"Go Next" University Tours
 

Has anyone ever gone on a Univerity trip that uses the "Go Next" tour operator? If anyone has experience with them can you tell me about the positives/negatives about the operator?

A group of my friends (5) have never been to Europe and want to go to Italy. They received brochures advertising a very reasonable trip sponsored by their colleges. The 10-day tour is $1995 and includes airfare from the US, transfers between cities and hotels and it hits the high points (Tuscany, Florence and Venice). In each city they can purchase optional tours from the tour operator or can go out on their own/hire their own guide/driver.

Any thoughts or comments about "go Next" would be greatly appreciated.

We travelled on a "Go Next" tour in September 2001 (eleven days after 9/11!). I think the company was then called Global Tours. They lived up to their promises of nice accomodations. Our trip included Switzerland, Austria, Lichtenstein, and Munich. We stayed in off-season ski hotels in Switzerland and Austria. We had a view of the Alps from our rooms in both hotels. The biggest problem we had was never returning to our hotel in time to relax in the evening. The planned excursions and/or transfer between Switzerland and Austria always ran into problems. Once, the driver took us the wrong way, and we had to go a long way to the hotel. Sometimes their optional tours were too ambitious timewise.

The buses in Europe are really nice - clean, large windows, comfortable seats with working air conditioning. We met passengers who had taken many trips with this company and said they were better than other companies that they travelled with in the past. At one hotel we had the full breakfast - eggs, ham, cold cuts, cereals, toast, pastries, fruit, etc. At the other hotel we didn't have the eggs or hot food. As I remember, in Italy ours was a continental breakfast.

We saw so much in Austria and Switzerland that we would have never seen on our own. They hired an excellent tour guide in Salzburg, Austria. Our tour guide and driver were very gracious and helpful. In fact, one passenger had a heart attack at a hotel, and the guide and company were very compassionate and helped the spouse with transportation to the hospital, communication and hand holding until we left that hotel.

Since we had never been to these countries, we daily went on one of their optional tours. We tired of sitting on a bus every day, but appreciated all that we saw on our vacation. I wasn't keen on us driving on the roads in the Alps.

We were in Italy in March 1984 and loved it! The first ten days we were on a Perillo tour (they specialize in Italy and Hawaii),and the last fourteen days we rented a car and drove north of Rome to northern Italy to see the sights. One advantage of going on the optional tours is that the tour companies can take in groups quickly without waiting in long lines. In the high season, the lines will be quite long in Florence and Venice. Also, parking is always a problem in these antiquated areas. I don't think that most tourists would feel comfortable driving in a foreign country during their first trip abroad.

I think that you're seeing great cities in Italy. We went to Sienna, Padua, Venice, and Florence (I hope that you've seen "Room with a View").

We are, once again, planning to go on a "Go Next" tour in September 2007! We're going to go on the "Italy's Lake Garda & The French Alps" tour. I still don't want to drive in the Alps!