This August, my mother turned 70 and I wanted to give her a special present and take her to Europe. But where should we to go? I did not want to go somewhere too hot or with a lot of walking, so it would not be too tiring for her, but on the other hand, I knew my mother was interested in European history and architecture, not just in sitting at a resort. I looked around and found several agencies, which had trips to various European countries. But after calling some of them, I got a feeling that I was talking to a receptionist or a secretary of an impersonal agency. And then my aunt recommended that I call Romantik Tour. She went on a trip to Switzerland, Italy and France with them before and was very impressed.

From the very first call to Romantik Tour, I could tell that this was not a vacation factory. At first I talked to Dmitry, who was extremely polite and helpful. I asked a lot of questions about their tours and how to find one that would not be too exhausting for my 70-year old mother, yet still interesting. We discussed several tours and finally stopped on going to Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary. Dmitry also mentioned that Tatiana actually went with this tour before and suggested I talk to her if I had specific questions - weather, hotels, tour operators, etc. When I talked to Tanya, she was just as polite and helpful and actually told me that she would be accompanying the tour this September. She also told me that I could reserve specific seats on the bus, which was very convenient for an elderly person. We reserved 2 seats at the very front of the bus and sat there for every bus excursion during the trip.

Tanya was also very helpful when I asked questions about how much money to bring, where credit cards or ATM cards were accepted, the weather at that time of year (September), travel insurance, etc. After numerous phone calls, I felt like I knew Tanya and Dima personally, even though I never met them. I have never had this kind of personal attention from tour operators.

When we got to Prague, Czech Republic - the beginning of our tour - we were met at the airport by the bus driver, who took us to our hotel. That's where we met Tanya in person for the first time. We also met the rest of our group, some at the airport, and some at the hotel and found out that everyone was very nice and friendly.

During the trip, we had bus tours and walking tours with different guides in different areas. All the guides were licensed tour guides, spoke perfect Russian and were extremely informative and knowledgeable about their city and country. I felt like they not only talked about history and architecture, but also wanted us to know about their country and the people who live in it, like economic situation, education and culture. I felt a lot closer to the people in the countries we visited, because of that.

Usually, we had a part of the day scheduled for a guided tour (bus and walking) and a part of the day to walk around and explore by ourselves. The guides were very accommodating and flexible to whatever the group wanted to see. The weather was perfect for the whole 10 days - sunny, breezy and warm. We had enough time to sit in an outdoor cafe and have a leisurely lunch or dinner, or just coffee or ice cream.

I cannot describe all the wonderful places we visited, that would take too long, but I think my favorite city was Salzburg. Starting with the wonderful 4*** hotel (who can withstand the temptation of warm croissants?), to the tour guide, who obviously loved her city and knew a lot about it, to the simple pleasure of walking around the beautiful, old town, munching on a huge Salzburg pretzel and going up on the funicular to see the whole town spread out below you.

Not only did we see a lot of wonderful places, but we also made friends with people in our group. Everyone was very friendly, had a great sense of humor and enjoyed each others company. Thank you, Tanya and Dima, for a wonderful trip and don't be surprised if we join you on another trip again. 

Yelena C., Philadelphia