This was the perfect tour! We covered so much ground in a week and saw the most beautiful of places. I enjoyed the busy schedule and appreciated the amount of excursions, included and optional alike. My driver, RP, was amazing- I have no clue how anyone could drive a big coach bus that well! My guide Perci was knowledgeable, kind, and funny. He really made the trip. I loved my experience and will definitely book with expat again!
Sometimes you do a trip confident that it will give you great memories for many years to come, even a feeling of awe. For us TMB comes into this category. Let’s be clear from the onset - this a physically challenging trip - over 10 walking days we covered c 100 miles ascending c 32K feet (higher than Everest) and descending c28K feet. Din’t expect glitz - the trip takes you off the beaten track. Some properties are basic (no en-suite WMC and/or shower). Others. In particular the Hotel Richemonde in Chamonix where we started and ended the trip, had great character. Staff took great effort to make us welcome. Lunch is basic, but has to be sourced in locations where choice is limited. For us such details are relatively inconsequential given the stunning scenery we saw (we were blessed with great weather each day bar one). So all in all a genuine trip of a lifetime giving us memories to treasure.
The tour was enjoyable but it did feel rushed at times. I guess that is to be expected with how many countries we visited in a short time frame. I was very excited to re-visit Barcelona after 20 years and still absolutely love the city. I also thoroughly enjoyed Andorra and fell in love with that beautiful country and was so at peace when driving through the Pyrenees mountains. The hotels were much better than I had anticipated and I absolutely loved our coach and coach driver. My group was amazing and they made the trip even more magical. I did feel that there was an exorbitant amount of walking at times that makes experiencing these amazing places less enjoyable because nobody enjoys anything when they are exhausted especially during hot Summer months. I feel that Hop-on/Hop-off buses would have been a great excursion option because I feel they give you a great view of the city in a short period of time and give the opportunity to hop-off the bus when you want to explore a particular area more closely. Not everybody is interested in the same things. Some people hate being subjected to hearing about churches which are abundant in Europe. This is why I feel Hop-on/Hop-off buses would be a better option to add to the Expat experiences and they are relatively inexpensive in the majority of countries where they are offered...I took 3 of them in: London and Amsterdam (before the tour) and Rome (during the tour). All around, a very wonderful experience as a whole and I am looking into my next Expat adventure in the near future.