EF Go Ahead Tours 12+

My arrival was remarkable. After a long trip, I was met by a driver who drove me 2 hours (in a nice car) from Milan to Turin. I slept most of the way. When we arrived at the hotel, I was greeted by Simone who expedited my room check-in.

Simone was an outstanding group leader. I found him to be genuine, personable, supportive, and informative. I enjoyed his sense of humour.

I appreciated the pace of the tour and Simone’s collaborative adaptation to same. Personally, I think I’d prefer less moving from hotel to hotel. Having said that, I most enjoyed the Truffle tour and the final lunch held at the Valpolicella winery.

The hotels each had their own challenges — the Turin hotel was hot and noisy (the a/c had been shut down for the season) and my room opened onto a 4 lane thoroughfare so I had to make a choice throughout the night about what was more conducive to sleep — decreasing heat or noise; the Italian Riviera hotel had a very small bathroom & construction happening just outside it; the hotel outside Verona was lovely but quite a distance into Verona (think approximately $40 cab fare one-way) so suppers were on site and I did not find the restaurant staff to be very friendly.

While at the Francone Winery, we were told the bus would be secure and I left my backpack on board. Guess I should know better! When I returned from the luncheon, the zippers on my backpack were open. I’m quite fastidious so that surprised me. I checked the contents and breathed a huge sigh of relief that my passport and some money was still in my Fanny pack. I was uncertain how much money I’d left in the pack and thought perhaps there were 2 100 Euro bills as I’d visited an ATM a day or so earlier and had removed $300 Euros. I rarely spent cash, preferring to use my M/C. Because I was uncertain, I didn’t report my unrest to Simone until group members encouraged me to do so. I was pleased to hear that there’s a camera on the bus and footage from that time frame could be reviewed. As of this point, I have not heard the results.

EF tour staff were good until just prior to my departure when I stopped receiving responses from Jason (Canada). My package from EF did not arrive before I left so will be in touch to receive the cookbook this apparently came in the package if I’ve not received it when I check my mail.

I retuned from the tour feeling run down and tested positive for Covid (as did another group member who, as far as I know, is still in a hotel in Italy). I’ve felt quite sick but am still grateful to have embraced Europe once again following a travel hiatus since Covid first became an issue.

Sincerely,
Jan Carew

Sounds like a great experience, which for some people I am sure was good ! Although, not all hotels are acceptable, not to what we were expecting. Berlin hotel, no place to gather together with other guests, very small lobby. Food, scrambled eggs sickening and bacon full of grease and small wieners served everyday.
Several dinners were included with trip, only one was acceptable.
The first dinner served included a rock hard piece of chicken, at first one questioned what is was and a dried out potato mixture !

Atto is an excellent, outstanding and professional tour guide, taking on the job of caring of 30 tourists for a period of 30 days. He is worth every penny being paid to him. Always easy to talk to for any problem acting quickly to solve the situation.

Would we go on another Go Ahead Tour again, not sure !

Travel disappointments and terrible client service! While at the airport for the extension to Sicily, 4 passengers were advised to go to the airline ticket counter as our tickets were VOID. We were at the airport at least 2 hours in advance and ended up missing our flight. The tour director tried to assist us with EF travel tours but he was told they would call back and did it receive a call back before he had to get on the flight with the other 11 passengers. The 4 of us struggled with getting on a flight to get to Catania and the EF travel tours reps said that I had to deal with the airy, it was their fault. The airline pointed the finger at the travel agent, EF tours. The only way to get something done was to do it all. The 4 passengers split up, 2 tried yo take a flight to Milan then to Catania but that did not turn out. Then 2 got on a flight to Roma and had to stay on standby to get to Catania. 2 passengers went back to the hotel for the night and tried to get to Catania the next day. It is now 6:08pm, the 2 travellers/passengers that started their day at 3am are still sitting in the Roma airport still waiting for a standby call and no one from EF tours has reached out to follow up.
During the morning and day ordeals there was zero attempt to help with the airline, only to ask for an update on what I found out.
To say that I am incredibly disappointed and disgusted in the service is an understatement. I will NEVER travel with this your company again.