Hi guys

just looking for people that are going on the Romantic European on the 27.06.2010. My husband and I, my 20 year old son and 18 year old daughter will be travelling on this tour. Would be great to hear from people also booked at this time

My wife and i are on that tour on the 23-05-2010.
If I can get to an Internet cafe I may be able to post a short review of the tour when I get back to London. We are then doing an 8 day tour of England, Scotland & Ireland before flying back to Australia on 28-6-2010

Hi there, we did the romantic european with TD Ruth Ridgway Sept 09, and it is a wonderful tour, you'll just love it. The hotels, all excepting one were great (in Rome they have changed the hotel to an inner city one which is a lot better than having to battle Rome traffic for an hour each way for sightseeing, the hotel itself is OK, we found an annoying shop alarm going off kept us awake, but that can happen anywhere, it's just a bit basic after the other nice ones you have been staying at that's all). You get to see and do all the must do's in Europe, and it's hard to believe that you have covered all the wonderful places you have dreamed about for a long time. Ruth was a wonderful tour director, very relaxed but very organised, and Gieseppe was a great driver, when you see some of the traffic situations they have to deal with you know how good they are, and well deserve the recommended tipping arrangement. We were offered I think about 13 optional trips in addition to the included sightseeing, and the only ones we didn't do was the dinner out in Vienna (we found our own wonderful weiner snitzell (sorry can't spell today!) place for dinner, the classical music concert as it wasn't at the Vienna Opera House itself and we are not into classical music anyway, the Swiss Dinner (we don't like kitch), but the must do optionals if offered are... the Country and Carriages in Switzerland, the Lake Cruise in Switzerland (if the weather is good that is, we made a late decision on that one when we found out the weather was good), Ruth put together 3 optionals for Florence so we did a whole day in Tuscany, first to San Ginnimano, then the Leaning Tower of Pisa and then a trip to a winery for dinner and entertainment, a simply wonderful special memorable day enjoyed by everyone. Also the Moulin Rouge is something not to be missed for a once in a lifetime experience, and I enjoyed the dinner there too. The night cruise on the Seine is very special, the Louve optional is a good way to see the special things like the Mona Lisa etc. and saves a lot of time. The one really good thing was that Insight had booked ahead for getting into the Colliseum and going up the Eifel Tower, going to the Vatican and when you see the queues you realise how lucky you are going straight in on a tour booking. I will be putting some tour tale stories at some stage but email me if you want more detail. One hint, pack light (I took 13 kg and didn't wear quite a few things, but you will be going in summer so clothes should be easily wash/wear) we tested that things would dry o/night before we left home (lightweight denim look skirt dried o/night and didn't need ironing), layering, a handy trench coat, and there are lots of lovely scarfs you can buy on your travels, I have scarfs from all over the world now, which dress up black wonderfully and were very handy on the tour to dress up an outfit for a night out. The blow up travel clothes hangers are great for drying shirts quickly as they keep the garment separated while drying. Also you make sure you put your clothes out for the next day so it's quicker to be organised in the morning and have your bag mostly packed. After the first three one-nighters, it's all 2 nights and while busy, a lot easier. You can take an overnight bag on the bus with you, we packed it with our travel kettle, coffee etc., also numerous bottles of champagne, so you could have some refreshments as soon as you got into your hotel room, as it may be 45 minutes sometimes till the porters delivered your main luggage from the bus, depended on the place really. We got quite adept at cooling a bottle of wine using ice from ice machines in the hotel corridors or the wash basin with cold water. Some of the hotels had sensor fridges so you couldn't use the fridge for your own use if you took something out of it for more than 30 seconds it got charged to your account as if you had used it. Bye for now, and hope this helps.

You certainly do save lots of time at the Vatican! Just goes to show that optionals depend totally on your own taste. The Swiss and Vienna nights out were 2 of our highlights...and of those who came!
Do not miss the big day out in Tuscany!!!
A few people on our tour thought they could get to Pisa cheaper on their own and took the train. They didn't get to stop off at the beautiful 11th century village on the way nor have a lovely tuscan feast in a vineyard. Our TD use to hike the hills in Tuscany and took us a special route that was just divine.
You'll love it! Just be ready to have a holiday when you get home to recover.

Thanks Annie

This info was really helpful as a new traveller. Thank you for taking the time to help us with so much info.