Thanks for sharing! I'm booked for my very first ABD next summer in Germany. I wondered how other tours, specifically Rick Steves, would compare since I use his books to plan my pre and post activities. Could you give more specifics of things you enjoyed or disliked on the Rick Steves tour?
It's a good question since I'm still mulling this over with my other half. What did we like/dislike about this trip? We DID enjoy it immensely. Sicily is AMAZING. But let me think if I can be concise here on my just returned from a trip impressions.
Liked:
--- Hotels. They aren't as upscale as some of the ABD selections, but they were all fabulous (think character and hotels of yesteryear) with great locations which made them so very walkable for free time. I'm still in love with our first hotel in Palermo which was one of my three all time favorites in Italy.
--- Food. The tour (like many others) provides all of your breakfasts and half your lunch and/or dinners. On most RS tours, alcohol is on your own. On this tour, it was included with every tour-provided lunch/dinner. Also the places we visited were all run by locals who stepped out of the kitchen to show us something about their cuisine or how to prepare a certain dish. Yes, ABD does this in some locations as well, but we saw this feature multiple times on this trip.
--- Extra Experiences. It's impossible for me to compare the extra experiences from one tour company to another (unless they just don't provide any real extras at all), but this tour did a wonderful job of throwing in extra moments that made this trip feel special. (No pins, of course.)
--- Packing Light. This is not my strong point, but since you're responsible for carting your own luggage on a RS tour, it's best to pack light. On this trip, we did our best job ever of packing light, and we learned a lot from it.
--- Fellow tour participants. This was one of the best tour groups I have ever encountered, hands down. Everyone was friendly, and we quickly fell into an easy camaraderie. RS has a stated 'no grumps' policy for all of their tours, so perhaps that helped?
Didn't Like:
--- Orientation Walks. Many locations had an orientation walk shortly after arrival and check in at the hotel. In the summer, this would be a lot of fun. We were there in late November. The walk was done after dark with a map you couldn't really see. I didn't think this was effective at this time of year. Otherwise, it would be great.
--- Too Much History. Now those who love history will take exception to this part, perhaps, but let me start by saying I did a history minor at university. I used to work as an historical interpreter. I love history. But in this case, there was a nonstop litany of names, dates and geopolitical histories going back to the times of the Phoenicians. Don't get me wrong. Sicily has an amazing history which has shaped its current culture. It is unique compared to the rest of Italy in that respect. But after a certain point, I would have loved to hear more about other topics like the many wind turbines we saw or how Sicily is handling this/that/the other in current time. Our guide was great to answer questions if asked, but the daily litany was always a line of dates and names. (Again, the guide wasn't just reading it off a sheet. She knew this stuff backwards and forwards, but this often seemed to be the entire emphasis of a day's remarks.)
--- Initial Orientation Meeting. While most tours start off telling you a bit about the local culture and customs, this one started off with a history lesson and a package of tissues to take to the restroom. We've traveled in Italy before, but for those people for whom this was their initial introduction to Italy - well, I think a few explanations about bathrooms and how to order coffee might have been in order.
So as you can see, the likes actually outweigh the dislikes. And those aren't hard dislikes. They're personal observations for what did/didn't work IMO. I would easily do another RS tour if it went to a destination I wanted to visit with a tour group. But I would seriously look at my options if other tour companies handled the same areas.