With my staff and guides tuning in to see how I'd do after nearly 20 years of not actually leading one of our tours, I have to say I did it: I finished our Best of Europe in 21 Days tour with as many travelers as I started with, I enjoyed it, and I learned our methods firsthand. (Actually, I cheated, with three weeks of wonderful help from co-guides Ben Cameron and Trish Feaster.)
Tour guiding has its mundane side...such as entering all the receipts into our guides' not-so-beloved accounting software.
The tour's over: It's the Best of Europe in 21 Days...and, the morning after, our group is all smiles, still enjoying each other, and ready to tackle more of Paris. These are great travelers!
We include a two-day Paris Museum Pass with our tour. And that means the city is wide open for our travelers on the day after the tour. Here Ginger and Carl, guidebook and passes in hand, are ready for more Paris. (Probably the single most appreciated travel tip I offer is my encouragement for travelers to take advantage of the wonderful Paris Museum Pass. It pays for itself in a couple of admissions, and you get to skip all the lines and go directly into whatever sight you like. With a Museum Pass, Paris becomes your high-culture playground.)
Thanks again, Ben and Trish, for the guide guidance. You guys were great to co-guide with.
(Thanks for following along on my travel blog and on Facebook as I guided the Rick Steves Europe Tours Best of Europe in 21 Days Tour.)
(This post originally appeared at blog.ricksteves.com/blog/end-of-tour.)