European Vista Winter

Hey Guys,

I've been meaning to post this for a few months. I have my travelogue almost done, so that will follow soon, but I thought I'd throw a review up from my Winter European Vista tour.

About Me:
26 year old New York native, never really been overseas before.

About the trip:

Wow, all I can say is that it honestly is the best thing I've ever done. I went by myself, but because of talking to most of my tourmates on here and on facebook, I knew a good amount of the tour before arriving. Being the token American also didn't hurt, as everyone knew who I was pretty quickly.

Our TM was Amanda, and our driver was Rocket, and they were both great. Amanda was extremely knowledgeable, both for our daily sightseeing excursions, and for our night time activities. She gave us very handy guides and maps for each city, and really went out of her way to see that we all had a great time. Rocket made sure to take stops while we drove at really awesome places like Orvietto and Hopfgarten. I can't say enough about how awesome they were and the work they did to make sure we enjoyed ourselves.

Now, my travelogue focuses more on the sort of wild side and the story of our particular tour, so I figured I'd keep this review to just tips and the informative stuff. I did a winter tour, which is a lot less expensive, and I think it was a great choice. There were virtually no lines anywhere we went, and I believe we got to stay at nicer hotels. Also, the weather really wasn't cold at all. In fact, the only two places that were actually cold were Paris and Lucerne. Other than that, it was warm, and Nice we were walking around wearing shorts.

I am a bit of a party animal, but I have a great deal of interest in taking in the sites as well. I was out every night till the wee hours of the morning, and out seeing the sights at the crack of dawn. It's tiring, but it's the only way to do it.

I think we got really lucky because our tour got along so well. For the first few stops of our trip, our tour ran alongside a Winter Wanderer tour, and from what we could tell there was quite a bit of fighting going on with that group. Our group really became tight within a few days, and I think we're all still probably longing to be back on tour.

I know alot of people think Contiki has a reputation for just being a party tour, but that really wasn't the case. We got to go to so many great places and see so much, partying was just a natural part of it. My suggestion to anyone going, is to try as many things as you can. See something on the menu you don't think you'd like? Give it a shot one night. You're not into partying and staying out late? Go close down the bar. Got a boyfriend at home? Go make out with a stranger, you're only young once. Hell, do you get black out drunk and wake up in strange places? Consider doing the Mozart optional (It was awesome, trust me!)

Anyway, that's my two cents on the European Vista Winter, if anyone has any questions feel free to ask, I'd be happy to answer.

PS I had such a great time, that I'm going to head back to Europe in the fall to do Contiki's Oktoberfest tour. My trip only stopped in Munich for one night, and I think Germany hasn't yet seen everything I have to offer.