Travel Review: Luxury Vacation in France & Italy, Paris, Rome, Venice, Florence, Pisa, Lucca, Seine River Cruise, Louvre

Having never been to Europe we were excited and apprehensive on what we would experience.  Finding the right travel consultant was important to us. The people at our travel company who helped us set up our trip were phenomenal.  In the beginning they started off with our wish list of sites.  We worked with them and edited it down to a manageable trip, time wise.  We were unsure if “private guides” was extravagant or necessary.  In the end we had both private tours and group tours.   The guided tours were not only very interesting but were very well versed on their country and city.  We learned so much and it gave us a feeling of having a “friend” showing us their home.  At the end of the day we would reflect on all that we learned from the guides that we would never have known to even look for, if we did not have that “friend” with us.  Each guide was personable, engaging and spoke great English. Every day with the private guide we realized it was the best part of the trip, everything went so smoothly.  We had drivers pick us up at the airports/take use to the airports/train stations to and from the hotels, totally a hassle free experience.  The relationship that this agent has with the people in Italy, resulted in a high level experience for us.  Being from Italy she knew all the guides, hotels and restaurants and based her recommendations on firsthand knowledge.