Why a Rick Steves' Tour?
Ignacio is originally from Madrid, and on our previous trips to Spain we created our own travel plans and traveled on our own. Because of this, our first instinct was to do the same thing for Italy. However, when researching the different regions and cities, we became overwhelmed and discovered it was much harder to make a comprehensive travel plan when you’re not at all familiar with the country, and especially when the country offers so much in so many different cities. We knew we desired a deeper cultural experience than what the typical tourist destinations would provide. As we further researched our options, we came across the Rick Steves’ Europe Tours and decided this was the best plan for us.
We were familiar with Rick Steves through his PBS television programs, his books, and his DVDs. However, we had always just admired his travels longingly and dreamed abstractly about some great trip we could theoretically take in the future. It was not until we seriously started planning our trip to Italy and started looking into the different available options, that we realized that the Rick Steves’ Tours were the ideal fit.
Our main goal was to visit as much as Italy as possible and get a good overview of the country. The idea of a guided tour also appealed to us because we liked the idea of traveling with a group of people and meeting other travel enthusiasts from other places. We had heard so many stories of people who had gone on various tour groups and ended up making life-long friendships and we hoped this would be true for us as well.
The Best of Italy 17 Day Tour was ideal for us because it included all of the cities and towns we wanted to visit and more. The more we learned about the itineraries and Rick’s traveling philosophy, we knew this was right for us. However, as I repeatedly read his admonitions to travel light, the first tinge of doubt began to set in. I had never been known for packing light and couldn’t even comprehend fitting more than 20 days of clothes and supplies into ONE small carry on and a backpack. I finally saw the light and was determined to make it work! I understood the logic behind Rick’s advice—even if some of his suggested packing lists seemed completely impractical at the time. Ignacio, of course, did not see this as a problem. He is a light packer to a fault and has more than once arrived at a destination only to discover he was without some crucial items of clothing. (This time I stepped in and made detailed packing lists for both of us.) In the end, we successfully packed all of our necessities into one carry on each.
It took me a little more preparation than Ignacio, and although he made fun of me, I packed and unpacked over and over again in the month leading up to the trip just to make sure I maximized my space. Packing cubes helped me efficiently utilize the space and stay organized and I really was able to make the most of my Ravenna Rolling bag and backpack.
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We had a wonderful tour and saw the many places, monuments, and works of art, and experienced the very endearing character and culture of the Italians which we had previously only read about or saw on screen. We would like to share with you our experience through this site and through our photographs. We hope you catch a glimpse of what Italy has to offer. Enjoy!