Posted by David Porter on June 15, 2018 · Leave a Comment
Travel Tip: Headed to Europe? Consider building your trip around one of the fabulous European Summer Classical Music Concerts
As I write this article, I am listening to the 2018 Sommernachtskonzert that was just held in Vienna, Austria at the Schönbrunn Palace in the Palace Gardens on May 31st, 2018.
If you are subscribed to Apple Music, go check out the recently released album (click here). It’s full of classical music fan favorites.
We are often asked about the best time to visit various places and we’ll have a conversation about weather, crowds and such. But perhaps another exciting consideration to put into the timing puzzle are some of the amazing other experiences you might be able to build into your journey.
Carol and I enjoying a German beer in Heidelberg.
The Europeans love to hold fabulous outdoor concerts, there exist fabulous summer festivals, and of course, there is always Octoberfest if you want to drink some good beer with the Germans.
So, how does one learn about these possibilities?
Answer: go to Google and type your destination’s name plus the word tourism. I did that for Austria, for example, and found all of these upcoming music festivals in Austria (click here).
A word of caution: make certain that you find the “official” tourism website for your desired destination. Otherwise, it’s buyer beware as sneaky web dudes do all kinds of things to make themselves look official.
So, want to enjoy next year’s Sommernachtskonzert in Vienna along with a river cruise on the Danube? Well, next year the date is June 20th, click here for the details.
When you’re on an ocean or river cruise anywhere in the world, and you’re spending a night in port, do a little Google search to see if there might be something fun to do off of the ship.
And, if you’re one of those last-minute type people, just ask the ship’s concierge or cruise director for the options in port while you’re on the ship.
For more information about our travel agency services, please call Roaming Boomers Travel Services at (480) 550-1235 or use our convenient online information request (click here) and we’ll reach out to you.
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Roaming Boomers Travel Services is an Independent Affiliate of Cadence, a Virtuoso® member. CST#201120-40
Posted by David Porter on June 8, 2018 · Leave a Comment
Sailing the River Rhine in our AmaWaterways BA stateroom.
Amawaterways Ships Take Top Six Spots in Third Edition of Berlitz: River Cruising in Europe and the USA. AmaKristina Takes Top Spot Out of 320 River Ships
Carol and I sailed the River Rhine with AmaWaterways in April of 2017 on the maiden voyage of the AmaKristina. We had a blast and you can read a couple of our reviews here:
Evidently, the folks at Berlitz Travel Guides enjoyed sailing with AmaWaterways as well.
Castles on the Rhine aboard the AmaKristina
Here’s a recent press release from AmaWaterways announcing their dominance in the Berlitz ratings:
Calabasas, CA – (Jun. 1, 2018) – AmaWaterways today announced that its ships have earned six of the top ten positions in the much-anticipated third edition of the Berlitz: River Cruising in Europe & the USA travel guide. Securing this year’s coveted number one spot, due in part to outstanding cuisine and service, is AmaKristina, the namesake of AmaWaterways’ Co-Owner and Executive Vice President Kristin Karst.
For the 2018-2019 edition of Berlitz: River Cruising in Europe & the USA, author Douglas Ward, widely regarded as the world’s foremost independent authority on cruising and cruise ships, evaluated 320 river ships. AmaWaterways’ ships outranked the competition in total points covering the categories of hardware, accommodations, cuisine, service and miscellaneous, underscoring the company’s commitment to delivering the highest quality product and guest service to the market.
“On behalf of our entire AmaWaterways family, we are so incredibly thrilled to be recognized once again as a leader in the river cruise industry by Douglas Ward,” said Karst. “It is especially humbling for me as AmaKristina receives the top ranking this year. I am so proud of everything we have accomplished at AmaWaterways over the years, and I look forward to a bright future ahead, as we continue evolving our product and delivering unforgettable vacation memories to travelers from around the world.”
