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January 27, 2015January 27, 2015

Our Tour Reunion Parties Aren’t the Same Old Song and Dance

In this video we see the Prague Castle Orchestra kicking off the first of six tour alumni parties that we hosted last week. About 2,000 of the travelers who joined us on our tours last year gathered here for a massing of the scrapbooks. At each party I enjoyed introducing guides who would share from their cultures. In this clip you’ll also see Federico from Madrid singing a little opera and managing to attract Concepción from Sevilla in her dashing flamenco dress. And you’ll notice how, through the language of her fan, she communicates how fast her heart is beating.

To enjoy much more video fun from our parties, please like our Rick Steves Europe Tours Facebook page (where we have lots of guide-related fun and tour-related news and tips to share).

January 26, 2015January 23, 2015

Our Guides Reveal Their Hidden Talents

Last week we hosted more than a hundred of our guides from all over Europe at our Seattle-area headquarters for a series of workshops, parties, and brain-storming sessions. A favorite night for me is when I invite all our guides over to my house. In this clip, we pack my living room to hear the Prague Castle Orchestra and enjoy two of a slew of skits from our annual guides’ talent show. First, England’s royal family drops by so the queen can knight me “Sir Steven Ricks.” Then our Scottish guides entertain with Colin of Glasgow showing off his kilt (and — spoiler alert — the Seattle Seahawks’ “12” he has lurking underneath). When the party was winding down, Josef (from the Prague Castle Orchestra) and I found ourselves jamming a bit, with him on the flute and me playing the piano (upon which I taught lessons back in the late 1970s before becoming a tour guide). For the complete royal family skit and much more, please like our Rick Steves Europe Tours Facebook page (where we have lots of guide-related fun and tour-related news and tips to share).

January 24, 2015January 23, 2015

The Rick Steves Tour Guides Disco Party Boat

If you have a lot of European friends in town in Seattle, a perfect night out is dancing in your own private party boat on the Puget Sound with a 1970s disco theme. Our tour guides emptied the shelves and shirt racks at the local secondhand shop to fashion extravagant 1970s costumes, and we had the night of our lives.

Want to see more fun photos and videos from my tours program? Like the Rick Steves Europe Tours page on Facebook!

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January 23, 2015January 23, 2015

Showing Our Visiting Tour Guides a Good Time

When you have guests visiting from Europe, it just makes sense to invite them into your home. So last Thursday night, we opened our doors to well over a hundred Rick Steves Tours guides from across Europe. Along with the party came an amazing sharing of music and cultures.

Then, on Sunday morning, we loaded our guides into old school buses and ventured into Seattle to feel the excitement of our quest for a second Super Bowl triumph. On our way to a rainy, city-wide tailgate party, we served Bloody Marys and Seahawks-colored donuts. What a memory for our guides — all of them instant Seahawks fans!

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January 22, 2015

Celebrating 2014 and Looking Ahead to 2015 at Our Tour Reunion

The annual Rick Steves’ Tour Reunion has dominated our work for the last ten days. The event is a twofer: a huge party celebrating tour members who joined us in Europe last year, and a “guide summit” with lots of strategic meetings for more than a hundred tour guides.

Last Friday and Saturday, we welcomed nearly 2,000 alums who had joined our tours in 2014. We filled a big room for six parties over two days. And with so many guides in town from Europe and across the USA, we took advantage of the opportunity to huddle before and after the parties. During the big all-guides business meeting, our homebound staff invaded the conference center and serenaded our guides with Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” (the national anthem of the EU). We also met with our guidebook research team, which includes many of our tour guides. And I took the opportunity to interview several guides for upcoming segments on my radio show and podcast, Travel with Rick Steves.

In case you missed it, here are some photos to give you a flavor of the event.

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