jenqgn111

Hello! My Fiance and I (both in our late 20's) have decided to go to Europe for our honeymoon, but instead of planning transportation and hotel on our own, we thought that it might be a lot easier to have someone else do it. We will be leaving from Los Angeles. Does anyone know of a good, reasonably priced tour company that caters to our age group that is flexible in planned vs. own time. We really only want to use the tour company for trans and hotel and would like to do most site seeing on our own. We are most interested in visting Italy, Spain, France, and perhaps London. Thanks so much for your help!

ira

Dear jeng,

Considering that you do not wish to avail yourself of the services that a tour company or a travel agent provides, why not save the money and plan the trip on your own?

yipper

Hi,
I think you should go to a travel agency. They can make all the arragements for you and you will be on your own to site see as you like. Tours are good, but you're up at 6a.m to get the luggage outside the door and eat and get on the bus. A good travel angent can put together a logical trip with transprotation and hotels. It will wonderful.

4sammy

You can get an "unescorted" tour, which is the air, hotel, and train reservations. I booked one through Delta Dream Vacations a few years ago. They will offer your choice of package, when you purchase it they send you the plane tickets, train tickets, and hotel info but they do all the reserving for you.

Woody

I suggest finding a good travel agent who has traveled to the cities in which you're interested. His or her experience will be invaluable in planning your itinerary.

Also, major hotels will offer guided day trips by motorcoach that you can reserve the day before. These typically return to the hotel before dinnertime. On our first trips to Europe, we found this a perfect way to see the popular sites without having to commit to a pre-set multi-day tour.

Woody

nytraveler

I definitely agree with getting a travel agent to help - or doing an airline do-it-yourself package. A tour would be a realy bad idea for two reasons.
1) Its very likely all the other tourers will be at least as old as your parents and have very different interests/POVs and possible energy levels
2) Even with a "tour" that provides only air, hotels and city to city transport you will be dirven mad by
-having to get up at 6am for a 9am start (tours always do this because some people are VERY slow)
-waiting for the slowest or most confused member of the group to get into gear (in my experience it takes tour groups much longer to get anywhere than traveling on your own - think of herding sheep)
-passing by the things you really want to see most because they're not designated the most important (or easy) by the tour leader

Especially for a honeymoon make the trip what you really want - not someone else's idea of what you should want.

jenqgn111

Thank you all for your help! You all have a point about getting a travel agent. We definately don't want to get up a 6:00am (yikes!) on our honeymoon. Does anyone know of a good travel agent we can use? Thanks again!

travelinwifey

My suggestion would be Trafalgar or Insight vacations. If you have more $$ to spend than perhaps Tauck, maybe Breban Gold. But I agree that you should definitely use a TA. I know a very good one and if you're really serious & interrested you can e-mail. Have done many tours of Europe, both solo & with an organized company. There will be a tour that suits your needs with research. Congratulations on your wedding

travelinwifey

Brendan Gold

CathyM

I have to also agree that an escorted tour would not be a great idea for a honeymoom. I've taken three tours and no matter how leisurely the tour is described by a travel agent and the brochure, you will not be on your own for very long and will be tied to the schedule on the tour. This means waking up and having to be on the bus by 7am. The food is not exactly great and the dining would definately not be an intimate affair. You'll also be spending alot of time on a bus.

You don't say how long you'll be taking but I would definately pick a small geography and only visit a few cities. As a rule I like to stay at least 2-4 nights in each place and prefer to do day trips versus shuffling luggage around. A travel agent would be a good idea unless you've traveled to Europe before and feel comfortable making your own arrangements. What time of year is your trip? This should weight heavily on where you visit. I absolutely love Spain and Sevilla is a very romantic city. In fact, Spain has the very nice paradores where you could stay in a historic, incredible hotel at a very reasonable price. If you give more information on when and how long your trip will last I could help more.

Thonglori

i HIGHLY HIGHLY reommend Contiki!! The tours are for 18-35 only, so everyone will be in your age group. The tour i used was called "Simply Italy" and we saw a LOT for a very reasonable price.

PS-- I was originally booked on Trafalgar, and they cancelled the tour with NO notice!!

AnneO

I loved the Contiki tour I took (many!) years ago when I was in my 20s, but I would definitely NOT recommend it for a honeymoon! It is very low budget, and you share rooms (on my tour it was 4 to a room, so couples paired up, much to the dismay of one obnoxious couple who obviously hadn't done their research!). It was a perfect tour for me (single, traveling alone in NZ), but I would not like it for a honeymoon at all!

I'm with the others...find a good TA or book one of the air-hotel packages that are available.

Congratulations!

Anne

jmathers

Why is it that each time someone asks for opinions on a guided tour posters immediately ignore the question and suggest they do it independantly? This constantly happens over and over. Is it possible to give good suggestions without posting your own anti-tour stance over and over? This poor person is just asking for escorted tour help, not someone else's idea of how they should travel.

lyb

News flash to everyone who thinks that tours mean a traveling jail....you are not forced to follow the group!!!!

