GAS May 2017

Hi Holly!

We're considering this tour for next year, probably in May. This would be our third RS tour - never thought I'd be the "tour" type, but have loved both (South Italy and Spain.)

Most people who take the tours don't even know about these boards, so you probably won't find a "roll call" thread like on Cruise Critic. I've been looking at the scrapbooks from past years to get a feel for the tour. And of course, rewatching RS shows about the region.

Have fun anticipating!

Priscilla

Congratulations, I hope you enjoy your tour. I haven't taken this tour, but it is on my bucket list. There are just too many to choose. There are plenty of forum member that have taken this tour, so I am sure they will be responding soon. Pam, where are you??

I find reading forum entries helps to pass the time. Also, RS has a scrapbook contest. Tour members can enter to win and the site will post links to individual scrapbooks. Here is a link to the page where you can select scrapbooks, tour experience video, Rick's blog and so on.

Also, read up on the cities and sites you will be visiting. The guide book is a good source. I often do web searches for more information. Have you spent your voucher, yet?

For checking on other posts, you could do a search. This is located at the top of the page. Enter your phrase and hit enter key. Then you will have a choice to filter by type, you will probably want the travel forum. Once selecting the filter type, you can then filter by date, 6 months or newer, 1 year or newer, etc. I did a quick search using "GAS May 2017" and got 4 hits, all forum, with yours being the newest.

Hi Priscilla! Thanks for responding. I'm not familiar with Cruise Critic, so I just went there and see what you're talking about. That's kinda cool.
I'll search for the scrapbooks and look there - that's a great tip. Thank you!
We have only ever done tours as part of a cruise (1 in the Med and 2 in the Caribbean). The excursions on our Med cruise were fantastic....but rushed, crowded, etc. This will be a very different experience for us. I'm so looking forward to the smaller group size than what you have on a cruise excursion.

Appreciate your response and tips! Have fun selecting your next adventure!

Since you asked for help to "...get to the right place to begin researching this trip", I would suggest you get the RS guide book that relates to your trip as soon as the new one is available which is usually in Dec. or thereabouts. You can use part of your "store credit" to get it and other items such as money belts and etc. The main issue facing people on their first RS Tour is packing light and small, and doing hand laundry. There are many tips people on the forum can offer when you get ready for that info. Some of the best information you will get will be the result of asking specific questions such as how to get from Point A to Point B, how to use a money belt, what should we do about credit / debit cards and money. There is a world of knowledge among people using the forum, so do feel free to pick our collective brains. BTW, we've taken that tour and you will have a great time.

HI Debra and TC - thank so much for your recommendations!

Debra, I agree - it was hard choosing an itinerary that accomplished the highest things on our bucket list. My 12 year old daughter is such a history nut...we spent 3 days in Normandy earlier this year and she couldn't get enough of it....and we wanted to ensure whichever trip we chose would satisfy her desire to learn. The Germany trip sounded incredible...but then over the weekend, we watched 3 of RS's shows saved on our DVR and she got very excited about Switzerland.
I just started looking at the scrapbooks and WOW. Great tip!! I did some research through the forums here on the board before we booked but just scratched the surface. Now I'll get knee deep in.

We haven't gotten our official invoice yet so no information on the vouchers....but I've already purchased the guide books. I used his book on Mediterranean cruise ports when we were planning our trip in 2014 and found it incredibly helpful.

TC - yes, my biggest challenge will be packing light. But I'm committed. My husband travels internationally for work (in fact, he's going to Belgium and Finland in two weeks) so he'll be a big help along with the packing tips found here. I bought a money belt for our Med trip, but hubby may want one. Great tips.

All of you are already being incredibly helpful. I've started a journal and you're all giving me great pointers to consider and research, and I appreciate it a lot. :)

We selected a Tuesday through Monday trip, we will likely fly the Friday before and explore the Rhine River gorge area over the weekend before meeting up with our tour on Tuesday. I'm beginning my research on that as well.

Thanks all! Loving all of the great information coming in!!

One of the things we're

Hi Holly:

I did this trip in 2006 and it was wonderful. It was slightly longer then but the main parts at the same.

I would research the cities you will be visiting to find things you would like to do and you daughter might like. There is a marionette theatre in Salzburg that is a lot of fun and the horses (sorry can't remember the proper title ;-)) in Vienna. Also the Spas in Baden Baden are nice.

I took the Best of Switzerland trip this past spring. We stayed in Murren and really enjoyed the James Bond experience at the Shiltzhorn.

For days on the bus, I checked out eBooks on my iPod from my local library and took a kindle with books to read.

Have a wonderful time.

