I know this may not be the correct forum to post my message, but the other forums are not as frequented as this one. <BR>I receive a lot of brochures in the mail regarding tours by "Go Ahead." They offer beautiful tours. I would like to try their tours of Spain or Italy. Does anyone have any experience travelling with them? What is the average age on these tours? (I'm in my 20's) <BR>Any input is appreciated. <BR>Thanks!

Go Ahead is a great company and their tours are generally first rate. My parents travelled to Spain/Portugal with them last year and loved the tour. I am travelling with them to Kenya this year. As for average age, it just depends on the tour--some are older groups and some are younger. My advice would be to get a friend to go with you.

I took the Goahead tour to Venice, Florence and Rome in June of 1999. I was very happy with the tour. We had an informative tour guide. We had choices of optional tours or free time. The ages of our tour ranged from a couple in their twenties all the way to I would guess around 70. There were several single people along on the tour. I went with a friend and we are in our forties. It would probably be good if you had a friend to take along as you do not do everything with the group. We had plenty of free time to venture on our own. Hope this helps alittle. A friend of mine is taking the tour of Spain in September. I can report on that later on.

We have used Go Ahead two times--once to Venice, Florence, and Rome and once to Paris and Rome. I was very happy with them. You really don't need to worry too much about who is in the group, unless you plan to take a lot of the optional excursions. We never even really knew who was in the group; it is a very independent tour, and we were only with the other people when we were traveling to and from the airports. The hotels are always nice, but not always exactly what you would call "city center", but they are always very close to public transportation. The only time I was disappointed was when we had to stay in Mestre, instead of on the island in Venice. I did not know what I missed, until I went back on my own and stayed on the island the next year.

Sorry to differ with replies posted so far, but my husband and I took a Go Ahead tour to Scandinavia last year, and weren't so happy with it. Local guides were fine (the ones we just had for brief city tours), but the overall guide for the trip was neither as knowledgeable or accessible as guides on other trips we've taken with other companies. Arrangements weren't as good either, as far as checking into hotels in a timely fashion, transportation arrangements, airport checkin and luggage handling, etc. We did an awful lot of standing in line and waiting for things. We came home saying we wouldn't travel with Go Ahead again. Several others in our group felt the same. On the plus side, hotels were fine, and usually centrally-located, which is important to me. Meals that were included were also good. <BR> <BR>At the end of the trip, our guide said we all had to fill out evaluation forms. We took a lot of time with it, trying to be thorough and fair. Ours had to include a lot of negative comments, unfortunately. I expected to get some sort of response from the company, at least acknowledging what we'd written, but didn't hear a thing. They keep sending us catalogs and special "frequent traveler promotions", tho, as if we'd been happy customers... <BR> <BR>As for the group on our tour, we had a mix of ages -- even some teens. The people we went with were a great & enjoyable bunch -- added a lot to the trip.

Thanks to everyone for your input!

We also took the Go Ahead Tour to Scandinavia and thought it was awful. The guides were poor, the company had so many optionals that were overpriced, the food was poor, there were over 40 in the group, they switched a hotel on us and the rooms in all the hotels were the worst facing the streets with lots of noise. Our guide Nina even brought along her boyfriend on the leg to St. Petersburg and was no help to the group after that. Many of us complained to the company but they ignored us and keep on sending brochures. You can get more for your money with many other tours . Ask around and see a travel agent. I agree with the last person that the arrangements had us waiting for rooms and riding buses for to long of a period.

After reading Mimi's posting, I have to post again. It's too funny! She said "Our guide Nina even brought along her boyfriend on the leg to St. Petersburg." Well, one of the things we didn't like about OUR trip was that OUR guide brought along his GIRLfriend! Well, at least it's gender-equal

The wife and I did a Europe by Train in Oct. with Go ahead. It was great. Our guide was the best. In talking with others on the trip (one who had been on 7 go ahead trips) this was the best. Thus, I suspect that it really depends on the knowledge, interest, and involvement of the guide to make the trip a real success.