Exploring Italy with Trafalgar — An Inexperienced Millennial's Opinion
By: Tiara Keller
Tags: Trafalgar, Italy, Vacation, Travel, Europe

As a young twenty-something, I made it a goal of mine to travel more with my husband before we start having children. I grew up in a small town, like small as in a population of 700 residents, and the furthest I had ever traveled was to the Bahamas on our honeymoon cruise. I have always had a hankering to explore and learn but traveling abroad presented itself to me with a lot of anxiety and unknowns due to my inexperience. I told myself that everyone has to start somewhere, right?

Thinking long and hard about the highlights I had on my mental ‘bucket list’ and where I could go to experience the most in one place, I quickly and easily decided that Italy was where I wanted to go first. Ever since I was a little girl I had always wanted to take a romantic gondola ride in Venice, who the heck doesn’t? Italy is also full of many famous historical sites, such as the Colosseum and the Leaning Tower of Pisa, that I was just dying to lay my eyes on! I’m not a big art fan but I knew I could not resist bypassing some of Michelangelo's most famous works. There was so much I wanted to see and experience but then reality set in. Italy is obviously a country and all of these things I wanted to see and experience with my husband were spread out in different towns and locations. How could I afford to see and do it all? How could we do all of this without becoming stressed beyond measure? We knew we couldn’t take more than a week or two off from work and it appeared we would need a month to see all of this on our own. I convinced the logical side of my brain that this dream was unrealistic and I grew dismayed.

For whatever reason the small part of me that is whimsical got bored one day and started googling various Italian vacation packages. THIS IS WHEN I FIRST DISCOVERED TRAFALGAR! My hope returns as I research their Italian Holiday trip. WHY HAD I NOT HEARD OF THIS COMPANY BEFORE?!? This was a seven day escorted tour that included every highlight on my Italian bucket list and more. I told my husband about it and within a week we were putting money down to reserve our spots.

We had a BLAST on our Trafalgar Italian Holiday! I would not change anything about it. It was a stress free, memorable, fast-paced, organized, and fun way to experience the highlights of Italy with very educated local guides. We skipped the lines at tourist attractions and didn’t have to worry about transportation or airport transfers. All we had to do was make sure we were up on time to meet our fellow travelers each morning in the hotel lobby to board our bus for the day’s adventures. Hassle free! Was it odd to travel along twenty complete strangers? No, not really. We were all there for the same purpose and you only intermingled as much or as little as you wanted. You spent a lot of time traveling together and following an itinerary, but there was also plenty of free time to go explore independently. I feel like this type of trip could accommodate any personality or age to ensure a great experience. I have been recommending this company to all of my family and friends. I am sure to be a repeat guest as they do tours all over the world! Looking back, I couldn’t imagine trying to do Italy in seven days any other way.

Posing in front of our trusty tour bus

Florence

Pisa

Venice

Rome