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Post by tiffany on Aug 8, 2016 11:37:03 GMT
That's nice Tiffany, I have also requested a particular TD but I was given a bunch of blahs-blahs and it didn't happen, good for you. I hearty recommend Malcolm Macrae for that part of the world (and Russia) as well. I think it worked for us because we all requested Craig as our tour director, and he also requested our tour. If he hasn’t requested our tour, they may not have listened to our request. I’m sure we would have been happy with any travel director (with the exception of Miranda), but it’s nice to know that we have been assigned a good one ahead of time. He responded to my message on Saturday advising that he would be taking us to places where we can exchange currency, but, as other’s have pointed out, that would mean paying the exchange rate twice, so I think I’ll bring a little bit of each currency with me. Only six and a half weeks to go and I can’t wait!
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Post by tiffany on Aug 8, 2016 11:43:48 GMT
Well that was quick! I googled world elite and there is a minimum $70,000/year income required...lol! I didn't know that. I don't think that was the case when I got my card two years ago. It must be new. President’s Choice also has a World Elite MasterCard, but they also have a minimum annual personal income of $70,000. I guess that’s the way they are going with this card now. I’m hoping to take advantage of the priority lounge this trip. When I went to Greece, it was full and didn’t want to wait to see if it would clear out. I’m hoping we can get in this time around.
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Post by chech on Aug 8, 2016 18:35:31 GMT
I had Malcolm in Russia as well. We joined the bus group when our train tour got to the cities...and then he took care of us in Moscow. What is your date of departure, Tiffany?
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Post by californian on Aug 9, 2016 14:59:02 GMT
I had Malcolm in Russia as well. We joined the bus group when our train tour got to the cities...and then he took care of us in Moscow. What is your date of departure, Tiffany? We had Malcom all the way from Helsinki and back, we met his wife, a beautiful Belorussian lady, she baked pies for all of us. Seriously, the best TD I ever had. (The TD from Highlights of Eastern Europe back in 2007 takes the cake for the worst)
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Post by chech on Aug 9, 2016 17:47:55 GMT
Who'd you have for the HEE? I had Januz for the Bohemian Highlights in 2009 and he was okay but compared to all the other tour directors I've had, he rates pretty well at the bottom.
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Pauline
Full Member
Normandy, Brittany & the Loire Valley, WW1 Battlefields and Northern Spain in Sep 2023 with Insight
Posts: 210
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Post by Pauline on Aug 10, 2016 11:45:22 GMT
I picked up my tour documents this afternoon. That is the worst thing about booking tours 12 months out. I takes forever for the holiday time to arrive. I am now on countdown. 15 sleeps.
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Post by tiffany on Aug 10, 2016 11:46:06 GMT
I had Malcolm in Russia as well. We joined the bus group when our train tour got to the cities...and then he took care of us in Moscow. What is your date of departure, Tiffany? I’m flying out of Toronto on Sept 21, arriving in Vienna the morning of Sept 22. We have an extra day in Vienna before the tour starts on Sept 23. Our included sightseeing of Vienna is that afternoon. I’m about to re-ready my Eastern Europe book so that everything is fresh in my mind before we arrive. I’m looking forward to it!
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Post by californian on Aug 10, 2016 15:07:28 GMT
Who'd you have for the HEE? I had Januz for the Bohemian Highlights in 2009 and he was okay but compared to all the other tour directors I've had, he rates pretty well at the bottom. His first name was Michael (maybe Doherty?) I think he's not longer with TT, he was very disorganized, even forgot to arrange the wake up calls, we had to ask the desk to wake him up!
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Post by chech on Aug 10, 2016 16:52:12 GMT
Wow....if one can't even order wake-up calls, there's definitely an issue there! So, it seems we have Pauline leaving around the 25th, Tulips around the 23rd, me on Sept 9th and Tiffany on the 21st. I know how it feels, Pauline...I booked this Arctic cruise in May 2015. All I remember thinking was....that's two summers away!
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Post by californian on Aug 10, 2016 19:09:54 GMT
My daughter and I are leaving for Portugal Sep 12. Hope we all have good tales (well, mine will not be in the same league as the others, but I will try), so far I find Portugal's history very interesting.
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Post by chech on Aug 10, 2016 20:32:10 GMT
Oh yeah....very cool! How long will you be in Portugal? Is it a tour?
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Post by bet on Aug 10, 2016 21:19:32 GMT
Time has crept up this year, happy and safe travels for all the lucky travellers out there going in the coming weeks.
A little over 3 months to go for me until India.
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Post by californian on Aug 10, 2016 23:30:09 GMT
Oh yeah....very cool! How long will you be in Portugal? Is it a tour? I think is 12 days, going just one day earlier, is a TT, Best of Portugal. We had booked Best of Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg, and we were to spend a week in Paris, but we decided to change it for Portugal.