In the guide, which will be released in the U.S. in July, Ward applauded AmaWaterways for its top-rated cuisine and friendly guest service, stating “AmaWaterways spends considerably more on high-quality food ingredients and wine and on hotel crew service training than any other river cruise company. The company is also known to offer the highest levels of customer care and friendliness in the river cruise industry.”
Receiving the top four-star plus rating in the book were eleven ships — AmaBella, AmaCerto, AmaKristina, AmaPrima, AmaReina, AmaSerena, AmaSonata, AmaStella, AmaVenita, AmaVerde and AmaViola. AmaLea, AmaWaterways’ 20th ship, joined the fleet in March of this year and will be evaluated in the next edition of the guide. The company’s innovative and highly-anticipated new ship AmaMagna – set to debut in 2019 – is highlighted in this year’s guide as a ‘stunning, double-width rivership’ having ‘oodles of space, comfort, and pizzazz.’
For more information or to book an AmaWaterways river cruise, please call Roaming Boomers Travel Services at (480) 550-1235 or use our convenient online information request (click here) and we’ll reach out to you.
Posted by David Porter on June 8, 2018 · 8 Comments
Click for larger view.
Roaming Boomers Travel Nominated for 2018 Virtuoso Most Innovative Advisor – Cruise Sales
You know, ever since we started our travel blog in 2010, our lives have been a whirlwind of fun, exploration, and even a little recognition of our efforts along the way.
From the getgo, our travel blog zoomed to 100s of thousands of readers and when we started our travel agency in 2014, we’ve enjoyed a measure of success beyond our wildest expectations.
As near as I can tell, in just four years, Carol and I seem to be in the top 5% of all travel advisors for our annual sales volume, our travel agency won a national Trendsetter Award in 2016, last year we were awarded the #1 Viking Cruises sellers out of the 16,000 advisors in Virtuoso and we also learned that we’re #5 in the world, and this year we find ourselves nominated for the Most Innovative Advisor – Cruise Sales Award.
This latest award is voted on by the various ocean and river cruise lines. While we’re honored to be on the list of five folks, we’re facing some stiff competition from other well-known folks that have been in the industry for decades. Fingers crossed. 🙂
While awards are a very nice things and bring honor to our company, nothing brings us more honor than the weekly thank yous and thumbs up from our clients. Helping our clients with their journeys all over the world involves a lot of moving pieces. And while this honor perhaps points to our upfront marketing efforts, you must know that none of this would be happening if my bride of 32 years wasn’t able to consistently, week after week, produce happy clients who come back and refer their friends and family. This is truly a team effort.
So, thank you to those who nominated us, thank you to the 100s of thousands of you who read our travel articles, and thank you to the hundreds of you who have become our clients.
We’re honored!
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Roaming Boomers Travel Services is an Independent Affiliate of Cadence, a Virtuoso® member. CST#201120-40
Posted by David Porter on June 8, 2018 · Leave a Comment
Carol in London
Top 10 Summer 2018 Luxury Travel Destinations
Last week, we shared with you in this article the top 2018 European travel destinations for travelers who bought travel insurance from Allianz to cover their trips.
This week, Virtuoso has released their annual top ten list sharing where luxury travelers are headed for the summer of 2018 from its $40.7 billion in actual travel bookings.
Not surprisingly, European countries have grabbed 8 of the top 10 spots.
Here’s the list with links to our travel dreams planning site where you can explore the many travel options in each of the countries.
Click each of the links below:
- United Kingdom
- Italy
- Canada
- France
- South Africa
- Greece
- Germany
- Netherlands
- Ireland
- Spain
Carol and I help upwards of 500 people plan their trips each year and a great many of them are headed to these destinations.
Whether you’re looking for a European river cruise, a Mediterranean or Baltic ocean cruise, a safari in South Africa, or perhaps a fun land journey in Italy, Ireland, the UK, or Spain, we are very qualified to step alongside and help you with the planning. We’ll save you a lot of time and hassle, but we’ll bring along our renowned Virtuoso VIP perks.
