This particular river journey on the Seine river was touted as a trip from Paris to Normandy. That is what it turned out to be, only in reverse. That is not the problem. Everyone I talked to on the boat, The Bizet, was on the trip because they were enthralled with the fact that they were going to Normandy and experience D Day at Normandy. That is not what happened. The boat was docked at Honfluer and was a 2 hour drive by bus to Normandy. We then spent short and quick 1.5 hours at the American cemetery, a standing 1.5 hours on Omaha Beach and a quick 1.5 hours at Points du Hoc. The tide was in, therefore we were unable to see the beach as the American boys came ashore on D Day. It then took us 2 hours by bus to travel back to the boat. There are many things that were missing from this experience. At Normandy there are several museums with films and memorabilia about the D Day experience. Have a review where the parachutes landed and boys were drowned and why, Why was there flooding where the gliders landed? How about looking where the parachutist landed on the church. I would like to have a "cricket" experience at a hedge to see exactly what it was like. There are other beaches that were involved that could be experienced. At du Hoc the cliffs were so far away that they seemed to be insignificant. The trip to the cemetery was so quick that we were not able to review anything except the flag being flown. We rushed through the museum and was not able to review any of the information that was there nor were we able to take a walk through the many crosses. .
What I would suggest is that GCT make a 3 day Normandy pre trip or post trip. Also show the movies "The Band of Brothers" one evening on the boat. They need to give their travelers a real experience of D Day.

The remainder of the boat ride was OK but 40 people in a group does not lend itself to learning and discovery. Lulu did as good a job as possible but with that many people it is difficult.

This was the most unusual and beautiful scenic trip. I never realized that there were so many hundreds of miles of land that is covered in outstanding rock formations with little or no signs of civilization. It really makes me realize how very vast our country is. Be prepared to take many pictures.

I went solo and yet I met quite a few other solo women with whom to do things. The included meals were very good, except for the lunch at the Grand Canyon. I suggest Grand Circle allow us to buy our own lunch there. The breakfasts were disappointing. They felt more like fast food. I would say the hotels were 4 star, but the last hotel, Little America, was really divine and had a terrific breakfast.

The long bus rides that I was dreading, really didn't seem so long because we had lots of stops and places to visit on the way. We were continually given bathroom breaks and there was a bathroom on the bus with no way to wash your hands, however.

My tip for Zion would be to take the shuttle to any of your desired walks/hikes, but to skip the Visitor Center, which is stop #1. It took 30 minutes standing in line before we could get back on the shuttle.

Our romantic villages of the Alps trip was amazing. All of the destinations were amazing, and the historical sites and natural surroundings were overwhelmingly beautiful to the point that photos didn’t do justice for what we saw with our own eyes. All that said, it was our program director Stefan who made our trip so special. He guided our group with extraordinary attention to detail, and shared his vast personal knowledge and experiences with each destination. He also consistently went beyond expectations by adding small but meaningful stops to our tour, and made smart recommendation for restaurants and area sites for when we had personal time to explore. This was a trip of a lifetime for us, but only made so by Stefan and his all-in commitment to making sure we were fully immersed in the Alpine culture.