TESTIMONIALS

People talk...

Hi Ivana;

Thought I drop you a quick line about our trip to Italy. The family had a wonderful time during our visit to Sicily. I want to commend you on choosing the Hotel villa Diodoro in Taormina.It was a spectacular setting and the accommodations were terrific along with the staff. I will recommend it to anyone traveling to Taormina. Once again thank you for your help and look forward to contacting you in the future for your assistance on our next travel adventure. Isaias Maldonado and all his travel companions.

Thanks!

Sent from my iPad

 

Thank you so much for a great trip! We had a great time! Everything went smoothly, except for one little snafu, which worked out ok. The island tour from Venice left at 2 not 2:30 as the voucher said. They temporarily change it for the winter season. We certainly could have made it since we were early for everything but we were just looking around and then about 2:05 we saw a boat leaving. We were able to go the next day, so it was fine. The tour companies do seem to cancel or change times if things for the winter season. We tried to do an extra evening activity in each city but because it was the winter season it didn't work out. No biggie, but thought u might want to know for future reference.

We have some friends that might like a similar trip next year. I will certainly pass along your info., along with our initial R. contact D.. I work with his wife.

Thanks again for a great trip!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

T. A. Sent from my iPhone

 

John - it could not have been a better trip- my thanks.
The hotels were great, friendly and helpful. The food at Serotel was excellent. Again all went flawlessly. I did book the hop on hop off in Paris as my feet grew very tired... a walking city huh?

I am already thinking of my next trip -Spain, Italy....won't be tomorrow but it is in my future. If you have any other questions or need some more feedback- I am not short on opinions.

I appreciate all your help,

D.

 

Hey G,

Everything was terrific. The hotel, the tours, the service. Even the Pope gave me a big smile. Lol.

Anyway, thanks again G. It was fantastic and we all enjoyed the experience tremendously.

 

I haven't had an opportunity to fill you in on our trip to Italy. It was a wonderful experience, and we are planning to go back in two years. I promised myself that I am going to learn Italian before I go next time. I knew enough words to communicate on a basic level, but I'd like to pick up more.
The Palio was an amazing event. In the event that you speak with clients that want to attend the Palio, I highly recommend it.
The rest of the trip was wonderful. The trains were a joy to use, and all of our schedules went perfectly. We were in awe when we got to Pallazzo Sant'Angelo in Venice. It was a beautiful room on the canal, and the service was impeccable. As you know, our kids surprised us with the gondola ride and dinner, and it was beautiful, something thta my wife has wanted to do for 23 years, when we last went to Venice. The Hotel Valadier in Rome was also a great find, in an ideal location, and all of the tours went perfectly.
The only downside of the trip was getting the water taxi to the hotel in Venice. Nobody was there to meet us when the train arrived, and I needed to call Acampora Travel. They mentioned that they showed up at 12:30 for us, but our train ticket had us arriving at 3:30. They couldn't send anybody to get us, so we went via vaporetto. I am not sure if they charged you for that, or they will refund, but it was a little bit of a bummer, especially since we paid for it. The return taxi was perfect. With the exception of that, everything went very smoothly. It was a great trip, and I have given your name to a few people for their arrangements. Thanks for your help.

Regards, Jim

 

I spoke with H.P. yesterday about their August trip to Italy.
Of course, they had a wonderful time.
She raved about all the transportation.
Others were noticed fluttering about in search of transfer operators, but not them.
They had no problems finding or understanding anyone.
Quisisisana was of course lovely and did accommodate with adjoining rooms.
The most amazing breakfast she's encountered anywhere.
Of course, excellent location & service.
Big highlight was the extention to Pompeii.
Guide was EXCELLENT & accommodated to keep kids occupied & everyone well informed.
Just enough time with 3 kids.
Exedra in Rome. As you probably know, Piazza Republica is a rather noisy area, but the luxurious rooms & roof top pool (used several times as weather was high 90's)
more than made up for. Although it is very easy to find.
The private Vatican tour was definately worth the extra $ with kids.
The guide, of course, very knowledgable - clear spoken & great keeping her kids engaged.
Not done w/Bella Vista, but they did do Catacombs & Appian way.
Helen said it was not creepy at all, but actually quite interesting (no nightmares by anyone).
Great city escape to recommend to clients who are strictly city bound.
Always try to share positive feedback.
Thanks again for all your help.
Look forward to the next trip together.

