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airportbabeUSA

Aug102011
Tour/Activity

                                Seine River Cruise and Paris Canals Tour                                
                                                                                        
                        Paris, France
My Rating
 
My Review
Boring.  Not worth the time or the money.  Going through the first lock on the canal was interesting.  After that it was just repetitious.  A huge amount of time was spent in a tunnel with absolutely nothing to see.  The amount of time on the Seine where were supposed to see the great landmarks...what a joke.  Do yourself a favor and just take a river cruise that concentrates itself on the Seine.
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Aug102011
Tour/Activity

                                Versailles Small Group Day Trip from Paris                                
                                                                                        
                        Paris, France
My Rating
 
My Review
The small group driver was excellent.  Very knowledgeable and as he was a native English speaker, his commentary was clear and easy to understand.  Unfortunately the rest of the trip to Versailles was disappointing.  Having advance tickets is a must but even that doesn't help you through the endless line for security.  It stretched through the entire courtyard outside the gate.  The crowds inside the chateau were just too much.  Large groups blocked passages so movement ground to a halt.  I'd been here before in an off season visit and found it much more pleasant.  However, I wanted to see what the fuss was about on the gorgeous grounds.  I was kind of disappointed in that as well.  The fountains seem to only go during the special showtimes (with an extra fee and limited days).  Next time I'll skip Versailles in August.
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Aug082011
Tour/Activity

                                Paris L'Open Hop-On-Hop-Off Tour                                
                                                                                        
                        Paris, France
My Rating
 
My Review
Best money spent!  Get the two day pass.  The bus is a perfect way to see all the 'hot' tourist spots in Paris and being able to stay as long as you want on any stop is a great way to see Paris.  For the most part there were plenty of upper deck seats available and the buses ran on a timely schedule.
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Aug072011
Tour/Activity

                                London St Pancras Eurostar Private Departure Transfer                                
                                                                                        
                        London, United Kingdom
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My Review
Went without a hitch.  The driver showed up exactly on time, helped us with our luggage and pointed us in the right direction at the station.
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Aug072011
Tour/Activity

                                Private Transfer: Gare du Nord Train Station (Eurostar Terminal)                                
                                                                                        
                        Paris, France
My Rating
 
My Review
Driver was late, didn't show up on the platform with our name as described in the details on the web..  We were left at the station trying to figure out a plan B when he finally showed up.  The driver spent a lot of time on the phone as we were driving through Paris to our hotel and he didn't seem to have a clear sense of where the hotel was.  He got us to the right neighborhood but we ran into a police barricade.  He drove us to the other end of the street that was also barricaded.  He told us we had to get out and walk and gave us the vague directions that the hotel is "at the end of the street or maybe one of the other ones."  We ultimately had to cross police riot lines and a demonstration going on only to find our hotel 1 block away from where he originally took the detour.  If he'd known where he was supposed to take us he would have known to let us off with one block to walk instead of almost 3/4 of a mile hauling suitcases through the streets.
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Sep182009
Tour/Activity

                                Historic Prague Walking Tour including King's Route and Charles Bridge                                
                                                                                        
                        Prague, Czech Republic
My Rating
 
My Review
The guide was a little bit too verbose. I don't really need to spend quite so much time hearing in-depth history on every building as I know I'll forget most of it by the time I get back to the hotel. She also didn't keep track of the group very well and we lost a couple of people along the way. Being on the streets was nice, however, as it gave me the freedom to take a lot more pictures than in the bus tour.
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Sep172009
Tour/Activity

                                Prague by Night                                
                                                                                        
                        Prague, Czech Republic
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My Review
The bus was late in picking me up. We were headed to the light show when they back tracked to pick up a couple of other people. The tour of Prague by night simply consisted of driving through the streets to get to our destination. I thought it would be more of seeing the city lights and stuff like that. The water fountain show was interesting but because we missed the early show we had to sit around and wait for the later show, thus getting back to the hotel much later than I had anticipated.  Would I do it again  Probably not.
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Sep152009
Tour/Activity

                                Pieskowa Skala Castle and Czestochowa including the 'Black Madonna' Day Tour from Krakow                                
                                                                                        
                        Krakow, Poland
My Rating
 
My Review
I was very lucky in that there were only two of us on the tour! Probably not really good for the company but excellent for me.  The Black Madonna was very interesting to see but be prepared for crowds, even in the off season. I was never really able to get up close to get a good full-on picture they were all taken from the side as we walked through the queue. The castle was nice, nothing spectacular. But on the whole it was an enjoyable trip and the guide was very knowledgeable.
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Sep132009
Tour/Activity

                                Sightseeing Bike Tour of Krakow                                
                                                                                        
                        Krakow, Poland
My Rating
 
My Review
Excellent guide. He knows his city, he is a wealth of knowledge on the history of events at the places we visited. The pace was good, the bikes easy to ride,  Hey, I'm old and out of shape and I still had a great time.
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Sep122009
Tour/Activity

                                Half Day City Sightseeing Tour of Warsaw                                
                                                                                        
                        Warsaw, Poland
My Rating
 
My Review
Excellent trip. There was a great combination of riding in the bus to get from point to point and then we would get out and do the tour walking through the streets. Perfect. The guide was very good and really knew a lot of history. I would recommend this tour to anyone who has a limited amount of time in Warsaw as you get to see a lot of the city and still have time to explore on your own before the day is done.
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May012009
Tour/Activity

