Has any one done this Tour?

Is That a Globus tour?
I know there is one called "From the Thames to the Tiber" but I can't find one by the name of "From the Colesseum to Big Ben". .
Maybe I am looking right at it and don't see it but I have the Globus book right here.

Thanks for replying. The tour is one they offer as part of their family travel . . It is supposed to be geared for people traveling with children. I have two teenagers. I was just curious if anyone had done this partucuilar tour. It starts off in Italy goes to France ,Switzerland and then ends in England. Any info would be great.

I looked it up and the only thing I would think about is the number of places that you only stay for 1 night. This is a pretty fast paced tour and there will be several very early AM departures. You might want to take a look at the Thames to the Tiber tour as that one stays at least 2 nights everywhere.Any time I have traveled with Globus in the summer there has always been kids on the tours.Go ahead and check out all of there regular tours too.On one of the tours I was on,"From the Shannon to the Thames"there was a family from Texas traveling with 5 or 6 kids ranging in age from about 9 to about 18. Delightful kids that were a pleasure to be around. The parents planned several activities in the evening for family fun. They seemed to really enjoy the "Ghost Walks".That particular tour I found very tiring and ever since then I only take the tours that have a minimum of 2 days in each place. LOL That is just me though!
Globus is a great company and they always take care of everything and do a great job.Whicever tour you take you will have a wonderful time.

I agree with Letsgo.. ..we took the "Thames to the Tiber" tour for the same reason.. ..had 3 nights in 3 major cities.. ..one night stays meant too many early morning starts! We enjoyed the leisure time and got more of a feel of the cultures!

I agree with Letsgo.. ..we took the "Thames to the Tiber" tour for the same reason.. ..had 3 nights in 3 major cities.. ..one night stays meant too many early morning starts! We enjoyed the leisure time and got more of a feel of the cultures!

Thanks for the info. We are all pretty early risers so the getting up early would not be to much of a problem for us. In the tours you have taken how much time on the average do you actually spend on the Bus? Also do you get to find out the optional tours before you leave on the trip? We would like to do some things on our on not included in the tour. Any recommendations for places to eat on our own in Rome, Florence, Venice, Paris and London. Thanks again for your input.

You spend as much time on the bus as it takes to get to your next city. There are stops along the way for some sightseeing but most bus days are pretty much all day.The bus will stop every 2 hours to use the vacilities.You are,after all traveling between 300 to 425 miles a day.Globus is good about taking some back roads so you can see things along the way.On the one night stops it is common to get to your hotel at 6 to 7:30, eat dinner at 8 or 9. Suitcases must be outside your door the next morning at 6:00 am,have breakfast and back on the bus again by 7:30. The places that you stop for just one night are a blur by the end of the tour.On the upside you do get to see alot in a short period of time.Isn't there some old joke about "it's Tuesday,we must be in Rome"?
Anyway I am sure you could get some idea of the amount of time on the bus by going to "mapquest" and putting in your 2 cities and "get directions" and it will tell you how long it will take between the 2 places.Figure in the places you stop for sightseeing,usually an hour or 2 and a lunch stop,another hour and you shoiuld get a pretty accurate picture of your bus time.
I use the"tripadvisor" web site for restaurant ides and other plans on my own when traveling..If you look at the Globus web site there will be information on every place you will stop to see.
If the iternary says visit,you stop,if it says drive by, you drive by.Maybe stop long enough for a photo.
Yes ,you should be able to get a list of possible optionals but not ALL optionals are always offered. That decision is up to your tour director. There has been several posts on here about optionals and the same optionals are usually offered in each major city no matter which tour you are on so you could do a search on here for that information.Considering this is a "family" tour there might be some optionals that will be offered that are not on the normal tours.I don't know what makes a family tour a family tour.
I have an excellent travel agent from affordable that gets me the information on the optionals.

If I remember correctly, in the cities where there was only a one night stay, the dinners were included. Didn't really care for the food in London, but did find a nice inexpensive "local" restaraunt there.. ..it was in the theater districe but can't remember the name of it.. ..found it in one of the travel books like Rick Steves. Lots of places to eat in Rome and Paris so it's really a matter of what your budget allows.. ..don't expect friendly service like we have here at home!! The different atmospheres are all part of travelling abroad so enjoy!!