Barbara

I just took this tour on August 27th and this is my 14th RS tour! It is a great tour, you will enjoy it. I stayed in Vienna for four extra days and loved the city and all the things you can see in do in this city. Look at the RS scrapbooks on the GAS tour and watch free YouTube videos from Rick Steves and others on the places and sites you will be going to on the GAS tour. Do make sure you layer and bring warm clothing for the Swiss Alps. Each town and city is very charming and quaint. Trier is easy to get around and there is no public transportation, everything is in easy walking distance. Do make sure you go into the churches and see the gardens before the tour as there is no time the day of the tour and there are church services on Sunday the day the tour starts. So do go at least one or two days earlier. Baden-Baden has a two wonderful spas. For a family, I would recommend bring bathing suits and go swimming at the pools. I went to the other spa on the single sex day and that is the naked spa, which sounds bad but really was great. But others that were a family or husband and wife went to the pools where you wear a bathing suit and liked it. Baden-Baden is a lovely city and again all walking which is nice. Both cities have beautiful shops and wonderful window displays. No time for the shops but I took a ton of photos of window displays in all the towns we visited. I just loved this tour so much, I could do it again. That is how much I enjoyed all the places we visited. I would read up on what you want to see in your free time. If you have any questions, feel free to pm me. ( Private message me). Vienna is also a great walking city but they do have an excellent subway system and trams and easy to use. Hallstatt was a favorite and we took a lovely boat ride. I did not have time to see the town but saw a little to know it was very charming. I did go to the top to see the waterfalls which were amazing. I loved the Swiss Alps and I loved the views from the cable cars you need to take to get to the top and to get to your hotel. Views were stunning and seeing cows and doing the walks were just so relaxing and freeing from every day life. I cannot say enough about this tour and what we saw and did. I also enjoyed the two beautiful castles we toured.

I agree I also read others went to the Marionette show when they were in Salzburg and said it was excellent. Ask your guide about it as soon as you meet him to find out how to get tickets for it. For a 12 yr old she will enjoy that better than the optional Mozart dinner/concert which was very nice ( I went and liked it) but they say the Marionette is very good too. That may be a better choice to do in the free evening in Salzburg.

Munich is a wonderful city. Read up on it as I am not sure what you may want to do with your 12 year old. There is the palace in the city ( again easy waking around Munich) and I did go to that on the BOE tour. It is called The Munich Residenz and I do recommend seeing that. That is a must see, and the palace is beautiful. This trip I went to one of the three art museums which I enjoyed.

I am sure I have much more I could tell you about each place we visited on that tour. So if you have any questions, let me know. Have a great time!!!!

I'm here Debra, lol! Yes, I did the GAS this year as well and really enjoyed it! Here is my Trip Report in case you are interested.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tours/trip-report-8-27-16-gas-tour

I agree with Ann and others who advise you arrive at least the day before if not 2 days before. I like your plan of flying on Friday and doing the Rhine River area. I flew in to Paris, had several days there and took the train to Trier. I arrived on Thursday and the tour started on Saturday. I had a list of things to see in Trier but did not get them all done as it was hot as heck in August when I was there. I don't think that will be a problem with heat in May. Some people on the tour did a boat trip on the Mosel River on their extra day and said it was very good. There was a couple who missed the dinner on Day 1 and the activities on Day 2 because their flight was cancelled. (Day 2 was the trip to Burg Eltz castle which was amazing!) Their plan was to arrive on Day 1 but they were rebooked to arrive on Day 2 after their plane experienced mechanical trouble (I think that was the cause of the delay!). I've been on 8 RS tours and on about 1/2 of them people wound up missing the beginning activities because their flights got messed up. So....give yourselves some buffer and everything will work perfectly, lol!

I stayed my 2 extra nights at the tour hotel, which is what I usually do. This one was slightly odd as it is also an Assisted Living Facility! There is a separate hotel wing but it doesn't really matter and some of our group were not in the wing that had the hotel sign on it anyway. The rooms are actually small apartments with a kitchenette so there is plenty of room to spread out. On my tour there was a family group of 3. If I recall correctly, sometimes the daughter (in her 20's) had a sleeper sofa, sometimes a roll-away and sometimes a bed.

Do some research on what you want to see in each city ahead of time. The guide will give you suggestions but it's also good to have an idea of what might appeal to you.

I do suggest you consider packing light! It sounds like you have that on your mind any way. In Switzerland, the bus parks at the gondola station in the Lauterbrunnen Valley and you ride the gondola up to Muerren with your suitcase, then have a walk thru town to the hotel. In Hallstatt, the bus parks on the far end of town, you take a boat ride on the lake to the dock near the hotel but then the next AM you walk back to the bus thru town, so it's a bit of a hike. In Vienna, the bus could not get onto our street so we had to walk several blocks. Assuming you stay at the same hotels for the other destinations, the bus can get fairly close to the other hotels. All this to say, consider the sizes of your suitcases and how well you all can manage them over distance. It is not too early to start thinking about a packing list for each of you so you can pack minimally.

