Spain was Grand

Just returned from my sixth adult tour with Go Ahead Tours, my 12th trip overall if we count the 6 student tours with EF! Spain is a beautiful country. The people are very friendly and helpful. And the historical sights on this tour are awesome: the Royal Palace in Madrid, Seville's Cathredral, the Rock of Gilbraltar, the Alhambra in Granada, and none of us could find words for Gaudi's breathtaking La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona! Our tour director, Leonor, was one of the very best I've had in my 12 trips. She was extremely knowledgable, both of the current circumstances in Spain and of Spain's history and contributions to our world. Her personality was delightful.I would love to tour with her again! Gilbraltar and Morocco are two optionals to definitely keep. Everyone I spoke with loved both! Especially refreshing, after half the trip and a long bus ride, was our time with the Rock apes! Our stop at the little town of Gaudix, where half the people live in caves, was perhaps my favorite of this tour, and one of the most memorable experiences of my twelve trips! My group of six ladies and I have one serious complaint/request. Travelers you have clearly listed as room mates should fly on the SAME international flight! Our group flies out of Portland OR, and we added a 71 yr old friend from NYC for this trip. It was her first international trip. She was originally routed thru San Francisco and then after we complained about that, straight from NYC to Madrid, and it took 2 months and many phone calls and emails to Go Ahead saying that she needed to travel WITH our group. Finally, her itinerary was changed, but since it took so long for Go Ahead to fix this issue, she was charged an extra $800+. This is unacceptable. Your booking people need to be trained to look for "roommates" and place them on the same international flight, thus avoiding this serious problem, which put a damper on our last month before this trip. We expect this to be solved before our next Go Ahead trip! Thank you, Elyse Gilbert

Spain

If your numbers above are:#1 poor and #5 best, (you don't specify), then I rate the Grand Tour of Spain #5, best. The tour and the Tour Director were both superb! Time of our own and the visits to museums, cathedrals, places of interest and landscape were magnificant. My favorites, as an art historian, were all the museums, especially the Museo del Prado and the Salon de Reina with it's numerous Picasso and Dali masterpieces, in Madrid; Picasso Museum and the Art Nouveau Palace de la Musica Catalana in Barcelona. Gaudi's fantastical architecture; from the Park Guell to the rooftop of the Casa Mila and his magnificant Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona were very special. My favorite city has to be Barcelona. My only wish is that Go Ahead include the inside chapel of the Sagrada Familia in it's tour. It was a disappointment not to be able to get inside that magnificant structure. I would hope that subsequent visits to Barcelona would include that feature - it would be well worth the effort. Food in Spain was excellent and varied, the people were accommodating and eager to assist in multiple instances. The tour director, Fernando Derque, was exceptional. His knowledge of history and customs of the country was invaluable, and the people on the tour were friendly and enthusiastic. Dolores Arrington

WOW !!

We just got back and another amazing trip :) Thank you !!!!Fernando was amazing tour guide :)

Grand Tour of Spain

This was first time I traveled on a group tour- and by myself. I really enjoyed the variety of things we saw and did. The pace was good. I also had free time to explore and felt safe wandering the streets by myself. Our tour guide was EXCELLENT! She was so knowledgeable, so helpful , always prepared us so we would know what to expect. She was a pleasure to travel with. The local guides we had were also very good.

great trip and tour director Rafi

Rafi did her best to make our trip the best ever. This was my second trip with go-ahead and we are already planning another. Rafi is a great asset to your company., She is warm, friendly, and extremely well versed and professionl------ C. Jacobson

Good time in Spain

Just got back from the Grand Tour of Spain. Had a great time, saw tons of cool things, learned a lot, and we loved our tour director Rafaella (Rafi)! One note - you move around a lot and change hotels about every two/three days. I recommend this tour for active people who want to see a lot, not if you are looking to relax.

Trip of a lifetime

Great trip all around. Everything went as planned. Great group of people. Made new friends. Already planning our next trip.

Grand Tour of Spain

I would like to begin by stating that this tour was very active. It seemed we were setting times and putting our luggage out constantly for transfers. That being said, we covered a lot of ground in southern Spain, which is a good thing. I would suggest that all "active" tours allow for a free day on arrival to either rest or to look about on our own. We were so tired after we checked in, got lunch, then attended the meeting and included dinner that we collapsed afterward. We missed the guided tour the next morning because we were so tired from all of the activities on the day of arrival. Plus, it makes it difficult to appropriately meet everyone at dinner if you are too tired to interact properly. I believe this tour would have been much more relaxing if we had more time in beach towns, like Marbella with the hotel right on the beach where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean Sea. We had to make the choice of either going to Morocco or having a day at leisure on the beach and "boardwalk". We didn't want to miss visiting Africa, but it was a long day with a lot of driving, meeting the ferry on time, the visit and then back. We didn't get back until after 8:30pm and again, tired. My husband and I are not elderly nor are we disabled. But it has to be taken into consideration that people on these tours are on vacation and just as interested in the environment (beaches, etc) as we are in museums and churches. I believe the tour should either be lengthened or less time spent in Madrid; more time in Marbella. When we were in Valencia, there was a great deal of smoke in the air from a fire 70 km away. Many in our group suffered headaches or respiratory irritation, but we went on the city tour anyway. Some flexibility would be appreciated in these circumstances. For example, the smoky smell was not present closer to the sea where we went for a more leisurely, non-irritating afternoon. Our tour director was very organized and adept at keeping us on schedule, providing us with historical perspectives and daily events. My husband and I enjoyed listening to her during transfers in the bus. The local guides were knowledgeable and engaging. I was not impressed by the food we had during the included meals. The first night, my tuna was fishy, and many other meals consisted of chicken choices. We missed the tapas optional, so we went out ourselves. We found much better, more local cuisine at the little tapas bars.

Spain Trip

I really enjoyed the trip, although I thought the pace was hard to keep up with. I am glad we got to see all that we did, but after I got home everything was such a blur. We never stayed more then 2 days in a place, and we all joked about having to take another vacation after we got home just to relax after such a busy trip.

Wonderful Time!

I enjoyed all of the sights and felt the tour gave me a real "feel" for the country. The group of people on my tour were all so very easy to be with and to get to know. As a group things were very comfortable. There wasn't a lot of "free" time for me because I chose to take all of the excursions. I might not do that next time, just to have a little down time. Otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience!