazing considering 80% has been rebuilt so faithfully since the world wars…

To beautiful light- drenched Venice - so different from other cities…,

To an “agro-tourismo” villa in Tuscany just outside of Florence that was so relaxing and enchanting that you are torn between lounging beside the pool or touring Florence.

And finally, the stunning combination of ancient and modern Rome.   Our tour guide referred to it as a lasagna with many layers of new atop the old, where they keep rediscovering ancient locales by trying to improve the new…

All that beauty was coupled with an amazing group of 28 strangers, who came together with only touring in mind, yet became perfect travel companions, and parted as friends.

Join us as we take you through our trip, some of what we saw (saving some wonders for you to find) and how we got there.     We hope to inspire you to travel and calm the fears of how to do it.

Use menus above or click on pictures below to jump to the countries in our tour.

France
Switzerland
Germany
Italy

The beginning

Christmas time 2017, snowy and cold in Rochester NY with all the kids, now grown, home.   At some point Laure makes a snarky, somewhat jestful, comment that everyone but her has traveled internationally.  Little did she know what would follow.   

Husband Jim, knowing Laure for nearly 40 years takes the comment to heart, more seriously than intended.  By early March he has enough specifics worked out that he can pop the question - how about Europe this year?   A somewhat hesitant but enthusiastic yes begin this adventure.  Pouring over options, making tentative then final choices we book the trip with Rick Steve's Tours on April 15, 2018 for a Sept. 25 Best of Europe in 14 Days tour..   Airplane tickets in hand by April 20.  Excitement, then we realize we have many questions like "What do we pack?" " What do we wear?" and then ........ wait.  

Who we are

Laure is the extroverted non-workaholic half.  She loves our kids, critters, quilting, reading mysteries, gardening, bunco and especially grandkids.  She has had a variety of jobs over the years.  She has two now, a paying job from a photography business and the more rewarding job as grandmother.   Her priorities have always been church and family.

Jim is not an extrovert.  Not quite an introvert, but quiet enough.  He has worked as an electrical engineer over 30 years and still enjoys it. 

The Tour

In the beginning we started with the question, tour group or on our own?   For us the choice of a tour group was better, planning done especially the hotels and travel.  The choice of a Rick Steves tour was perfect.   Small group, local hotels, excellent guides.    Click below for more information on our process.

We chose the 'Best of Europe in 14 Days Tour'.  Ultimately the decision came down to ~ see a variety in Europe to know where to return and 10 days is too little, 21 days too much for us.   You can see the 2019 tour details here.

RS tour map.jpg

To the side is a map of the tour, beginning with two nights in Paris, then one night in Beaune, France on the way to Switzerland.  Then two nights in each of Lauterbrunnen Switzerland; Munich, Germany; Venice, Florence and Rome, Italy.  Not shown on the map are the interesting little stops along the way.   Go to our country pages to see what we did and saw.

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