EF Go Ahead Tours 12+

Although the primary focus of our recent trip to Norway was to experience seeing the aurora borealis, it rained every day while we were in Narvik and Tromso the best places to see the lights. As explained many times in all the tour literature that seeing the lights is not guaranteed, one could only hope that Mother Nature would allow us to see the show but this time she decided to not participate. The good news though is that we had a fantastic time. Our guide, Atto, was excellent, always providing in depth insights to the areas we visited, always going above and often beyond what was expected and was always extremely kind and caring to a diverse group of people who all enjoyed one another’s company. We had a number of bus drivers during the 12 days of the trip and they were all excellent especially our last driver during the tour extension, Espen. All the included and optional tours were comprehensive. The local guides gave us very interesting information and a history of their local areas. The hotels were all great and often perfectly situated even if the room sizes were small in comparison to US hotel rooms but they were all exceedingly clean and comfortable with very tasty included breakfast buffets.

So even though we did not see the Northern Lights we did see and experience a lot of Norway, a truly delightful country with warm, welcoming people. I highly recommend this trip and our tour guide, Atto.

This tour was wonderful. It was the first organized tour I have taken and my first visit to Costa Rica. Saw much and learned a lot. It is impossible to pick one thing as my favorite. Our guide Alonso was fantastic. He was so knowledgeable. He shared info on environment and ecology, flora and fauna, history and culture, and the everyday life and philosophy of the Costa Rican people. It is all those things that makes it such an amazing country. He did a great job of making sure all went smoothly with a full schedule and 20 different personalities. Accommodations and food beautiful and plentiful. He also generously gave helpful suggestions to me and my friend for the days that we did a week of independent travel after the tour. He scheduled our COVID tests to accomodate our own travel dates making himself available to us as a “lifeline” even after the tour! Kudos also to Harold the bus driver. You couldn’t pay me enough to drive a bus through those narrow twisted steep roads and tight parking spaces! I strongly recommend this tour for seeing wildlife and some very amazing places in Costa Rica as well as having great first hand experiences to see and learn about many aspects of this unique country under the guidance of Alonso. Pura Vida!

GREAT trip so far!!! Tom is a fantastic tour guide!! Great weather, hotels, food, and just everything! Train had issues but Tom handled it well and helped us all to get where we needed to be. The local guides have been really good but the lady at Dublin was pretty dry. Saturday…another great day with great views. The meal at the hotel was good last night. The hotel has so much character! Tom is knowledgeable on every subject. All of our bus drivers have been fantastic…..glad they were driving and not me! I am so glad I took this tour! It was fabulous! I did miss air conditioning in the fanciest hotel but a fan made it bearable. Tom was the best tour guide ever!! Dan the bus driver was amazing at handling the Small roads! Thank you! The jaunty cars were an added plus!

The flight was good but the 6-7 hour lay over in Atlanta is a bit much especially when tired already. By the time we drive the additional way home after flights we will have been up about 24 hours. Not sure if there is anything that could have even done but the 5:00 flight would sure have been better than the 8:30. Thanks