The Rick Steves Tour Reunion: Welcome to the Party

Photo Credit: Tour guide and guidebook researcher Trish Feaster (The Travelphile)

For the last 23 years, I’ve thrown a big party every winter for everyone who has traveled with us over the previous year. We fill my old junior-high-school gym with tables and balloons, and pack in hundreds of people for five big Rick Steves’ Europe Tours reunions over two days.

This year’s party was the best and busiest yet. 1,500 tour alums traveled from across the USA and Canada to reconnect with their travel buddies — and they were joined by more than 140 of our tour guides, who we flew in from all corners of Europe.

It’s always a thrill to look out over the busy scene and watch old friends gather to swap stories, share travel memories, and dream of future adventures together. I have so much fun getting to know everyone — especially the many alums who come back for more and more tours. (Almost half of the people who travel with us have already been on at least one Rick Steves tour, and many have taken a dozen or more.)

 

This year, we set up a selfie station — and it was a big hit. (Photo Credit: Tour guide Mine Karahan Taner)
We flew in tour guide David Tordi’s band Bartender from Italy to add a bit of musical fun to the festivities.
A big part of this annual event is Test Drive a Tour Guide, a daylong series of talks that give our travelers the chance to learn more about our itineraries. We live stream several of these presentations as they happen — or you can watch them on demand anytime on Facebook. I enjoyed talking up our Italy tours on the main stage with an auditorium full of travel dreamers.
Want to be part of the fun? We’ll be doing it all over again next winter for everyone who travels with us in 2019. 

 

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