To learn more about our services, or to book one of these exciting destinations, please call Roaming Boomers Travel Services at (480) 550-1235 or use our convenient online information request (click here) and we’ll reach out to you.
If you enjoyed this article, sign up for our travel newsletter to keep abreast of our best travel tips, on-location reviews, exclusive travel offers, group travel events, and much more.
Roaming Boomers Travel Services is an Independent Affiliate of Cadence, a Virtuoso® member. CST#201120-40
Posted by David Porter on June 6, 2018 · 1 Comment
Click image for Google Maps directions.
Maison Guyard, Paris: Charcuterie, Traiteur, Foie Gras
OK. You’ve got a full day of museum gawking at the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, or perhaps the Musée de l’Orangerie and the idea of a picnic lunch along the River Seine sounds like fun.
Well, you’re in luck.
A mere 10-minute walk from the Louvre (for example), across the Seine on the Left Bank is a fabulous third-generation charcuterie (meats) and traiteur (prepared foods, caterer) where you can purchase the most delightful meats and prepared foods for the romantic picnic of your dreams.
And heck, if a picnic bench on the Seine doesn’t do it for you, you’re just a stone’s throw from the world-renowned Tuileries Garden. And if that doesn’t do it for you, then I must give up.
Laurie Nourrigat
We were introduced to Maison Guyard by our lovely private-guide Laurie Nourrigat who was taking us on a very fun Baguette to Bistro: Paris Food Tour with our friends from Context Travel Tours.
Traveling through the chic Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighborhood, our walk visited a select group of specialty food shops that the Context folks have evaluated for their exceptional, artisanal wares. Once the home of the intellectual café culture of the 1950s, this upscale quartier is now known for its high-end shopping, beautiful boulevards, and most importantly, the gourmet food shops—some of which have been in the area for generations.
This is Collette with Maison Guyard (left) with Carol and Laurie in front of the shop.
Once inside the shop, Collette hauled out a local food-guide to make certain that we knew that Maison Guyard was a very well respected shop.
Collette then went on to explain the wide variety of house-made meats they prepared and behind Carol you can see one of the displays of “take-out” French delicacies. YUM!
If I’m not mistaken, I believe Collette said that the paté below was voted best in Paris. Wow, was it good!
And before we left, I grabbed a tin of duck and a tin of goose foie gras. It’s now sitting in our pantry awaiting a special occasion. I picked up the bottle of port at another little shop during our tour. I’ll tell you more about that later.
Here is a photograph of the fabulous meats, cheeses, and baguette that we enjoyed on our tour. I’ll tell you about the cheese and bread shops in other posts. For now, just know that it was beyond wonderful. I want more. NOW!
And now, you know where to go get the most delightful Parisian specialty foods for your perfect French picnic in Paris.
Stay tuned for future posts as I continue to share with you the French delights we enjoyed on our Baguette to Bistro: Paris Food Tour with Context Travel Tours.
Context has become our tour company of choice as they offer our clients and readers PH.D and MA-level scholar guides, small groups with a max of 6 people) or private tours, and thematic, in-depth experiences in some of the world’s most exciting cities. This was our first experience with Context and we were very impressed.
Up next, the fabulous century-old cheese shop where we obtained these FABULOUS cheeses. Stay tuned.
To explore other Context Travel Tours in cities all over the world, CLICK HERE.
Note: our fabulous Baguette to Bistro: Paris Food Tour was provided by our friends at Context Tours. Thanks! It was fabulous and we’ll be back.
If you enjoyed this article, sign up for our travel newsletter to keep abreast of our best travel tips, on-location reviews, exclusive travel offers, group travel events, and much more.
Roaming Boomers Travel Services is an Independent Affiliate of Cadence, a Virtuoso® member. CST#201120-40
The Roaming Boomers
