The tour was amazing! We got to see different parts of Italy, and there were guided tours and optional excursions that were enjoyable. Everything was well organized and our tour leader Vinni was brilliant! Highly recommend this for active people who want to explore the most out if Italy!
Overall, this was an amazing trip to be introduced to Europe and experience a little bit of everything there. If you are thinking about opting out of a tour service like this and figuring it all out on your own, I would advise against it. There are a lot of cultural and social differences between these countries that a cursory internet search will not make you aware of. The tour guide's guidance is really what allowed us to be safe and not clueless while exploring, and the tour also highlighted a lot of the activities and locations that were actually worth doing. I feel like I truly maximized my time in Europe and did not waste a moment. At this price point, I doubt you would be able to find anything as good. It was truly life-changing, and on the flight back I dreaded coming back home. Also, if you see Kevin Screene as an option for your tour guides, take him. Amazing person and an even better guide.
Thursday -10/17-Day 6
BEST DAY EVER!!!! Remember my story about the wine and food pairing for Chefs class that Stu bought me for my 50th birthday in Napa Valley? Well, this day trumped that experience! Today’s Private cooking class from Casa Grande’s Chef Guila was life-changing! I learned so much straight from the expert, hands on, in a real Italian kitchen dating back to the early 1300s, oh my God, the pictures and videos that Stu captured are amazing and will be cherished for the rest of my life.
I am ready to bring this new knowledge and skills back, and teach it to others because the quality of ingredients, the freshness, textures, and flavor profiles, are indescribable and so much fun to learn.
It was exactly what I needed to regenerate my passion for cooking and teaching. So grateful to Stu for making this possible and encouraging me to do it, even though I really was not feeling it last night. He knows me better than I know myself.
And in only two hours, we made four types of focaccia bread, personal pizzas, calzone, white table bread and potato gnocchi with pesto!
I even got a proper pronunciation lesson to boot. I had to promise her I would pass that lesson along to anyone I taught these dishes to.
When everything was cooked and ready, we got to sit down in a very intimate dining setting in the family dining room just off the kitchen and enjoy all that we had made. Stu had plans to go to the gym and for a swim while I was taking the class, but it was so interesting for him that he stayed and took pictures and videos and even joined in and made his own pizza, it was such a good time. One of those things that just happen that you can’t really plan but he just knew that if I showed up, it would be an experience of a lifetime and he was right!
Guila opened a 2019 bottle of Sangiovese Rosso for our meal and we dined like the King and Queen of the casa. After the Rosso we had more of the dessert wine with biscotti, said our goodbyes with much appreciation to Julia and stumbled back to our room through many hallways and staircases, trying not to get lost, again. About to take a big fat nap so much for the rest of the day! We are done!
Buona notte!!
Amazing tour. Full credit to Roma on sharing her recommendations and experience with us. An awesome woman who goes out of her way to ensure an enjoyable tour is had by all. So many places to see & new foods to try. Memories for a lifetime
This is a fast pace tour so we've seen many points of interests in 11 counties in 14 days. It was well organized and learned some of the countries history, which was very nice. Pascal is such a caring person and excellent driver. He always have that beautiful smile and warm hello whenever he sees you even though he worked for many long hours. Would give him 7 stars out of 5. He goes above and beyond expectations. What an asset forExpat! Matt is very well versed in European history and it is great learning from him. He also kept us well informed so that the tour runs smoothly, which we appreciate very much. Though a couple of the hotels are not up to par, it won't prevent us from touring through Expat in the future. Overall, it was a great experience for us .
This was our first time to Europe and it did not disappoint! Right from day 1 the fun started! Jared was our tour leader, if you ever get the chance to tour with him, you are lucky. He was fantastic!!! His knowledge of the places we stopped was expansive and he made it interesting to learn the history! Florentin our driver was a rock for us! He got us safely to our destinations and always had a smile on his face! We forged friendships on this tour that made this the most memorable trip! We laughed a lot !!! I am so glad my daughter and I were lucky enough to have such an amazing tour leader, driver and fellow travellers that only made all the amazing places we saw, better! Thank you
This was my first trip to Europe and I could not imagine experiencing it any better than on the 18 day EX tour. Although we only scratched the surface of many places it gave a wonderful perspective for places I want to come back to for further exploration. We covered a lot of ground in 18 days and made unforgettable memories. I was expecting to see beautiful things and have great experience but the relationships that formed within our group were an unexpected, and delightful, surprise. I'm so thankful I choose to do this tour and have recommended to all of my friends. I will definitely do another Expat tour when I'm able. Disclaimer; This is not a trip for those who want to kick back and relax. It was very active with many early mornings, late night and non-stop adventure days.
Overall it was a great vacation. The tour leader (Matt) was professional, knowledgeable and funny. The coach driver (Alex) was great too. They worked well together and gave a constant calm feeling to our group. Our leaders had a few obstacles to overcome and they handled them without us ever needed to worry. A few suggestions from Matt made our trip even better. We ate with different people each night, we rotated seats and made friends for a life time. Life changing experience.