Grazie!
Kim

 

Thank you for wonderful planning. We had a great time. We were very pleased with the itinerary that you planned and the places and everything that you did to make this so seamless. I thought that I would share our reactions to the trip. Maybe you can use them for your next travelers:
Le Phebus in Joucas - WOW!! Perfect except that we got very spoiled with the room. The upgrade was worth every penny. The hotel's chef is a Michelin one star rated and the food and views were to die for. We ended up here for dinner 2 of the 3 nights. Joucas is a beautiful little town and Gordes is not far away. We also visited Hotel La Bastide which also seemed spectacular, but we were happy where we were.
Le Mas in St Paul - very nice, but we were very spoiled with Le Phebus so it suffered a bit from that. St Paul de Vence and the next town Cagnes Sur Mere are both really worth the visit.
Corsica: Really special. They say that they almost never see anyone from the US, but we liked it much better than the Rivera since it is so beautiful and almost untouched - the mountains and the beaches are spectacular. It seems that many people take the ferry from Italy to get there.
Arena de Refuge in Corte: Nice and clean with beautiful views. Just what we expected. 2 nights were perfect.
Hotel Eden in Serriera: Very nice 4* hotel within a 10 minute walk from the beach with dramatic views of the cliffs. We could have easily stayed here for 3 or 4 days.
Relais de Saleccia in St Florent - my choice was a loser (you definitely are better at this than I am!!) We only stayed one night and then the next morning, we knocked on doors in St Florent and found a spectacular place called Hotel La Roya which is right on a sandy beach with views of the town and the yachts. The town was within walking distance and was very quaint with lots of good restaurants. Lots to do here and we could have stayed for 3 to 4 nights.
Hotel Lotti: WOW. Wonderful old style hotel in a fabulous location. We loved it. My only recommendation is to request a "nonsmoking" room when it is booked (they only have a limited number). The room reeked of smoke and not much else was available. Other Americans complained about the smell too.
Thank you very much. We can't wait to see what you can do for our next vacation.
Sincerely, Jean

 

Ciao Ivana
Italy was AMAZING !!!!! We had the Best time and Lorenzo is the BEST !!!!! We all said that Lorenzo really made our trip so wonderful. We all want to go back but only if we can have him as our driver. There was not one thing to complain about. All the tours were great, the food and wine delicious, scenery so beautiful, and the best tour guide ever !!!! I can't wait to talk to you. Have you talked to Lorenzo yet? I hope he had a good time with us. When he left us and we said our good byes, my father and I had tears in our eyes. I think that my father really bonded with him. We all loved the wine tours and that restaurant Il Latini in Florence was to die for - the food was amazing. Everything was just fabulous !!! We can't thank you enough for putting together such a memorable family vacation. I took over 700 pictures !!!!! I think that we will be calling you to put together another trip to Italy. Please give our love to Lorenzo if you talk to him and tell him that we all miss him. I will talk to you soon.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU !!!!!!!!
Janine

 

Hi April,
I just wanted to pass along to you the email that I received from Young.
They loved their Honeymoon, and especially The Minerva.
They loved the transfers, the excursions and the hotels.
This was one of those bookings that was an easy one.
Lets hope we get a few more just like them!
By the way, are there any Italy Tourist Board Trade-show's coming up in the greater NY/CT area?
I have not been to one in a couple of years.
Please let me know if you hear of one.
Thanks, Liz

 

Hello, April,
I was away for family business in Tennessee but had wanted to email you and tell you our Egypt people came in the day I was leaving and had an absolutely fabulous time. They were SO pleased with EVERYTHING and could not stop talking about how wonderful their trip was. They had fabulous pictures. Their guide was awesome - even arranged for them to get prime seats for Aida last night show! They want anyone and everyone to go to Egypt and plan on telling everyone how wonderful it was. They said if anyone wants a recommendation to just call them! They also said they were planning on filling out your survey - their guide and Adam Travel were excellent.
Thank you so much. It is wonderful when clients come back so enthused about their trip. I sincerely appreciate all your help with the arrangements. Hope to work with you again soon!

 

Hi Debbie,

Thanks for the email - sorry I didn't get back to you the other day.
We had a WONDERFUL trip and were very pleased with the tour guides - they were two brothers - Giuseppe and Lorenzo - who just did a fabulous job, took our religious concerns into consideration very well, and were very personable.
I was also impressed with the flights - my experience with Alitalia in the past has been, at best, adequate. This time around they seemed to be much more customer oriented.
Our hotels did pretty well, too. Good breakfasts, hot water, very clean, good location.
All in all, a very good trip. People are wondering where we're going next!
Thanks again for your time and patience. We'll probably be in touch again at some point.