On a recent tour that I took, (which by the way, there were many people in their early 30's, the rest in their 40's & 50's and yes one 80 year...who had more energy than the 20 year olds!) there was a couple in late 20's/early 30's who we barely saw. They were with us mainly on travel days...they rarely ate with the group, except for breakfast, and the only organized tour they took with the rest of the group was the Vatican and to see "David" in Florence. As long as you tell the tour director that you are not going with the rest of the group so that they don't wait for you, it's not obligatory.

Also, I have a question to everyone who keeps saying that on a tour you spend all your time on a bus...if you travel from one location to the next....do you fly in the air by yourselves or something...because otherwise, aren't you in a car or a train the whole way to the other place. Of course if you're driving yourself, you do get the pleasure of not being sure if you're on the right road and then having to find a place to park at the attractions or the hotel...but hey...that's so much more pleasant than someone do it all for you.

Getting up early? Yes, that's true and I have to say that I am NOT a morning person, but I did get to like the idea of getting to places before the masses show up...but of course, the people who are part of the masses are not with an evil tour....I can say that from this point on in my travels, I will be getting up early and getting to places early so that I can truly enjoy them and not battle the crowds.

So now that I have done my ranting and raving, here's the bottom line. Would I do a tour for a honeymoon, maybe not, but if I did, I know that all the people on the tour are not shackled to one another and must follow each other like a chain-gang. Of course, I'm sure that all the people who constantly criticize tours have been on a tour.....

nytraveler

Obviously I'm not a tour person - I want to make/change my own plans as I see fit and prefer independent travel. For me, the research and planning of the trip is half the fun. Also, because of my particular interests I often want to see things that would not be on the list of the average first or second time tourist. (I have been on 2 tours - once before I knew what they were like and the second time when I had no choice - to russia before independent travel was really feasible there).

But I recognize that many people prefer to travel on tours because it meets their needs, interests and budgets - and because they may not have the time to do their own planning or find it onerous.

If someone really wants a tour I would never try to talk them out of it. However, it's only fair to let someone who has not been on a tour before know the minuses (they have already thought about the pluses) - especially when they are planning a honeymoon (with the implied desire for privacy, romance and sleeping late) rather than just a vacation.

Sheryl

My husband and I are also in our late 20's/early 30's, and we are going on an independent tour to London and Paris in a couple of months with Monograms, which is a part of Globus, since we also wanted to sightsee on our own. The package tours do include airfare (or you can choose land-only packages), hotel, breakfast, the Eurostar train transfer between cities (on our tour), and a half-day sightseeing tour in each city, among other things. The website is www.monogramstravel.com. Good luck, and warm wishes for a happy marriage!

ellenem

It sounds like an independent package is right for you. The biggest concern with these packages is where the hotels are located. Often the less expensive options are not very central. Check locations carefully when you are making your decisions.

Giovanna

jeng: You've been given many suggestions, including several to plan your honeymoon through a travel agent. I gave up on TAs years ago, because their suggestions usually cost more (I found out later) and many times didn't follow my instructions or keep in touch with me, advising how things were progressing. Likewise have no desire to take a tour, but I think Trafalgar and some others do have plans for independent travel, setting up air and accommodation, and leaving the sightseeing to you.

Since you really only wish air and hotel, I would suggest you check out some of the airline packages. United Vacations (UAL), British Airlines, Virgin, American Airlines, etc. also offer this sort of thing. Car rentals are also an option. You had one suggestion above for Delta. You might save money by making these arrangements yourself, but since you don't wish to handle these details, check out the websites for some of the airlines and see what you find for air and hotel.

fille26

When my husband and I got married 4 years ago, we did exactly what you're thinking about doing. We booked a 2 week tour of Europe with Cosmos vacation (part of Globus chain) and it was honestly the most exciting and adventurous trip of our lives!! I will always remember it..and the amazing friends we made and are still in touch with to this day. They are from Australia, and we are going to visit them next year! After planning a whole wedding, who has the time or energy to plan out a full european holiday?
Go for it!

lisjanemon

My first trip to Italy was on a Trafalgar Breakaway tour for 21-38 year olds, Contiki is 18-35. I don't think there was anyone on our tour that didn't love it. There were several couples also and just like lyb said one of the couples we hardly saw because they were doing their own thing. It was called Viva Italia and went to great places and was very reasonably priced. Instead of going to a travel agent who would charge me full price for one of these tours I booked it on an online travel site and saved about 10% off the tour price and booked my air separately. There are some disadvantages to taking a tour of course. Many of the hotels were not centrally located and you did have to go by their schedule most of the time. On a couple city tours that they did I would've liked to spend more time there but had to leave with the bus. Since the tour is for younger people who don't usually like to get up early they met at 8 instead of 7 in the morning as do most tours. It was a very easy and stress-free way to see the most amazing places in Italy.