I didn't realize how much time would be spent on the bus. I took your advice and went on mapquest and got a decent idea of the travel times. It was a little longer than I expected. My kids are good at keeping themselves amused on long car trips so I think they'll be okay. We had a limited amount of time and wanted to let the kids see the most things. That's why this tour appealed to us. I used to be a Flight Attendant 22 years ago for a charter airline and have traveled extensively through Europe. If it had just been just my husband and myself I would have been fine doing it on our own. But because we are with the kids we wanted to play it safe. Are the areas where The hotels that Globus put you in okay to wander around by yourselves? I heard that some of them are a little out of the way. We are thinking of going to Rome a day ahead of time so that we can do some things on our own. Any reccomendations that are not included in the tours? How much time do you get to spend at the vatican with Globus? Maybe we will go there to see it more extensively than on the tour. Also my kids were interested in visiting the catacombs. Has anyone done this?
Thanks for you help.

The hotels on our tour were all in safe areas of the cities. The one on Rome was near the central station, not convenient to the Vatican. Our tour of the Vatican provided plenty of time to see it all. Getting to Rome a day early is a good idea. We were there a total of 5 nights and still missed some sights. I regret not going to the Pantheon.. ..it wasn't part of the tour and should not have missed it! Maybe next time!! Starting in Rome is good, too, because the cities get better from there on!

I agree with Richard,spend some extra nights in Rome and in London if you have time. I have been back to London 4 times now and there are still things I have not seen..There is much to see and you can get an idea what the tour includes and visit the other attractions that you would otherwise miss.
Any Globus hotel I have ever stayed in has been in a neighborhood that was safe to walk around in. Europe is generally speaking much safer then the cities in the US with a much lower crime rate and very few violent crimes.Look on www.tripadvisor.com to get ideas where the hotels are. Once you know the location it is fun to plan your other activities. Tripoadvisor also rates all the hotels and you can map them too.. .
Have fun planning.

You asked if anyone has done this tour.. .. . We are doing it in July.. .

We are 6 people. 2 adults 4 young ladies with the youngest being under 18 (17) which is why we were able to book the Family vacations.. . Main difference other than there being children on the trip ( all over age eight ) , is that ALL hotels have swimming pools which we like to do even for a quick dip after a day of sightseeing in the summer.. .. . this tour is the same itinerary as ESSENTIAL EUROPE w hotels being different.. . We are sooooo excited!!

We are going in July also. We too are very excited. We are a family of four. A 16 year old boy and a 12 year old girl. Perhaps we are on the same tour. My daughter will love the fact that the hotels all have pools. Thanks for your info.

We are going on the July 22 departure with one pre night in Rome ( 7/21) & one post night in London.. .

what departure date are u folks on??

We're on the same tour. We also opted for one pre-night in Rome, but not a post night in London. Have you taken a globus tour before? We haven't but have heard great things about the company. we have been researching info for things to do on our extra time in Rome. I also have some family in Rome who I have never met who we might try and see. Do you have plans for your extra time? We are also trying to get info on the optionals that Globus offers in each country. I guess we will be meeting in July.
Looking forward to it. Sounds like two of our kids will be close in age. It should be fun.

The Globus website in Australia has the Optionals posted for most of the tours. Don't know why they don't on the US site. Anyway, try going to www globus com au (put in the periods in the web address where I have spaces). . Once there, point to the big blue tab that says "Our Tours" and click on Specialty. Then you can select the Family Vacations and find the one you are interested in. Once you click on your tour, then you should see a tab that says Optional Tours. This will at least give you an idea of what you might be offered. The tour that I took did not offer all that were in the travel documents we received. I think it's up to the Tour Director to select from the list. But, you can get an idea. HTH.

Got back from the Globus Family tour From the Coloseumn to Big Ben 2 weeks ago. Here is a review of our trip. I was traveling with my husband and our two teenage children and this tour sounded interesting because my travel agent said that it was geared for families. She said that there would be activities especially for them. She also said that this was the first year Globus was trying this tour. In order to take the tour you had to have at least one member in your party under the age of 21. Well there were certainly kids on our bus-22 of them. By the way they all got along great. The people in our tour group were a very friendly bunch and we had fun getting to know them. All of the hotels also had to have pools. But aside for that there was nothing on this tour geared for kids. It was the same as The Essential Europe tour that Globus offers. With the exception of a few things the tour was great and we all had a wonderful time. Globus just needs to work on a few things if they are going to sell this as family friendly. One of the two major complaints on the bus was the location of the hotels that Globus put us up at. All of them with the exception of Switzerland was located very far from the main center of each city. This made it very difficult and expensive to get around. The second main complaint was the included food. The welcome dinner in Rome was very nice but we were all sad that there was no farewell dinner. Most of the other included meals were pretty bland food. Also in a tour that was supposed to be catering to children we were surprised that there was no choice of selection , not even for the kids. A little hard to convince kids that a typicial Suise meal is curried chicken or catfish- yes- that was our dinner in Switzerland. Globus has to offer the kids something- and it doesn't have to be chicken nuggests . . Just give them a little bit more of a choice. Aside from that and a few other things we had a great time. The optionals that were a big hit on our tour were The trip to the glacier on Mt. TItlis and the riverboat cruise on the Thames. Globus has a good idea with this family tour concept they just need to work on it a little. I'll be happy to answer any questions anyone might have about the trip.

