The Travel Department, Worldwide Escorted Holidays

Escorted Italy 1/3/2009 12:00:00 AM I have never been on an escorted holiday before and have always used, where possible, charter flights or low cost airlines to get me to my destination, so recently I decided to try out an escorted holiday, just to see what a difference it would make.
 
I contacted the travel department www.thetraveldepartment.co.uk and booked my ticket and paid a very reasonable £439 for a week in northern Italy. When you read what value I got, you will soon realise that I made the right decision and in fact, saved quite a lot of money, time and heartache.

My holiday started on a Thursday afternoon with a 4pm flight to Milan Malpensa with Aer Lingus. The flight was excellent and we landed without hitch some two hours later.  I was met in the airport by a representative from The Travel Department and directed to my coach for my transfer to Lake Garda. Once on my luxury coach, I settled in for the 3 hour trip down to Riva Del Garda. Whilst journeying toward Riva De Garda, our guide advised us of the itinerary for the week and gave us an indication of the weather conditions we could expect. In what seemed like only a few minutes we were pulling in to a service station for a good 40 minute break, plenty of time to grab an espresso coffee and some fabulous pasta and real Italian parmesan. Back onto the coach, and an hour or so later I was arriving at the Grand Hotel Liberty (www.grandhotelliberty.it ) in Riva Del Garda. I was quickly allocated my room on the first floor, no long queues for check in, I simply handed over my passport and was handed my key, as all the pre booking work had been done by the travel department.  My room was huge, with a very substantial balcony, a nice bathroom, walk in wardrobe and glorious views outside. The hotel boasts a wonderful spa and wellness centre, fantastic treatments will have you feeling a million years younger and ready to take on the vast array of shops in the town.

After a great night’s sleep, I was down to breakfast and off to explore Riva del Garda. Riva as it’s known, is at the northern end of Lake Garda, it’s a pleasant little town down by the waterfront on Lake Garda and has a quaint, middle-aged feeling to it. The town has a good range of shops, cafes and restaurants aimed at the many thousands of tourists who visit every year. The beautiful waterfront is dominated by one of Garda's fortresses, the Rocca, which hosts the town's museum. Steep tree covered slopes of the nearby mountain tower above the town, with a ruined castle and grotto to tempt the energetic walkers to say a prayer or two.

Riva is a pleasant little town and in mid November not all its shops are open but there are plenty still operating to temp a few Euro from your pockets.

I can imagine that at the height of the summer season Riva would be very crowded, so for me November is a good time to visit.  Day two I was on a guided tour of the lake. Lake Garda is the largest lake in Italy which is surrounded by high mountains, lush vegetation, and charming villages. Sitting above the lake is the imposing Monte Baldo, a large mountain which commands a majestic position over the crystal clear waters below.  A full day’s tour, visiting a few of the beautiful towns such as Malcesine and Sirmione gives you a great insight into the surrounding area and the views are sublimely spectacular. Generally on your full week’s holiday, your tour guide stays with you for the whole trip. Our guide, Laura, was absolutely fantastic. Her knowledge, wit and humour really made the trip and she added a great sense of fun to my seven days in Italy. All the other members of the party agreed she was a real star. 
Italy is blessed with some fantastic scenery and some of the finest is to be found as you approach the Alps around Lake Garda where images of the abundant flowers and trees, which cover the banks, are reflected in an ever-changing kaleidoscope of colour.  So you can see why this is a really beautiful place to visit.  Another day trip on my itinerary was to Verona.  Verona is without doubt one of the most attractive cities you will ever see and it’s appropriately well known as the setting for the legendary story of Romeo and Juliet. It has been important since ancient times and in fact has more ancient remains than any city in Italy except Rome itself. Verona is steeped in history and has some mind blowing architecture. Verona is nice and compact and if you fancy parting a few pennies on the good things in life then take a walk along Via Mazzini a pedestrian only street, for it is here that you will find some of the most fashionable shops in Italy. Not content with showing us Verona and Lake Garda, the Travel Department had also laid on a tour of Venice, well it’s a must do isn’t it?

There is no doubt all the photographs and pictures you have seen of St. Mark’s Square and Basilica, the Doge’s Palace and the Grand Canal have been simply telling the extraordinary truth that Venice is a stunning city. It’s an amazing place to visit because it’s so unusual, no cars, motorbikes or traffic. Hard to imagine that everything on the island is delivered by boat and then by foot. In this article it would be foolish of me to try and suggest what you should see in Venice because there is so much. Generally people don’t get there unless they are being escorted. So do it,  go and see for yourself it’s a truly unique place. Three day trips and three days to explore at was the perfect amount of time in Riva, my holiday at an end I had time to reflect on my week away. Was it good value? Yes absolutely, the hotel I stayed in was €120 per night for B&B. I was on half board so you can add an extra €30 for the excellent dinner I had each night, 7 nights @€150-00 per night is €1050.  Three days trips at an average of €50 euro a trip, is a further €150 then add my flights and transfer to Riva del Garda, a very conservative estimate as I booked only two weeks in advance, is a further €200-00.

So add all that up and you have a grand total of €1400-00, I paid approx a third of the price £439. Also remember if you missed your plane or it was late, or the airline would not wait for you, you would probably need to re book your flight and you might lose your hotel and holiday. Going with the Travel Department they look after everything for you. All in all I will go again with the Travel department, as I found this one of the best trips I have ever been on. Excellent accommodation great flights, trips and tour guide. Super food, great craic and a wonderful location all went to making this first escorted holiday for me a real winner.

- Tim Hedgely