This is a wonderful tour and I know you will have a terrific time!

editing to add: Here is one of the websites I used for Trier. If you daughter is interested in history she might find some things on here that interest her as there is quite a bit of Roman history there. Check later next spring to see if there is a new exhibit on at the Rheinisches Landesmuseum that might be interesting for her.

http://www.trier-info.de/english/sights-in-trier

You are going to have so much fun. One of the things I've been impressed with on our 3 RS tours is the personal relationship the guides have with people in the places you visit. We've done a small group tour with another company and a river cruise and never saw that with the other guides. It really does speak to the RS "back door" philosophy- you'll get a more intimate view in many places. And, boy, do the guides know their stuff! They use local experts, but theses guides seem to be expert as well.

Holly, you and your family have made a wonderful choice in taking this tour. My husband and I took it in September of 2015. We started off by taking the train from Frankfurt to St. Goar. It is in the middle of the Rhine river castle area. Our hotel in St. Goar looked across the river at the Katz castle and the dock for the KD line was below our window. It is a great area to get on the local Rhine boat tours. You can go up the river one day to Assmanshausen or Rudesheim. The second day you can go down river to Koblenz. There is also a castle in town to visit. When you are ready to join your tour, just get on the train to Trier. At the end of the tour, we took the train from Vienna to Rothenburg. (We saw this town on one of Rick's programs and said "we have to visit this place") We loved it. There is a wall around the town and it is loaded with quaint little houses. Then we hopped the train to Frankfurt to fly home. The trains in Germany/Austria were very easy to negotiate. We were gone a total of 3 weeks. The food was better than I thought it would be. There are some good wines and great beers. The scenery is Gorgeous! You will have a great time getting to know all your tour mates. As others have posted...you can private message me if you have specific questions.

Hi Holly!

My husband and I will be spending our honeymoon on this tour! We are super excited. It will be the first time to Europe for the both of us. We have been looking through the daily activities that we can do in our free time here and there, and was wondering if you have read if it's smart to get advanced tickets or do you plan on just booking your daily excursions when we are there?

Sarah, what kinds of things were you considering booking in advance? The only thing I can think of were the music events in Salzburg or if you insist on doing the Sound of Music tour, for example. We didn't book anything in advance, and found that the tour leader had great advice, organized some voluntary trips (like up the Schilthorn; music-dinner in Salzburg) for interested parties, and the group self-organized some things. You won't run out of options.

Hi! We just took this tour last year and it is fantastic. We just finished up a scrapbook on it, in case you want more info or to see pictures: http://traveloneurope2016.weebly.com/

You can use your tour credit to buy a special GAS guidebook that is not sold in tours or online, but only for those taking the tour. Basically they took the tour content from three different country books and put them in one, so its all handy and compact (and cheaper!).

If you have other questions let us know! Have a great time!

Hi Sarah! Congratulations on your upcoming wedding. Amazing trip you have planned for your honeymoon - that's very exciting. Are you on the May 30 tour?

We are actually just in the process of starting to look at the different options for our "free" time and for the 4 days we will be in Germany prior to the tour. I'd planned to start this months ago but....life gets busy and now I'm in a minor panic that I haven't made more progress.

I'll post more as we start to plan. As I did mention before, we were curious about whether or not there would be any other tween/teenagers on this trip. I contacted the Rick Steves company as suggested and as of about a month ago, our daughter is the only one! She's not bothered by it at all, either. :)

Justin, your scrapbook is SPECTACULAR. My goodness - I'm so ready to leave right now after looking at that. You captured some fantastic shots and your pictures of Murren and Hallstatt are amazing.

I did use our credit for the combined guidebook of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. I can't seem to put it down.
I may hit you up with questions within the coming weeks if you don't mind. We've been to Europe twice, but this is our first trip to Germany, Austria and Switzerland and our first guided tour (cruise excursions aside).

Janet, definitely interested in learning a little more about your experiences in St. Goar and Rothenburg. Over the next couple of weeks I will compile some questions I have then send you a message. Thanks for offering. :)

Thank you, Holly! Yes, feel free to ask anytime!

Hi Holly! Thanks, we got married in November but I wanted to see Europe in the spring/summer :-). Yes we will be on the May 30th tour! We are only going to be there a couple days before and a day after, I wish we could stay longer. We have started looking at all of our free time days. We are nature people so I look forward to going on good walks/hikes around each place we visit. Looking forward to riding up to Schilthorn and exploring Halstatt! I need to start my packing list.

I took this tour about five years ago. It's a great trip.

Some ideas for free time activities that I haven't seen mentioned yet:

Murren - Tandem paragliding. If it's nice out the view is spectacular. It's pricey but worth it to me. Watching the video of it still brings a smile to my face. ;)

Hallstatt - Some folks went for a salt mine tour. I took the funicular up to the mine but took the trails down to town instead of going to the mine.

Munich - Olympic park is a large park where the 1972 Olympics were held. BMW has its flagships Munich dealership and museum nearby. They also offer factory tours during the week. The area is easy to reach via the subway.

Have a great time!!

Edit to add: I have done a number of tours in the late May time frame. I have had mostly folks in their 50s on up on these trips. It's likely your daughter will be the only one in that age range on this tour. On the upside she will probably get lots of attention from her new "grandparents".