* This was posted for kmicha *

Greetings everyone, we also just returned from the Globus Colosseum to Big Ben Tour. We met many new friends on the tour including the Mcsherry family who has posted comments here.

I just want to say that overall we enjoyed the tour although it was at a grueling pace and as a family tour we feel it would be hard on children. Gayle and I took 4 girls from 17 to 23 and it was tough on us so imagine young ones. The itinerary was good and we enjoyed the places we visited. Our main tour guide Hannie was outstanding and made everyone feel like we were a family. She was informative and funny. I think we were all very sad to see her leave us in London. All the guides were well informed and did a good job; some of course were more colorful than others. There were some down sides to the GLOBUS tour and they were as follows: Locations of the hotels were horrible with the exception of Switzerland. In Rome for example it cost me $20. .00 every time I left the door to get anywhere, and $20. .00 to get back. The hotel was nice, but as we were trapped miles from anything you were limited to get whatever you wanted from the hotel. They had no vending machines and if you wanted anything at all you had to go to the bar or the restaurant which was only open certain hours. If you wanted snacky things for your kids forget it, they did not exist. I purchased 4 small plain personal pan pizzas and some cokes when we arrived. It was $120. .00 plus the service charge for room service. One night I purchased a mixed drink in the bar while talking to another guest, It was $35. .00 for a small drink! PLEASE charge me $3. .00 for a small bottle of coke that cost $1. .00 at home but do not gouge me and charge $7. .50!!! I was already losing money in the Euro dollar exchange. I felt that GLOBUS should not have allowed this disgusting gouging practice by the Hotel Pamphille after all I paid a lot of money for this tour and did not expect to be further bludgeoned over the head by these hotel people.

The hotels in general were satisfactory except air conditioning they all were poor functioning except the Hilton Metropole in London. The pools were kind of a joke too, I mean you are out all day, it is hot, you are weary and your kids want to hit the pool, Sorry they close at 8:00 pm. Most of the dinners were at 7:30, which was after you just got in at 6:30. Did anyone ever use a pool? The only reason we had an opportunity is we arrived a day before the tour and stayed a day after the tour ended. Otherwise even when we traveled the pools were closed when we arrived. Why do these people close a pool at 8:00pm at least make it 10:00 pm? I think everyone enjoyed our hotel in Switzerland; it was the ONLY hotel you could walk outside and be in the city, although small, at least you could walk around, shop, and look in windows. Hotel locations in general were distant from anything. In London the Metropole was in what I saw as an unsafe area for most Americans. My family walked a mile or so before we even saw someone who resembled a Brit. I would have never walked outside the hotel at night, even to walk around the block. I felt the neighborhood was unsafe.
Enough on accommodations! Now on to food.. .. . The night we arrived we had a nice dinner at Quo Vadis our welcome dinner. This was nice although there were really no choices given they just brought out Veal which I do not eat nor does my family. The people were accommodating and did bring us chicken and pasta which was great. This was no doubt the best of the provided dinners we received. I am happy to say we went out several times to eat so we could enjoy the taste of the region. The dinners provided were very limited and there were really no choices for children, and this was a family tour. Food was bland and most of the time looked like it was cafeteria food just thrown in a serving dish. Personally I could not eat most of it. One thing that really hit me was Switzerland, loved the town, loved the hotel and people but after traveling all day to get there and to sit down to CURRY chicken was pretty disgusting. I know everyone else felt the same. This was not a typical Swiss dish, what really happened was that there were several Globus tours there with several bus loads of Indian people. We got what they got! This was not very nice of Globus. Personally I paid a lot of money for this tour and expected dinners for us not to get leftovers from another ethnic group. I have a business in India, but the food is spicy and not for most people. I expected to be treated as a tourist in our own right and served proper food.

