Our review of Go Ahead Tour's Puglia and Southern Italy itinerary This was our second trip in less than a year with Go Ahead Tours and we thoroughly enjoyed each trip (last year's was to Croatia and Slovenia). The vast majority of the travel we have done over the years has been independent - we've planned it all, arranged our own transportation and figured out … [Read more...]
Matera – European Capital of Culture for 2019
Matera was the best surprise of our trip to Puglia and Southern Italy with Go Ahead Tours. How had two such amazingly well-informed (and stunningly attractive) travelers as ourselves never heard of this place? We still don’t know the answer to that but want you to know about it because it’s interesting on several levels (in retrospect you will see that that is a pun). Matera’s … [Read more...]
Why travel to Puglia and Southern Italy?
To us the question was “why not”? We have each been to Italy quite a few times but as Puglia gained traction as a destination for travelers our curiosity grew and we began to plot a trip to the region. When Go Ahead Tours offered to host us on their Puglia and Southern Italy tour we accepted with unseemly alacrity. So why did we want to go there? The beautiful coastline … [Read more...]
Our review of traveling with Go Ahead Tours
Our experience traveling with Go Ahead Tours lived up to their promise of being “a company of passionate adventurers dedicated to creating the best journey for every traveler”. That isn’t an easy promise to deliver on as travelers can expect and be pleased by very different things. Someone’s a foodie, someone’s a shopper and someone likes to be given extensive history and … [Read more...]
Zagreb’s top attractions
As our Go Ahead Tours bus drove into Zagreb and our guide extraordinaire, Tamara, told us its history and we saw the beautiful architecture we couldn't wait to see Zagreb's top attractions. The fact that Zagreb was on our itinerary had been one of the tour's compelling features. As hackneyed as it is to say that somewhere is an undiscovered gem it feels fair to say that Zagreb … [Read more...]
7 Things to know when preparing for your trip to Iceland
1. Plan realistically If you're like us you don't envision yourself getting a whole lot of chances to go to Iceland. We only got to go because we won a contest from SadCars. Although it is sometimes seen as a stopover on the way to European destinations most people who do that only spend a couple of nights in Reykjavik. (And that would be worth doing.) However, if you have … [Read more...]
Enjoying Ljubljana – the Green Capital of Europe
Ljubljana, Slovenia is a small (272,000 person) city where, thanks to extensive initiatives which earned it the moniker of Europe's Green Capital, you can truly breathe in the city's beauty. Ljubljana's mayor for the last 10 years, Zoran Janković, has implemented an aggressive environmental plan for the city and the payoff is impressive. One of his early moves was to … [Read more...]
Our Montenegro road trip (with Mitt Romney, sort of)
When we made our plans to go to Croatia and Slovenia we saw a chance to do a Montenegro road trip before joining the tour group. We may never know why Mitt Romney was in Montenegro but he was and we tailed him for a brief while. Good thing we remembered how to drive a stick shift so we didn't end up in the car with him... At luggage claim in Dubrovnik Blonde stood beside … [Read more...]
There’s something for almost everyone in Dubrovnik
We just returned from Go Ahead's tour of Croatia and Slovenia and were happily reminded that there are things to see and do in Dubrovnik for almost anyone. This was Blonde's third trip and our second together to this ancient, romantic, busy, UNESCO city on the sunny Adriatic coast. Entering the city's gates on your own can be confusing at first so we were glad to be coddled … [Read more...]
St. Petersburg Russia – A drama in several acts
St. Petersburg - a hot mess worth knowing After being there twice this summer with Viking Cruises we are sharing our suggestions of things to do in St. Petersburg Russia. Keep in mind that you need to have an appreciation for high drama to really absorb this city. The royal intrigues and various revolutions have left the city a glamorous, slightly exhausted grand dame who … [Read more...]