2017 Tours!

Sicily 2017 is up--Yay! But the dates aren't available--sob! sob! The suspense is more than I can handle! (I think I'm driving me crazy but fortunately my husband is watching tv so he isn't bothered!)

They rarely are, Darcy!

Yeah, glad to see the tours are up, but I want the dates to start my 2017 planning!

Me, too! I'm trying to find a way to piggy-back Village Italy with one of the France tours. Yes, it's just wishful thinking, but maybe...

Well, Darcy if you have totally gone 'round the bend, perhaps I will cancel lunch on Thursday, lolol!! PS..DATES ARE UP...for Sicily!!

Jane! That sounds like a fun combination. Have you done Paris and the Heart of France or were you looking at another one? If the timing/time of year works I would do France first then Village Italy, just because VI is pretty relaxed. Plus in 2014 there was good EasyJet connection from Paris to Venice. So in to Venice for a few days, out to Padua for at least one extra night and boom you're there.

Hmmm, off to look at calendars + Belgium and Holland....

Yes, time to dream about where to go next year. And how many times to go to make up for missing my trip this year!

But I am surprised to see how many tours have increased in price over 2016. I was expecting many more to go down in price given the continued strength of the dollar over the euro and pound. Oh well, so is life. It's only money.

Signed up this afternoon for GAS 2017! Can't wait!

Brooke! Wow, good deal. Heading out to GAS next week.

Belgium tour dates are up now...Easter is April 16 for those planning a Spring venture.

I signed up for 7 Days in Rome for the March 26 tour! Adding a few days to go to Naples and Pompeii!!

Now, I am thinking of a trip for next September and I am 2 months from my 17 Days in Italy tour in Oct. It's coming up so fast!

My list just keeps getting longer now that they have an all Germany trip. I still want to go on GAS, too.

So little time!

Judy B

Pam, Paris and the Heart of France is the most likely right now, but they all are tempting. We've done the Best of Paris; it just whetted our appetite for more of France. But DH wants an Italy fix, and Village Italy comes so highly recommended that we've penciled it in for 2017. I'm just hoping we can squeeze out enough time to do that and a France tour.

There are a few itineraries that interest me, but the exchange rate makes it almost impossible. Mind you we recently met some people in Madrid on an RS Tour and they so enthusiastically recommended them who knows. (and if you read a post I made in another thread you know we accidentally crashed an RS Tour breakfast and found a room full of very happy people - a great advertisement).

We'd have to book later in the year (summer-ish) for a fall departure, since we keep getting hammered with unexpected household expenses.

I don't know why I even looked at those 2017 tour dates. Our son is getting married in 2017 so we will probably have to skip next year and opt for spring 2018. That seems so far away!

Off to look at tours again anyway.....

yup - I saw that some were listed today while I was a work. Jane - I got your PM. Sorry for the delay, been busy. I will be there on Saturday. I am seeing a friend tomorrow, so I will tell her.

I am too trying to piggy back a trip. I am taking my second river boat cruise down the Rhone in June 2017. I will be ending up in Barcelona and the timing for that 8 day trip June 11 - 18 fits perfect. My cruise is work related (but I have to pay on my own. :( ), husband not going on the river cruise but trying to talk him into meeting me over at Barcelona.

K

Kathy, you can dream! We're so busy in the spring of 2017 that we probably can't take any trips until summer or fall, but I'm still fantasizing that we can get away before that.

Kim, got the PM; see you August 20 for our inaugural Tulsa RS Travel Group!

There used to be a discount if you booked a spring/summer tour before a certain date (Dec 31st?). Has this gone away?

Usually there are discounts on his Festival days such as the ones he has in November and January as well.

I don't remember the discount being offered this early in prior years. I know the ones from the most recent years were good through end of November or December. I am holding out until I see it. :-)

I booked the Switzerland Tour for next summer yesterday and my invoice that came today showed the $100 discount.

My confirmation email states: $100 Discount!: You'll notice a $100 per person discount recorded on your attached tour invoice as our thank you for booking this tour prior to December 1st!

It's available; applicable to bookings made before 1 December. In my experience, it's available for early bookings at the same time the new tours are released. I can't say I noticed it on the website or even the sign up page. Truthfully, I wasn't looking for it-just used to having it previous years so didn't think about looking for it. It is applied to my final payment on my tour invoice for 2017.

Just booked our Barcelona/Madrid 8 days tour piggy backing my river boat cruise next june 2017. Yes you get a $100 credit booking early before December 1. Plus I now get $100 alumni for me and $50 for husband.

We enjoyed our trip in April 2016 and ready to go again. Woot Woot

Kim, that's a great tour! We loved it.

Awesome, Thanks Jane! Whew .... this will be the longest if have ever stayed at one time in Europe... I think 21 days.

Scandinavia in 14 days locked and loaded for Summer, 2017. Let the countdown begin!

Scandinavian one is on my bucket list....maybe 2018. Have fun

Sicily is booked! Pam, you no longer have to worry about my sanity...I don't think! I'll let you know tomorrow.