Breakfast were horror stories, powdered eggs, soupy and nasty everyday and almost raw bacon, If it wasn't for some fruit and croissants I would have starved. We were always told Europeans do not cook breakfast, hey how difficult is it to fry an egg?
That was a poor excuse and because we were all Americans (and Aussie's) GLOBUS should have provide us with normal food for the group. It really just reflects they did not go out of their way even a little bit. I was even surprised they did not have something as simple as pancakes or waffles, or French toast-even in France! heheehe. Live and learn.. .. . The only decent breakfast were in England, at least there they would cook you an egg. On the upside Rome was historical and scenic, I would have like to have had a little longer time to see more of Florence, and all I saw was a museum and the leather shop. We were there for a short time. The Venice tour was fun, and probably the best part of Italy to us, at least there was a mix of people, shopping and the Gondolas!!! Grazie (Prego). . Scenery was amazing, architecture was to marvel at. On to Switzerland-easily our favorite-magnificent scenery and Mt. Titlus was the best. The air was fresh and clean. Lucerne and the other stops were fun and everything in Switzerland was clean and people were courteous. Shopping was a pleasure, prices were fair and we were not limited to the tourist areas where they just sell souvenirs. The dollar was favorable there. A US dollar was worth $1. .20!!!
Next to Paris. Paris is Paris always a beautiful city and you can never get tired of seeing the architecture. We went to the Eiffel tower the first night to see it lit up and be there when it sparkled.
The sight is breathtaking. During the day it was fantastic but there is nothing like the views at night. I am glad we went both night and day. The Louve was nice and certainly something to see. The Seine cruise was relaxing and scenic. We were let down that the day we arrived in Paris, the stores were closed. The next day when we had some free time my ladies (5 of them) all wanted to shop in Paris for clothes and things. Unfortunately the GLOBUS people had not informed us until we arrived that the tour de France race was on and the city was basically closed for the day. What a let down, Travel all the way to Paris and no one could shop except to buy some T shirts from a street vendor.
The whole tour missed the Champs de Lieze experience. Sitting at a cafe on the street watching people drive around the Arch de Triumph and the shopping. Personally I do not believe that GLOBUS was unaware of this, after all they are a tour company and are in Paris daily, are you telling me they did not know the Tour de France was going to be going on during our stay. My girls were devastated at no shopping and I personally think Globus owes us all a partial refund for this blunder. We did go to Moulin Rouge one evening for those that went they know how fantastic it was, It was worth every cent. The next day we took the bullet train to London, a great experience and a smooth ride.
Very relaxing. London was great to see and even though the exchange rate of 2 for 1 was bad for us we enjoyed the city. The hotel location was bad but we like seeing the sights. Our London tour guide was a British Gent and added flavor to the experience.
After a full morning of seeing sights we returned to the hotel with 30 minutes to eat and get ready to head off to Windsor Castle.
Unfortunately the hotel only had a snack bar with three young people working. With approx 50 people in out group and several more tours in house the place was a beehive. We went to the snack bar as they had no daily restaurant in the hotel and found they had no food. They were sold out. There were only a few things already prepared like salads that we could get. That was a real GLOBUS blunder. These poor clerks had to fend off a lot of hungry, hot, tired people. They were nice and helpful but said GLOBUS knew the situation and NEVER prepares the tourists for this. Ohhh and the Globus office was only 15 feet from the snack bar. How is that for planning? / We did not go on the Windsor tour because of this. I filed a complaint and asked for a refund for this portion of the optional tour. I still have not received a reply or a refund. We ended up taking the TUBE (subway) and going to Piccadilly Circus, there we ate and shopped and walked. We rode a British bus and even went to do the London eye, which was fantastic. On our own we had a better day. On our last day we took the tube again and went to Carnaby street for shopping everyone had a great time, we ate fish and chips in a British pub and shopped some more. We took the tube again to another area, got out and took and English Taxi to ABBEY ROAD. It was great to see the studio and the famous road crossing- Of course we took pictures of the girls crossing like the Beatles. Then we Took a Taxi back to the hotel. Our last night we went to see the play WICKED, that was the greatest, we saw Harlan and his family there and a couple of other fellow tourers. The show was fun and a highlight of London. We do wish they had a farewell dinner as well, we missed seeing our friends and many left before we could say goodbye. The last day of the tour we did see a few of our new friends at breakfast, but most had left for the airport. The last day we just enjoyed the city and relaxed before we came home. Overall we enjoyed the tour but it was far from Perfect and GLOBUS lacked some planning. I do not think I could recommend this to a family as a tour as it really did not cater to any children whatsoever. I would have to really think before I ever did a GLOBUS TOUR again. I must say Affordable tours did a great job for us and everything they said they would do, they did. They performed 100%. . We would book through them again.

I do not want anyone to get the idea I was soured on the tour but this is a feedback forum and people should know what to expect when they are spending their money. We loved the people we met, and that was an enjoyable experience in itself.

