Uh oh, Mom and Dad are on their way

by Leave a Comment

When I was in college, waaaay back in the ’80s, studying abroad was not nearly as popular as it is right now. These days, it seems nearly every college student takes the opportunity to spend a semester in another country  — and why wouldn’t they!! — which means that I get the opportunity to help parents/siblings go visit them 🙂  I know what an amazing time I had visiting my own daughter when she was studying in Buenos Aires, and I absolutely LOVE helping other parents have that experience. In that vein, here’s a trip report I just received from Sue, after a fabulous visit with her daughter in France (with a quick stop in London first!)

Hi Ann,

I am still getting back to reality but wanted to let you know about our trip.  As mentioned we had a fabulous time and appreciate your planning for us! 

The St. Ermins was a lovely hotel and the staff extremely helpful.  Our room and bathroom were incredibly small though.  There was no room for both of our large suitcases and we were literally tripping over each other.  We were going to ask for a larger room but since they got us in earlier than check-in and it was only two nights, we didn’t bother.  Someone also told us that rooms in London hotels were smaller than we’re used to in the US. The location of the hotel was perfect to walk to lots of sites and we found some great pubs nearby! 

The Eurostar train was fun and we enjoyed that trip to Paris. We absolutely loved the Eduard 7 Hotel!  Our room was very nice and it had a balcony overlooking the main street.  We spent a lot of time out there admiring the view with a glass of wine.  Again, great location for us as we became experts on taking the metro back and forth to Nicole’s place. 

The Versailles tour was great and the guide was very friendly and knowledgeable.  We enjoyed the Normandy tour as well, and had a fantastic guide.  We even got an extra stop at Omaha beach on the way home.  It was a very long day but well worth it.  

The train to and from Nice was also fun and we enjoyed the scenery.  The AC Marriott was very modern and not really our style but our suite was huge, we had a great view of the sea and the location was unbeatable to walk along the water.  We also enjoyed the roof top bar! 

St. Tropez was was absolutely beautiful and we enjoyed exploring it.  We didn’t realize how far it was from Nice but traffic wasn’t bad since it was a Saturday.  Our guide was great and even took us for a tour to the top of Nice when we returned as we had some time left.  The other tour was fun as well – it turned out just to be the three of us and we really loved walking around Eze. 

The Opera Cadet hotel was a perfect location near Nicole for that last night.  The room was small but clean and comfortable. 

Thanks again for doing such a great job with our trip!  We hope to get to Italy in a couple years with our kids after they graduate from college and will let you know when we’re ready for that trip :).

 

Sue

Une Lune de Miel en France

by Leave a Comment

From our initial meeting, I knew that Kayla and Eddie did not want a “cookie-cutter” honeymoon. They love food and wine, and local culture, and live music, and wanted to be able to explore a foreign country, with a little dash of warm weather and relaxation, but without any stress and anxiety. We came up with a fabulous plan that combined Paris and the south of France, with a super-easy high-speed train ride in between, and you can see from their trip report that it was “tres magnifique” 🙂

Hey Ann!

The honeymoon was amazing! We can’t thank you enough for planning such an awesome trip!

Both the hotel in Paris (Le Littre) and Nice (La Perouse) were great. Super clean, really nice staff and centrally located. The sea view room in Nice was gorgeous.

arc di triomphe in Paris  bridge of love locks in Paris

We did a lot of sightseeing in Paris so we were pretty busy and on the go most of the time we were there. The Louvre tour which was followed by the wine tasting was great. It’s such a big place that you only see a tiny fraction of it while you’re there but the guide did a nice job of getting us in to see some of the main attractions.  The tour of Notre Dame was awesome as well. There were so many things the tour guide pointed out and showed us that we wouldn’t have caught on our own.