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Pauline
Full Member
Normandy, Brittany & the Loire Valley, WW1 Battlefields and Northern Spain in Sep 2023 with Insight
Posts: 210
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Post by Pauline on Aug 11, 2016 5:15:31 GMT
Time has crept up this year, happy and safe travels for all the lucky travellers out there going in the coming weeks. A little over 3 months to go for me until India. Bet, are you doing their Classic Rajasthan tour or Rajasthan Experience? Just curious. The Wendy Wu tour that I did in Feb 2013 took in the Ranthambore National Park and we were fortunate to see a couple of tigers, as well as many other animals.
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Post by bet on Aug 11, 2016 7:28:22 GMT
Hi Pauline I'm doing the Classic Rajasthan tour. I've heard how beautiful the Rajasthan region is and it includes a visit to Ranthambore NP. I'm hoping I will be just as lucky as you and get to see some tigers as well. I'm really looking forward to experiencing India. Great photos. Enjoy your trip!
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Post by tiffany on Aug 11, 2016 11:36:07 GMT
My daughter and I are leaving for Portugal Sep 12. Hope we all have good tales (well, mine will not be in the same league as the others, but I will try), so far I find Portugal's history very interesting. Have fun Californian! As you know, this is one of my favourite tours, and Portugal is one of my favourite countries. My tour director was Miguel, who was wonderful, but I’ve heard the other tour director, Pedro, is also very good, so you should be in good hands. I’ll be gone by the time you get back, but look forward to hearing about your trip once I get back from mine.
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Post by californian on Aug 11, 2016 15:32:14 GMT
Thank you Tiffany, I enjoyed your tale and saved it for a quick read when on tour. Waiting now to check for the report on the weather to start packing. Have a great tour yourself, if I had more money I would do HEE again, I loved it. (When in Vienna the day before the tour, I followed Rick Steves advice and took the tram that goes in a circle around town where the city walls were for a quick look at all the beautiful buildings, got off at the Opera House stop and took the tour)
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Post by plane2catch on Aug 11, 2016 22:14:38 GMT
Who'd you have for the HEE? I had Januz for the Bohemian Highlights in 2009 and he was okay but compared to all the other tour directors I've had, he rates pretty well at the bottom. His first name was Michael (maybe Doherty?) I think he's not longer with TT, he was very disorganized, even forgot to arrange the wake up calls, we had to ask the desk to wake him up! California, that sounds like a nightmare. Having to call and wake up the TD. Wondering how that affected your schedule for the day. Sometimes the days can be pretty packed. Guess he didn't receive extra tips.
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Post by plane2catch on Aug 11, 2016 22:20:51 GMT
My daughter and I are leaving for Portugal Sep 12. Hope we all have good tales (well, mine will not be in the same league as the others, but I will try), so far I find Portugal's history very interesting. I'd like to see more of Portugal. Went on a Spain, Morocco and Portugal tour but we only stayed 2 or 3 days there. I remember having some delicious dessert wine. Anxious to hear your tale when you return California. Have fun!!!! Life is short.
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Post by plane2catch on Aug 11, 2016 22:22:46 GMT
Time has crept up this year, happy and safe travels for all the lucky travellers out there going in the coming weeks. A little over 3 months to go for me until India. Bet, are you doing their Classic Rajasthan tour or Rajasthan Experience? Just curious. The Wendy Wu tour that I did in Feb 2013 took in the Ranthambore National Park and we were fortunate to see a couple of tigers, as well as many other animals. Great pics Pauline. Don't remember seeing any tigers on my trip to Africa. I love India.
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Pauline
Full Member
Normandy, Brittany & the Loire Valley, WW1 Battlefields and Northern Spain in Sep 2023 with Insight
Posts: 210
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Post by Pauline on Aug 12, 2016 10:32:39 GMT
Bet, are you doing their Classic Rajasthan tour or Rajasthan Experience? Just curious. The Wendy Wu tour that I did in Feb 2013 took in the Ranthambore National Park and we were fortunate to see a couple of tigers, as well as many other animals. Great pics Pauline. Don't remember seeing any tigers on my trip to Africa. I love India. Thanks plane2catch. I usually send emails to family & friends when I travel. A friend in Canada emailed me a couple of weeks ago, saying that she is heading to India in Feb next year and she hadn't kept my emails, so would I send my journal to her, to refresh her memory. Instead of just sending the journal, I decided to copy the emails into a blog and add some photos and then sent her the link when I finished. If anyone is interested. indiafeb2013.blogspot.com.au Africa is still on my "hope to" list.
