Enjoying the wildlife, in and out of the water, on a private tour of Australia
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Private Tour
Bulgaria private guide
When my wife, Kim, and I first started thinking about where to go in Europe in 2017, the idea of Bulgaria and Romania came to mind. After doing some research, we realized that there is so much to do in Bulgaria, it deserved to be our only destination for our trip, Sept. 1-17, 2017.
Private tour of northern Italy
My friend Sandra and I spent four glorious days in Italy with Maria Rizziello of Treasures of Italy (Via Prandone 24, 14100, Asti, Italia; call, collect, 011 39 0141 294 801, email treasuresofitaly@outlook.com or visit www.facebook.com/treasures ofitaly). Maria conducts tours all over Italy. We got her name from a small ad she placed in ITN.
For our 5-day/4-night tour, May 5-9, 2017, we had very specific things we wanted to see, and Maria was able to get us into everything and so much more.
Rating foreign tour companies that customize tours
In several previous issues (including last month’s), we printed letters from subscribers who responded to the information request of Yvonne Richter, who wrote, “My husband and I like to take customized private tours, and we prefer to use tour companies and guides that are local to the destinations. I would like travelers to write in about foreign tour companies and guides they’ve used for private tours, including as many of the following details as possible:
Rating foreign tour companies that customize tours
In a few past issues, we printed letters from subscribers who responded to the information request of Yvonne Richter, who wrote, “My husband and I like to take customized private tours, and we prefer to use tour companies and guides that are local to the destinations. I would like travelers to write in about foreign tour companies and guides they’ve used for private tours, including as many of the following details as possible:
“The name and contact information of the foreign tour company or private guide (location, phone, email and/or URL).
Albania and Macedonia private tour
Albania and Macedonia are wonderful places to visit. They have marvelous ancient towns, huge fortresses, lovely churches and mosques, Roman ruins, beautiful mountains, lakes and ocean beaches. It all is very affordable, a fraction of the cost of a trip to Western Europe, and you see so few other tourists that you have a feeling of discovery.
The Balkans with a private guide
For our trip to the Balkans, May 14-30, 2015, my wife, Nita, and I wanted to hire Patrick Peneff (bulgariaprivate guide@gmail.com) to be our private guide. We had previously employed Patrick as a driver/guide for a Bulgaria tour that we took in May 2012 (Jan. ’13, pg. 32).
When we contacted Patrick, he said he would be glad to drive us but that he couldn’t serve as a guide in the Balkans in the same way he had done in Bulgaria, since he wasn’t as familiar with the history and sites there. Nevertheless, we hired him again.
South Africa with Southern Destinations
Two days after flying from Miami to Johannesburg, and prior to taking a 2-week cruise to Mombasa, I began a 9-day private tour in South Africa on Nov. 30, 2015. My tour arrangements had been made through Southern Destinations (46 Main Rd., Claremont 7735, Cape Town, South Africa; phone, in the US, 646/291-8992, www.southern destinations.com) with the help of Candice Petersen.