travel/tour companies
 

My DD and SIL are planning a trip to Italy. They found a company (European Destinations.com) that has seemingly good prices. You pay a fee and they provide the airfare and hotel accommodations.

They are curious if anyone has used them, if so what are your thoughts,
if not, do you have some companies that you can recommend.

ttt

Try asking on the Europe board, but most posters on fodors travel independently, especially to places like Italy.

Ditto thursdaysd's good advice above. The Europe forum has loads of knowledgeable Italian posters...

But the majority of people here on Fodor's are independent travelers. If all you are talking is "airfare and hotel accomodations" in a few major cities in Italy (like most tourst would cover), that's an incredibly easy trip to self-plan.

I used Insight for Italy and was very very happy! It was a 17 day tour and breakfast and most dinners were provided. Hotels were all excellent.

Globus would be another good company to check with.

Others would be Cosmos, Trafalgar, and posher would be Maupintour and Travcoa. And there are many many more: GateOne, Brendan, etc etc

Stop by a travel agents and pick up brochures and just tell them you are looking for tours to Italy.....Im sure they will have brouchures and you can read these and compare ....itineraries against prices. You dont pay them anything and never have to go back if you dont want to.

Although I think even w/ dealing w/ a travel company I still use my Travel Agent as then if there is a problem.....I have someone to fight for me.

Some times what seems expensive will wind up cheaper as then you have no extra meals, bottle water and optional tours to pay for....everything will be included. But often you want to pay extra for those things and then you can pick and choose and just pay for the basic tour.

Most tours are bus tours...so look at distances between cities etc.....and how many will view, visits, and stops you are making.....the language does make a different at time you will spend at the sites.

I always do tours. I just take my time and find the company that is going where I want to go!!!

Good luck!!

wow, very interesting leanna and thanks so much.

it's for my DD & SIL, they are overwhelmed with planning their first trip to Europe. We've tried to help them (and I agree with Suze - it's so easy to do the planning oneself) but they are still not sure. It's kinda the fear of the unknown territory.

I remember my first trip to Italy ...alone!!!! I had gone w/ my mom and her senior group to Great Britain and that was ez....but then I wanted to do a tour ALONE..and had no idea where to begin. I just stumbled into a travel agency and grabbed a bunch of brouchures and came home and read and compared...that is how I found Insight.

I think when you are overwhelmed....just figure out what kind of vacation you like....beach, siteseeing, wine tasting etc..and where you want to go and have a budget and let a TA help. Then once you travel a bit, you can shake down and find your way and what you like to do.

Im far from an expert and I learn every time I travel!!! :)

Please go post on the Europe board. Italy is one of the most popular countries for people to visit, and it is very easy to handle without a tour if you do some minimal research.

I suggest reading Rick Steves' "Europe through the Back Door" and either Lonely Planet's "Read This First Europe" or Rough Guide's "First-time Europe". If your DD and SIL spend some time with a couple of the "picture" guides - e.g. the Exploring and/or Eyewitness guides - they can decide where they want to go. Then one of the text-heavy guides will help them with the logistics.

Globus, Cosmos, Trafalgar are a horrible idea - they are known for tours featuring a lot of bus time, and hotels that are out of the center of towns. For a first trip, Rome, Florence and Venice are a standard introduction, and can be easily connected by train.

Or even do just Florence/Venice OR Venice/Rome to make it even simpler.

If they for whatever reason really just can't get past the idea or needing an organized tour, at least try to get them to look into better tour companies (maybe like Untour or Rick Steves)?

Some are tour type people and some ain't!

Some like this company and others like another!

The main thing.......travel and go!!!

We go independent also, but you can also go to the airlines web site and click on vacation packages or call the airlines vacation desk. They can make airlines and hotel reservations for you.