Flavors of France July 11th

[Beyondthese]

Hello. My husband are just wondering if anyone has any feedback on this our first ABD. Or if anyone is also on this tour?
Thankspirate:

[wdwsos]

Our family and some friends did this trip in June of 2008. We loved it! I never did get around to writing a trip report but have loads of photos on Kodak Gallery: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=e09s25h.2qdu3em5&x=0&y=h4kgkm&localeid=en_US The gorgeous men are my sons. :)

Let me know if you have specific questions and I'll be happy to try to answer!

Dotti

[mwebsite]

This looks like a wonderful ABD and I'm looking at it for our next tour. (Just got back from Viva Italia) Please write a trip report when you return. I'd recommend writing in a journal each night, I'm so happy I did on my trip. The Provence part looks so interesting.

[Beyondthese]

Thanks for the pictures. I must say the balloon "animals" where very good. How big was your group. I work in the Travel industry & I'm not a big fan of very large groups. Did you have much free time outside your activities?

[clarabelle]

I haven't been on the Flavors of France -but the maximum for ABD trips in 40 with two guides.
Flavors of France is on my list.

[1whooper]

My DH and I are planning on doing this tour next year. We are going to Germany in Sept.. We have done Ireland and Italy and loved it. Two other couples from our Italy trip are going to Germany with us. We have made wonderful friends on our adventures.

[Elitravelor]

Oh my Dottie, your pictures were amazing!! Thanks for sharing them. Your family looks like a fun bunch to be with!

We are doing Flavors of France during the end of this July with another family that we met on last year's Italy trip! :goodvibes We are so excited to see them and have a new adventure together.

Of course my head is swimming with questions--but the first one is about the Kayaking. I see some people had water shoes on in your pictures. I hate to pack ours for just that one day....Would sandals work? Is that a bathing suit day?

How was the hotel in Aix?

[wdwsos]

Our group was 29 plus the two guides. It was a nice size!

For kayaking, you could rent the water shoes there. None of my family brought any. My memory is a little foggy on this, but I'm almost sure they were required not just suggested.

I would definitely wear a bathing suit under your clothes on the kayaking day. You WILL get wet. If it's done the same way this year, there's a lovely place to eat after kayaking and there's a place to change into dry clothes.

The Aix hotel was just fine -- clean and comfortable but more like a Hilton than a Westin (which isn't a complaint!). The location was wonderful and close to the town center, and the outside pool area, where we spent a lot of time socializing in the evening, was really pretty.

I do love traveling with my family, thanks! This is a funny video of my 21-year-old from the wine tasting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugXQDe-s040 I'm not posting the link to the Bella Italia videos because it gives away a little bit of the surprise. :)

On our recent Bella Italia trip, I was able to have a date exclusively for me and invited folks who had traveled with us in the past (or who were my clients and who I knew would fit right in!). I'm hoping we can do that again next year -- I know most of us are ready and we just have to decide when and where!

Dotti

[moo im lani]

Hi! :) I went on this trip last year, and it was the most amazing time of my life. The trip is very well rounded, and I promise you'll love every second. I could write about it forever, so if you have any specific questions, feel free to ask :)

[Elitravelor]

If it is possible--we are even more excited about our upcoming trip!! We had such a wonderful trip last year in Italy that we know ABD is amazing but looking at the videos and pictures is oolala !!:thumbsup2

We know that Notre Dame is not included in the trip. We recall reading somewhere that the guides can help arrange a side trip there. Is that true? Or should we arrange for this ahead of time?

We are doing pre and post days. We have made arrangements for extra days in Paris and a trip to Normandy at the end. We do not have any plans for the preday. Any ideas?

[disbrom]

We took this trip around this time last year. It was wonderful and we all fell in love with France. We were lucky enough to be able to spend 4 days in Paris before we took the high spped train (TGV) down to Provence to hook up with the tour. We felt like we didn't have enought time in Provence..it was all so wonderful, but there were so many places we wanted to explore on our own and there just wasn't time. We were able to really enjoy Paris on our own and then relax and do the tour part of Paris on the 2nd leg of the trip because we weren't trying to cram it into 2 days. You will have a wonderful time. I am happy to answer any questions.

[Elitravelor]

That sounded like fun doing the predays in Paris. We are adding on days at the end in Paris. We have those pretty mapped out--bike tour to Versailles, trip to Normandy etc. However, we have a full pre-day in Aix that we are still planning. We were thinking of trying to go somewhere nearby that the ABD tour doesn't go to or we will just cruise around Aix on our own. :) I am sure we can have fun finding yummy things to eat!!

Any favorite restaurants or shops in Aix?

[Beyondthese]

We are arriving the night before, from Athens. I think that we dont have to meet the group till 3pm on that Sunday. So we are getting up early and heading to Avignon it looks like its about 1/2 hour by train. (Its a very old city) Ive sent tours there but never been there myself. Does anyone know if we will have much free time?:

Only 9 more days.

I've been through Notra Dame a few times (Paris 4 times) I dont really feel you need a guide.

[jackienut]

My husband and I are planning to do Flavors of France next June with two postdays at DLP. Has anyone else done this and if so, what was your experience?