Fr. Szydlik

 

Hi Marco,

We want to thank you for making our vacation to Italy a sensational journey! First, your expertise about Italy was beyond expectations. As we started our time with you in Rome, you obtained the most wonderful luxury hotel with customer service that pleased everyone. Your tours brought the city to life with history shouting it's glory. At night you dazzled us with dinning with gourmet food and entertainment from the opera houses of Rome. Our time in Rome was fantastic and with your knowledge and the knowledge from the tour specialists in certain areas just added to our joy.
You planned for us to visit towns and cities along our travels. We visited churches, bakeries, boutiques, and street merchants in Guardino, Ferrara, Assissi, and Verona. These visits brought us into the life of Italy and her residents.
We watched everyday life in areas different from the main tourist areas. We loved the cafes, the delicious baked goods and of course, the shopping of local and native products.
Florence is the city of a glamorous venue. Our hotel was one that royalty might stay. The large decorated rooms had elegant Italian lighting and furniture. Florence was so delightful and our restaurant staffs were so eager to please from our morning breakfast to our festive dinners. Thank you for taking us on an extra afternoon tour in Florence. You had so many details to take care of but you only thought about us and the fun and information you could pass on to us.
Your knowledge about the food; the delicious bread soup and your knowledge about wines from Italy sent us home with a lot more to be grateful for.
Venice, WOW!! Venice was truly beautiful with its originality. Again, the hotel was spectacular as it was in the perfect location on the Grand Canal. The restaurant location was romantic with our seats facing the canal with the evening lights glowing. The visit to the Venice glass company was entertaining and educational as we were able to watch a glass blower create beautiful pieces. Shopping in Venice was great, the tours in Venice were incredible and the gondola rides you set up for us were so special and breathtaking. Marco, you were always there to make sure everyone was satisfied and happy.
It's Fashion Week in Milan and we arrive! Milan is a fast-paced dynamic city and we were there to enjoy the excitement and history of that fine city. Having tents all over with music playing and beautiful models moving about just brought this place more alive. We visited the famous historical sites and marveled how Milan keeps everything perfect. Our last hotel was perfect for Milan because it was ultra modern with some of the models in the hotel and all of this made it great fun and adventurous.
We loved our hotels, our glorious tours, the restaurants, the shopping and the weather but it could not have been the vacation of a lifetime without our friend forever and our tour guide, you Marco. We thank you with love for bringing us on a holiday with you in the beautiful country of Italy. It is for sure that you love Italy because you respect her treasures and help her visitors respect and love her, too.

Love,

Carol and Nelson

 

Hi Paula
thought I would give you an overview of our trip. First, it
was great and we had a great time. In general everything went very
smoothly. Paris was wonderful and as always the hotel was great. Gave
us the room we love. The Orient Express was very well done and an
experience. It was a long trip but well worth it. Venice was great and I
loved the hotel. Our room was beautiful. All the people who
transferred us were also great and very efficient. We met Giacinto for
the ride to Lake Como exactly on time. I will get back to him at the end
of the email. Lake Como (might be my favorite spot...) was amazing. The
hotel is very special. I would however ask for a suite with a balcony on
the second floor overlooking the lake. One of the problems we had in
the hotels is that they do not have "Jr. Suites" and that became an
issue for us. (Or if they do, they are not the type of room we
wanted....they rarely come with balconies etc...) We were told to just
ask for a suite with a balcony. Lugano, also wonderful and the hotel
there was very good and our room was beautiful. Bart would love to do
that again. Milan - the hotel was fabulous, but there was not much to
see there unless you had business or involved in a fashion show.
Rome....was so beautiful, but may not do it again during "Holy
Week"....it was verrry crowded. The hotel...I loved the hotel but we
were given perhaps the two worst rooms in the place. The first room had
no shower, and two small windows overlooking the air conditioning units
- the second room was bigger with a balcony and a shower but had only a
full size bed. (Bart did not love this...) I would love to go back there
and stay in one of their better rooms overlooking the courtyard or
gardens. Not sure what they charged us...- Giacinto, our driver, turned
out to be much more. He was truly great and very knowledgeable. We
felt that we were not using him enough, or that we were obliged to go on
tours. I did not really enjoy the ride from Milan to Rome - we both
would have preferred to take the train to save time etc... - his van
also was not in the best of shape, or that comfortable. Again - we felt
obliged to go on a few tours with him and I have to say, I don't know
anyone who knows more about Rome and we learned alot. But, we have both
been there a few times and would have preferred to just explore on our
own. ( I would highly recommend to him to anyone looking for guide...)
London, was great. I had them put the room request on our file....we
like the Knightsbridge Suites there on the first floor as they have a
terrace.
Hope this is helpful and we look forward to our next trip....
Cheers,
Lesley