Louvre courtyard in Parishoneymoon couple in front of the Notre Dame in Paris

The day trip from Nice to St Tropez was awesome. It’s definitely a bit of a ride with traffic to get to the marina (around 90 minutes) but the boat ride was quick (15 minutes). It ended up being the week of their annual sail boat race which was cool and there were a lot of cool shops to check out. The walking food tour was one of the best, if not the best, parts of the trip! The tour guide was great and we learned a lot of history on Nice as was as the Nicois diet and specialties. We had the chance to try a lot of different local specialties at the best places in Nice. We even saw different parts of Nice that we hadn’t explored which opened up a whole new part of Nice to us the last few days of the trip. Honestly wish we had done the tour earlier as it would have been a great introduction to the city.

quintessential Nice narrow street in France

view of the harbor with boats and blue sky in Nice

You really made everything, including getting around from place to place, extremely easy! The itinerary and step by step instructions you gave us really made a difference.

honeymoon couple in front of the harbor in Nice France

I can’t really recall any specific restaurants that we ate at but we didn’t end up going anywhere we didn’t like. I think out of the two cities I would say we liked the food in Nice best. There was a very heavy Italian influence in the food and culture and we’re already thinking of Italy for a future trip.

We just wanted to thank you again for everything, the trip was truly amazing!

Thanks Again,

Eddie and Kayla

LET THE ADVENTURE BEGIN

Subscribe to our newsletter for travel inspiration!
EXPLORE THE WORLD WITH US
@SharedAdventuresTravel
Facebook-square Instagram Pinterest-square
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
"It was truly magical, and the logistics were seamless. We cannot thank you enough for setting it all up in such a way that we really did not have to worry about transportation whatsoever. It gave us all the more time to enjoy the sun, ocean and culture. All the honeymoon amenities were such a great surprise too – and made us feel so special."
French PolynesiaNathan & Jackie
"The vacation was all we could have ever asked for or imagined. We even got engaged!!Thank you for all your help, we had an amazing time and will be contacting you again for our next trip and our honeymoon! We couldn’t be more satisfied with all of your suggestions and assistance"
Punta CanaKyle & Keith
"We had a great time on the adventure as always. Thank you once again for your help. Our trips wouldn’t be half as good and planning would be more than twice as stressful without your wisdom!"
Alaska Lydia & Tim
"Thank you for doing such a great job for us! It really was flawless. You will hear from us again. I am hoping to plan another European vacation next year -- I’m not getting any younger! LOL Recommending you to everyone I know!"
ItalyCynthia
"Hope you had a great weekend. Just wanting to get back to you with feedback from our Hawaiian honeymoon!! We truly couldn’t have had a better time & are so appreciative of all you did in putting together such a wonderful trip we’ll remember forever!"
HawaiiJoanna & Joe
"Thank you for everything :) :) we absolutely LOVED our trip!! Moorea is the definition of Paradise! The lush vegetation and the crystal clear lagoon had me staring at the views in awe every single day. I must have said a million times that the views just do not get old!"
MooreaMeagan & Cameron
"it was AMAZING! Kudos to Thad for picking Rovos and Sindabezi Island and then you helped the two seamlessly come together with transfers and your Private Safari Connections. We will definitely chat! I also have about a thousand pictures to share! THIS was truly a once in a lifetime trip!!!"
South AfricaRosemarie
  • An affiliate of Travel Planners International
  • A Signature Travel Network Agency
Facebook-square Instagram Pinterest-square
Top
Facebook-square Instagram Linkedin Pinterest-square

You provided excellent guidance for us. I appreciated that you really had us think about what was most important to us when we were selecting the right cruise – and not to totally focus on what other people had to say. THANK YOU for helping to make this a memorable trip for our family! It really was a trip of a lifetime!

– Clare and Mark (family cruise to Alaska)

The level of service we experienced was out of this world (and we did NOT make it easy on Ann). We weren’t quite sure where we wanted to go, when we would be able to go, or what “vibe” we were going for. After asking us some key questions (what we liked, didn’t like, why, etc.) Ann helped us narrow down our trip details and planned the honeymoon of our dreams. She helped book some of our excursions, answered some emergency questions while abroad and was always available/willing to help. I think it’s safe to say we won’t be using anyone else for future travel planning – Ann is a rockstar!

– Carli (Italy and Spain)