My Story

Prost! I'm Kirsten and this is the story of my Rick Steves' tour: The Best of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 14 Days (aka: the GAS tour).

This was actually my third Rick Steves tour. I've previously done the Heart of Italy in 9 Days (in 2010) and Eastern France in 14 Days (in 2015) tours. All of them have been wonderful!

I've been a frequent traveler most of my adult life - both for work and for fun - but when I was planning to go to Italy back in 2010, I wasn't sure how I felt about touring a country where I didn't speak the language all that well. After researching the various tours online, and remembering how much friends of mine loved Rick's guidebooks so much, I thought one of his tours would be the best fit. I had no idea just how amazing the tours would be. All of the guides are so knowledgeable and friendly, and just about every moment you spend with the tour group is so well thought out and timed, I felt like a rock star - bypassing all the lines and getting into museums before they opened to the public, so it was just our group. That alone made it so worthwhile.  But in addition to what the tour provides, the people who take his tours are also fun people!

I took the Italy tour with a friend, but when I decided to go on the Eastern France tour by myself last year, I knew it would be fine (and fun). I not only walked away with some lifelong friends - two of whom booked on the GAS tour along with me - I felt even more confident in my travel skills. While it is always a lot of fun to travel with friends, traveling as a single allows you to experience the world on your own terms.

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I hope you enjoy this story of my amazing trip!