Oh to be young and not bothered by reality

[tenaya]

There are a couple of under 30 year olds at work that got a cheap airfare to Europe and are currently planning a trip for March, and as I've just returned, they are using me as a resource. They have 17 days. Currently, they want to visit London, Paris, Berlin, spend 4 days in Koblenz visiting relatives, Venice and Rome. And maybe either Innsbruck or Salzburg. Oh, and they don't want to spend more than a $1000, each.

They make me want to run screaming from the room.

I've explained that they will end up "seeing" nothing at that speed. The girl explained to me that one could see everything worth seeing in London in a day. She was lobbying to ditch Paris from the plans as all it had was the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, and she'd seen the Mona Lisa and it wasn't very interesting so unless you *liked* art, there was really no reason to take the time to visit Paris.

"Speechless" pretty well summed up my reaction.

Comments

[sg1scribe.livejournal.com]

With that attitude, you'd be doing us Brits a favour by telling her not to bother coming to London at all.

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

London is my favorite major city and to hear it dismissed like that
was unbelievable. I did actually suggest that maybe while they were still at Heathrow, it might to better to simply get on with the main part of their trip and make a connection to Europe. I keep telling them they need to prioritize about what is really important to each one of them.

I am reminded of a Yosemite Park ranger who, when asked by a tourist who only had an hour to sightsee, what would he suggest to do, he replied he would simply sit down and cry. I feel that way about London; if I was given only one day, why bother?

Sure, they sound like twits...

[sherrold.livejournal.com]

but there's something to be said for the "sampler tour" concept -- get a quick feel for a bunch of places, and figure out which ones are worth a real return trip. I love Spain now, and have returned many times, but the first time I was there, I literally had 1 day in Barcelona and a day in Madrid. But it was enough to hook me.

(rereading) Wow, everything worth seeing in London in a day. okay, you're right, that's insane!

Protecting them or protecting Europe?

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

I actually am trying to steer them into joining a tour that will hit some of the cities they think they want to see. That way, it will be structured and they won't end up fighting with each other over their unrealistic expectations that won't be met, and a majority of their costs will be set. And, frankly, when folks are in a tour, they interact almost exclusively with their leader and the other members of the tour and not with the natives. *I* get offended listening to them, so I can just imagine what the reaction will be when they are traveling without any buffers in all those countries.

I would love to visit Barcelona and Spain. Maybe next trip.