God Bless everyone and so long.. .. .
Ken, Gayle, Sarah, Shelby, Raechel, and Chelsey.

Ken and Gayle, thank you for your comments. Several things stand out from your report.

1. When you travel to Europe on a tour, do not plan on using hotel swimming pools.

2. When you travel to Europe on a tour, do not go in the summer when it is so crowded with other tours. Go in September or October when it is less crowded, the temperatures are cooler and the kids are back in school.

hi Max & thank you for your comments.. . we chose the family tours because it WAS summer & we knew it would be hot & the hotels have pools.. .. .. . not everyone has the luxury to choose exactly when they can tour (SEPT/OCT). .. . We were traveling w 4 daughters with all starting school in august.. . one in high school, 2 in college, and one in law school.. .. .

This is essentially the same itinerary as the ESSENTIAL EUROPE tour w different hotels.. .. . If we had known that there would be NO TIME to use the pools at all.. .. . then we might have considered a different tour based upon hotel location.. . thats all!!!

Plus we were not thrilled with not being able to shop in Paris at all.. . and the included meals were fair at best.. .. . However with all that said.. . we have GREAT memories, we had ALOT of FUN and.. .. .. .. .. .. .. . we never would have been able to see so much in so little time as we did.. . In general though, anyone booking a tour should kow that its a marathon w real early mornings.. .. . I really did not know that & noone told us!!

Max,
They took their kids with them,that is why they took the tour they did.You are going to Eastern Europe soon aren't you?

GEC659

I did post on here what a marathon it is to take a tour that only had 1 night stops before Lorraine took the tour but you must not have seen it.My post and Richards are on the first page of this thread. We both warned about the fast pace of this tour!!!
I took exactly the same type of tour with several 1 night stops my first trip to Europe in 2003 and I was absolutely worn out. Will never do that again and I have said that MANY times on these boards!!!
A tour that only has 1 day in each place is very tiring which is exactly why I now either do a river cruise and take my hotel with me or I book tours that have 3 days in each city.
I also now enjoy traveling to Europe with DH on our own.
Now at least you can identify the places you want to return to.

Letsgo, I guess noone listens to what we say!! I've written several times about the fast paced tours! Also, you know in advance how many nights will be spent in each city and should not expect to be able to "sleep in"!!! I wish there were more leisurely tours!

Yes I do read what is posted on the this site. However there was no information on The Family Geared (as we were told) tour From the Colosseumn to Bg Ben Tour so we really had nothing to judge from. Those of us with children who have no choice but to travel in the summer know that it will be hot and crowded. We were told it would be fast paced but when a tour is aimed especially for children (at least that is what Globus said, then certain considerations should be made for them. Some choice of food is one of them. By the way our tour director stated specifically that the hotels were chosen because they had pools and that they were supposed to have set up time everyday for the children to be able to unwind for at least an hour to swim. While I well know that you don't take a tour of Europe to use the swimming pools., when you are on tour with 22 kids in 100-105 degree heat everday in Italy it would be nice for the kids to be able to cool off a little bit. I was on the same tour as well with Ken, Gayle and their daughters as well as some really nice other folks and despite the fact that we really felt very rushed in some places and didn't always get to do all the things we wanted, and that the included food in some places was just plain horrible everyone behaved quite nicely and went along with the flow. For a tour with 22 kids it was amazing how agreeable they actually were. But like I said before , despite some glitches we had the vacation of a lifetime

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Yes I do read what is posted on the this site. However there was no information on The Family Geared (as we were told) tour From the Colosseumn to Bg Ben Tour so we really had nothing to judge from. Those of us with children who have no choice but to travel in the summer know that it will be hot and crowded. We were told it would be fast paced but when a tour is aimed especially for children (at least that is what Globus said, then certain considerations should be made for them. Some choice of food is one of them. By the way our tour director stated specifically that the hotels were chosen because they had pools and that they were supposed to have set up time everyday for the children to be able to unwind for at least an hour to swim. While I well know that you don't take a tour of Europe to use the swimming pools., when you are on tour with 22 kids in 100-105 degree heat everday in Italy it would be nice for the kids to be able to cool off a little bit. I was on the same tour as well with Ken, Gayle and their daughters as well as some really nice other folks and despite the fact that we really felt very rushed in some places and didn't always get to do all the things we wanted, and that the included food in some places was just plain horrible everyone behaved quite nicely and went along with the flow. For a tour with 22 kids it was amazing how agreeable they actually were. But like I said before , despite some glitches we had the vacation of a lifetime