Erin on her Monograms Tour in France
On a daily basis, I get calls from clients wanting to travel to Europe. The question usually isn’t where to go, or what to see. It’s “what package fits me?” Some people like fully guided tours. On fully guided tours you cover a lot of ground, but you have a very busy schedule and not much free time. Not everyone wants to be around the same group from start to finish, and not everyone wants to visit that many cities.
For those that want some leeway and to travel independently, I always recommend Monograms. They have pre-set packages that travel on certain days, but you travel independently. Here’s what you get!
They can pick you up from the airport and take you to the hotel.
They take you from the hotel to the train station and put you on the train. When you get to your next city, there is another person waiting to welcome you as the train door opens.
In each hotel, there is a local host whom you can completely rely on. You can ask them for restaurant recommendations, directions, how to say things in the local language. The list is endless.
The hotels are nice and well located, all with en-suite bathrooms and AC.
They have included sightseeing in each city, which gives you a good overview of the main attractions.
We also do customized European vacations where we discuss an itinerary, I pull together multiple hotels and activities I would recommend, and we select a vacation plan from there. Those vacations work well for people wanting to visit very obscure, off-the-wall cities (as those aren’t typically included in Monograms packages), but there are some downsides.
Once you get to Europe, you are 100% traveling on your own.
You have to get from your hotel to the train station, find your train, then find your way from the new train station to the new hotel once you get to the other city.
If something goes wrong, you have to deal with the issue yourself.
In September, I was on the Paris/Nice Monograms tour. It was the last day in Paris and anyone on the Monograms tour was being taken to the train station to head to Nice. We were 5 minutes from the train station when one of the ladies in the group remembered she had left her passport in her safe at the hotel. The Monograms rep quickly diffused the woman’s hysteria and she got on the phone with the hotel. Long story short, as we were stepping onto the train, the rep told the woman that the passport was being shipped to Nice and would be there the following morning at the hotel lobby desk.
Very few people think they need help when traveling in a foreign country. Most people think “That would never happen to me. I never leave anything behind” or “I never get lost. I’m amazing with directions”. I don’t doubt that people could survive, but is that the point of travel? Surviving? I want to be able to kick back, relax, and enjoy the city that I’m traveling to. So, if presented with the opportunity to have a little assistance, why not take it? Monograms is just that – a little added assistance. It makes your travel seamless and it allows you to focus on the city you’re in and its culture, rather than whether or not you’re at the right train station.
Go Monograms. Relax and enjoy ![:)]()
