★★★★★
The trip across Switzerland and Italy were more than we could have dreamed. Maura called our journey the trip of a lifetime and that it was! As business travelers for most of our careers we are used to bells and whistles of travel - our experience was so much more!
Maura's professionalism is unmatched. We appreciated her focus on what we specifically enjoyed by learnng about our interests, tour group sizes, physical capabilites, and budget expectations. Many travel agents ask for that information but don't bring it to life for you, we were incredbily impressed with her level of anticipating our needs and helping us to make the most of the time we had in both Switzerland and Italy.
From the quaint villages of Zermatt (with a stop at the Chillon Castle on the way to keep us from sleeping and helping to adjust) to the gorgeous city of Lucerne our time through Switzerland was such a delightful experience. We had planes, trains, automobiles, buses, boats, cogwheel railways, and gondalas to full immerse ourselves in the experience. Don't skip the small town of Bellinzona. It is a lovely Swiss town with local markets, kind people, great food/wine and 3 enormous castles to visit.
Then on to Italy which was a great experience as well. The leisure time versus tour times were exactly what we needed as there is so much to take in everywhere. We stayed in Genoa, Rapallo, Florence, and Rome. We were so thankful for Maura's guidance as going from the small populations in Switzerland to the hustle and bustle of Italy was quite apparent.
I highly recommend putting your trust in Maura and team for the things that really helped our trip be coordianted and safe:
- Take her advice on when to use a driver and when to use trains or other transport. It saved us so much time and we were able to have drivers who knew the land and it was a tour in itself (and they take your luggage)
- Pay the extra for luggage service where recommended. We overpacked (thinking we were doing well with our "normal American" packing). The luggage service is well worth the cost, frustration, and time.
- When in large towns like Rome and Florence, make sure you ask about the groups. We had a private guide and it made all the difference in standing in lines (or even knowing which line to stand in) and making the experience truly your own. We found many frustrated groups with 50 or more people spending more time keeping up than taking everything in.
- I loved we were given choices and a cost comparision on the Swiss Pass. We were given a breakdown of pro's and con's and were able to make a perfect decision for us.
- The communication and technology is unmatched. Maura handled all of our paperwork for each step and it is truly a concierge service. We were given an app that included maps, recommendations for food/activities, receipts for each trip in the journey.
Wherever we travel we are going to put Maura and her team in charge! They are the best!