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Post by tiffany on Aug 12, 2016 11:42:58 GMT
Thank you Tiffany, I enjoyed your tale and saved it for a quick read when on tour. Waiting now to check for the report on the weather to start packing. Have a great tour yourself, if I had more money I would do HEE again, I loved it. (When in Vienna the day before the tour, I followed Rick Steves advice and took the tram that goes in a circle around town where the city walls were for a quick look at all the beautiful buildings, got off at the Opera House stop and took the tour) I’m glad you enjoyed my tour tale of Portugal, and hope it was helpful. I just realized, you are going on one of my favourite tours, and I’m going on one of yours. We’ll have to see what tour we like better when we be back. I went on a tour of the Opera House the last time I was in Vienna. This time, we are planning on getting tickets for the hop on hop off bus with Big Bus Tours during our extra day. I really want to go to Karlskirche and the Parliament area, as I didn’t get to go there the last time I was there. I just hope the weather is good. It rained almost every day when I went on the Austria and Switzerland tour.
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Post by tiffany on Aug 12, 2016 11:46:51 GMT
My daughter and I are leaving for Portugal Sep 12. Hope we all have good tales (well, mine will not be in the same league as the others, but I will try), so far I find Portugal's history very interesting. I'd like to see more of Portugal. Went on a Spain, Morocco and Portugal tour but we only stayed 2 or 3 days there. I remember having some delicious dessert wine. Anxious to hear your tale when you return California. Have fun!!!! Life is short. I went on Insight’s Best of Spain and Portugal in 2008, and loved Portugal so much, I went on Trafalgar’s Best of Portugal in 2014. Like you, I didn’t feel like I saw enough of Portugal during my first tour. Trafalgar’s Best of Portugal is a wonderful tour, and one that I highly recommend. You should check out my tour tale if you’re interested in this tour.
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Post by chech on Aug 12, 2016 21:22:58 GMT
I went on Insight’s Best of Spain and Portugal in 2008, and loved Portugal so much, I went on Trafalgar’s Best of Portugal in 2014. Like you, I didn’t feel like I saw enough of Portugal during my first tour. Trafalgar’s Best of Portugal is a wonderful tour, and one that I highly recommend. You should check out my tour tale if you’re interested in this tour. I'm thinking the same thing with the UK....rather than do an all-inclusive whirlwind tour of both islands, I'm going to consider doing Ireland, Scotland and England on their own. Since it's only a short 5 hour hop over, it would be easy to do at any time and can get the most out of each place.
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Post by tiffany on Aug 13, 2016 17:13:18 GMT
I went on Insight’s Best of Spain and Portugal in 2008, and loved Portugal so much, I went on Trafalgar’s Best of Portugal in 2014. Like you, I didn’t feel like I saw enough of Portugal during my first tour. Trafalgar’s Best of Portugal is a wonderful tour, and one that I highly recommend. You should check out my tour tale if you’re interested in this tour. I'm thinking the same thing with the UK....rather than do an all-inclusive whirlwind tour of both islands, I'm going to consider doing Ireland, Scotland and England on their own. Since it's only a short 5 hour hop over, it would be easy to do at any time and can get the most out of each place. I went to the UK and Ireland on one tour, and while I felt like I saw enough of England, Ireland and Northern Ireland, I didn't see enough of Scotland. It would have been nice to see a bit ore of Wales as well. I'm hoping to go back to Scotland in the next few years.
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Post by tassiedevil on Aug 16, 2016 3:12:24 GMT
Bet, are you doing their Classic Rajasthan tour or Rajasthan Experience? Just curious. The Wendy Wu tour that I did in Feb 2013 took in the Ranthambore National Park and we were fortunate to see a couple of tigers, as well as many other animals. Great pics Pauline. Don't remember seeing any tigers on my trip to Africa. I love India.
You wouldn't have seen any tigers when you were in Africa (except for a zoo) as they are Asian animal, not found in Africa.
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Post by tassiedevil on Aug 16, 2016 3:16:20 GMT
It looks like due to health problems my trip to New Zealand in September/October is off and my trip to the US from 24 December - 25 January possibly won't go ahead either.
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Pauline
Full Member
Normandy, Brittany & the Loire Valley, WW1 Battlefields and Northern Spain in Sep 2023 with Insight
Posts: 210
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Post by Pauline on Aug 16, 2016 11:29:47 GMT
It looks like due to health problems my trip to New Zealand in September/October is off and my trip to the US from 24 December - 25 January possibly won't go ahead either. Hope that the health problems are not long term tassiedevil.
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Post by chech on Aug 16, 2016 12:41:46 GMT
Oh noes!! Not serious, I hope!
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Post by californian on Aug 16, 2016 14:56:09 GMT
Get well soon Tassiedevil, hope you can go in your trips soon.
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