                                Hydra, Poros and Egina Day Cruise from Athens                                
                                                                                        
                        Athens, Greece
My Rating
 
My Review
Save your money. Take a public ferry to one or two of the islands and enjoy the day more. The first half of the day is spent getting to the furthest island, Poros. On that island you're supposed to be able to take a swim. We hadn't planned on swimming but thought we'd use the comparable time to look around the island. What a joke. We only had 20 minutes. That's hardly enough time to do anything but look in the first couple of shops on the street. The boat was too crowded. There wasn't enough seating inside and if you wanted to even observe the entertainment unless you were right up front, too bad. The lunch was not worth the money hence the comment to just use public ferries to get to the islands and enjoy a lunch in a little restaurant somewhere. Raw fish as an appetizer. Processed compressed chicken patties for the main course and some kind of frozen goo for dessert. The second island of Hydra gave us more time to explore, which was nice. When you get to Egina, skip the extra packages. The one we took was 22 Euro for a 30 minute ride in a bus. The promised stop to see pistachio trees consisted of stopping the bus and letting everyone look out of the window. All told from pick up at 6.45 a.m. and drop off around 7.00 p.m., in the 12 hour period we had a total of 3 hours and 20 minutes on the island. It was a long day on the water with nothing to see and no place to sit.
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Apr262009
Tour/Activity

                                The Original London Sightseeing Tour: Hop-on Hop-off                                
                                                                                        
                        London, United Kingdom
My Rating
 
My Review
If you're a first time visitor to London, this is a great way to get to all the "must-sees" without having to figure out Tube maps or take expensive taxi rides.
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Jan022009
Tour/Activity

                                Guangzhou (Canton) China Day Trip from Hong Kong                                
                                                                                        
                        Hong Kong, Hong Kong
My Rating
 
My Review
The trip went very smoothly with all the ferries, buses, immigration ports and everything else. The guides were very knowledgeable and easy to understand. The lunch was very good, although way too late in the afternoon considering our start time that morning. I have three complaints. First, no pictures allowed of the terra-cotta warriors. That was one of the main deciding factors on taking this trip, so I was very disappointed at how little we got to see of them. Second, the stop at the museum with the warriors was really just a big shopping excursion. The museum jewelry shop had nice merchandise--that wasn't the problem. But too much time was spent there. Third, the walk through the local market in Canton was too rushed. Maybe because we spent too long at the museum shop. It would have been a lot more interesting to be able to actually stop at some of the stalls instead of just racing past like dumb tourists in a pack.
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Dec242007
Tour/Activity

                                Rome Departure Shuttle Transfer: Hotel to Airport                                
                            
                        Rome, Italy
My Rating
 
My Review
Having a scheduled ride from my hotel was definitely worth it. I'd had a taxi driver double the fare from the train station when I arrived so it was a relief to know my airport departure wouldn't have the same potential for problems.
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Dec222007
Tour/Activity

                                Rome Angels and Demons Half-Day Tour                                
                                                                                        
                        Rome, Italy
My Rating
 
My Review
If you want to do a walking tour of Rome, this is a good one to take. Using the Angels and Demons book angle gave the tour a focus and we saw a lot of places I would have missed. The guide was great and filled us in on things about Rome besides just what was in the book.
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Dec212007
Tour/Activity

                                Skip the Line: Vatican Museums Walking Tour including Sistine Chapel, Raphael's Rooms and St Peter's                                
                                                                                        
                        Rome, Italy
My Rating
 
My Review
Even in winter the lines waiting to get in were long, so it was really nice to be able to go past the crowd and straight into the museums. Our guide was excellent.  She gave us just enough information about what we were seeing without sounding like a boring professor.
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Dec192007
Tour/Activity

                                Siena and San Gimignano Day Trip from Florence                                
                                                                                        
                        Florence, Italy
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My Review
Great tour to Siena and San Gimignano. The guide was interesting and it was nice to get out of Florence for a day.
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Dec182007
Tour/Activity

                                Florence Half-Day or Full-Day Sightseeing Tour                                
                                                                                        
                        Florence, Italy
My Rating
 
My Review
This tour is worth it just to skip the line going into the museum to see "David".  The guide was interesting and amusing as well as being very informative.
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Dec182007
Tour/Activity

                                Pisa and the Leaning Tower Half-Day Trip from Florence                                
                                                                                        
                        Florence, Italy
My Rating
 
My Review
A must do trip. The guide was informative and we were given ample time to explore Pisa on our own after the guided tour.  Watch out for the cobblestones and be prepared to walk a fair distance from the bus stop.
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Dec152007
Tour/Activity

                                Lisbon Super Saver: Lisbon Sightseeing Tour and Sintra, Cascais and Estoril Coast Day Trip                                
                                                                                        
                        Lisbon, Portugal
My Rating
 
My Review
If you want to take a lot of pictures of Lisbon, this is not the tour to take as you don't get near enough photo stops. The royal coach museum is kind of a waste of time I would have liked skipping it and having more photo stops at other places. But the overall trip itself was very good and there was a little bit of time to explore Sintra after the formal tour. The brochure made it sound like one continuous tour when in reality the Lisbon portion ended at lunch time and the afternoon didn't start until about 2 pm.  Hint: Get off the bus at the main square. You'll have much better dining options and it's just a short cab or long walk back to the meeting spot for the afternoon portion of the tour.
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