• Waiting since December for the 2017 tours to go up.
• Counting the days until August
• TOURS ARE UP!
• Yes! Best of Holland and Amsterdam!
• PERFECT dates for my time off from work!
• Hold mouse over 'book tour'
• Hold mouse over 'book tour'
• Hold mouse over 'book tour'
• Back out of page to think more about it.

I have the money; I have the time: why is something as easy as committing to a tour so hard?!

I see now your deposit becomes non-refundable after 30 days. I seem to remember it was formerly until December 30. I like to book early to get the dates we want, but enjoyed the flexibility of being able to change within a few months. In 2015 we had to cancel when we found out we were expecting a grandchild. That was later in the year. We later re-booked for 2016. Why the change?

Mike B, where do you find the Best of Holland and Amsterdam? My DH would love that! Of course, that would seriously complicate our planning...

Just booked the Best of the Adriatic, September 2017!!! Only 13 short months to go until take off. lol

Sorry, I got the tour name wrong:
Heart of Belgium & Holland in 11 Days Tour.

Mike - you need to take the best of Holland and Belgium. It was fantastic april 2016. Push that button!

I booked the 8 day Barcelona and madrid My airlfare will be on points. Still trying to getting more points for husband.

Mike, we took that tour several years ago and loved it. That's why I knew my DH would love a Holland/Amsterdam tour. Kim's right; click!

Life is for living as in traveling, just click away everyone!

Oh, you terrible temptresses!

Now my wife and I are going to Belgium & Holland while Rick Steves rolls around naked in piles of my money! And, uh, let's just skip that last image, shall we?

Mike, agreed, we'll try to delete that image. But here's what you can dream about: beer, chocolate and art, the highlights of the Belgium and Holland tour. We had a great time, and would consider taking that tour again.

The main downside of having taken the tour: we were so spoiled by the wonderful beer, that Belgian beer is about all we drink now. (Well, in the beer realm, anyway. Wine is still our alcoholic beverage of choice, and on the South England trip this year Roy and Debi Jo introduced us to cider. We are in serious trouble.)

You're in for a great time.

Mike - I also will delete that imagine. LOL. As my husband said. Belgium's four favorites things are BEER, BEER, Chocolate, & Waffles.

I loved their beer. We tour a Viator beer tour in Brussels when we were there. All I can say is wow!! Fun pubs and lots of beers to taste.

We went during the time of the K Gardens and that place in incredible. Our bike ride in Brugge to Damme on our free day was fanastic. There was 11 out of 18 us of that did that as a group. We really bonded as a group for just 11 days.

Chocolate.... I loved their dark chocolates!! I did not bring home enough!

Enjoy the trip.

David,

I wonder if the reusable deposit is something they are doing due to the large number of cancellations this year due to the various activities in Europe that may have chased away many of the tour members? It is a very appreciated gift. I know as recently as 2014 the deposit was not refunded or given as a reusable amount because I had to cancel one trip that year.

I have the Village Italy 14 day tour for May 22nd - June 4th booked! Now comes the hard part.. Figuring out what flights to take, and the WAITING until we get to leave!

We just signed up for the Village of South England tour leaving on 5/8/17. This will be our fourth RS tour. I will have retired the month before the tour starts, and I am also commemorating a summer in England in 1972.

Bob, that's a great tour! And Mark G, we're hoping to do the Village Italy tour ourselves, and it's looking like late May or early June may be when we book! I just checked, and the early May tour is already full. I'd like to wait until fall, but I don't think we can get away then. But I'm already checking air fares.

Congratulations Bob and have a great trip! We are going to book Portugal for next summer and spend some extra time in Barcelona. We were there last summer and really did not have enough time to enjoy all the Gaudi, food and wine! Maybe sneak Ina few days in London if that does not put us over budget.

Just booked our 4th RS tour and heading to GAS in 2017!

Just booked our 5th and 6th RS tours! Doing back to back Portugal then London. Trying to decide on an extra day in Porto or in London (between tours). We are jazzed!

Why isn't there a tour to Russia? You can't travel there on your own.

I don't know where that comes from. There are folks who have written about their independent Russian travels here on this forum. The reason the RS tour is only in St. Petersburg for 3 days or less is they probably don't want to deal with the Visa application which would come into play after 72 hours and would probably not be worth the effort for folks for such a short visit. There's nothing that says you can't go on your own but you need to satisfy the Visa requirements which means some degree of bureaucracy and cost in money and time.

If RS did a Russia tour, he'd likely have to do it like the Turkey tour where everything is subcontracted out to local guides on the ground and they basically run the tour. In that case, you can do the same yourself and hire your own on-the-ground guides if you feel sheepish about traveling independently in Russia. I can imagine that doing business there is probably a bureaucratic pain in the rear, and Rick could pick off some easier places first (Bulgaria, Romania, etc). Rick just doesn't have a deep bench in Russia - other tour groups that have many years of experience there actually do.