 

Just wanted to get back to you on the trip to Italy. Everything went perfect,
Thank You for setting everything up.
Will call again next time we plan on going to Europe.

John

 

Elly,
It was wonderful! You did a great job, thank you. The Vatican tour guide was amazing, knowledgeable, friendly. It was perfect having a one-on-one guide for that venue. Pompeii was a little disappointing, as a pathologist I was hoping for more casts of the inhabitants (gross - I know). The bus ride to Pompeii was long and the seats a bit crowded for anyone over 6 ft (like Patrick). Glad we did it, otherwise I would have regretted not going. Tour company was good. Glad you set up the tours so we did not have to stand in the lines. It was perfect. Hotel was fantastic. Food was yummy! Thanks for arranging our first tour at 2 pm - very smart. With the jet lag, we slept till noon. We ended up spending our free day taking the fast train to Florence - it was fun to explore. The vacation was superb. Thanks for your help. We are talking about a possible Africa trip for next fall, so you will probably be hearing from us again.
Ciao,

Yvonne

 

Hi April,

Thank you so much for a wonderful trip to France! The Hotel Lotti continues to be terrific and they knew we wanted non-smoking, so everything was perfect. The Hotel Marine in Arromanche was spectacular!! It is an absolute gem if people want to go to the D-Day beaches. The room was smaller than at a 4 -star (as expected), but the view was to die for. We had 3 windows that opened onto a pounding surf beach and from the hotel's restaurant we watched the sun set into the ocean! It was clean and quiet and everyone was very courteous. The Hotel de Vinci in Amboise was also a great find and perfect for what we wanted to see. The hotel is new, so every room is really clean and worked perfectly. We could even walk into Amboise from the hotel and go to the Chateau Amboise without a car.

Jean

 

My family and I just returned from a 10 day trip to Italy.
We were escorted by Marco Campagna on the Florence/Bellagio
part of our trip. I just wanted to let you know that Marco did a
terrific job and truly enhanced our experience. His in depth
knowledge and selection of restaurants and sites to visit were fantastic.
In addition he has a great sense of humor and makes for a great travel
companion. We really enjoyed travelling with Marco and will surely
request his services on our next trip to Italy.
Sincerely,
George and Connie

 

Hi Luda,
Our trip went very well – thank you for asking. Our accommodations were all very nice – in fact I would describe the place in Berlin as almost luxurious (it was significantly larger than the apartment where the 4 of us lived in 2007)!
It would have been nice if the rental car office had been closer to our lodging accommodations (at that point we were in south-east Berlin/Koepenick and the rental car office was in Mitte), but that's the only thing I can think of as a suggestion for improvement. Our biggest challenge was figuring out how to drive to our hotel in Prague, and how to get out of the old town – the GPS in the car didn't have that street loaded into it, and with all of the one-way streets and construction in that part of town it was quite difficult to get there as not all of the streets were well marked on the map we had. While it was wonderful to be so close to the square and castle, I might suggest that other travelers using a car stay a little bit closer to the edge of the old town just to make arrival and departure a little easier.
All in all though, it was a wonderful trip – thank you for all of the arrangements that you made for us.
Mari

 

Hi Gina:
Thanks for the welcome home message. The trip was PERFECT !Everything went super smooth. the hotels were excellent, great locations, wonderful accomondations. The consingere's were all extremely helpful
The pick up people at the airports and trains were always there with a sign that said LASCALA, very reassuring to my husband and grandchildren, and I confess me too. No problems at the airports,.we had a wonderful time, and will definitely use your service again.
So, Gina again, thank you for your patience and helpful suggestions while I was planning this trip. It was great. The trains worked out beautifully. And the hotel at the airport great location and very modern hotel. The shuttle service , worked out great.
talk to you soon,
Dorothea