Crish

I’m loving the Stay & Explore format! No packing/repacking every other day, it’s a chance to see/learn more about it destination than just the touristic highlights. Like having the opportunity for independent meals (I’m not a fan of pre-set group meals). Hotels are exceptionally well located.

Was kept informed of order status. Timely receipt. Happy with quality - but I always have been. That's why I continue to buy from Boden.

I have travelled a lot in my life, visiting 6 continents and dozens of countries. This experience was nice but I left disappointed.
The itinerary was active and covered many miles but I felt that I was missing a lot with respect to "local color". I saw sights but but didn't learn much re Swiss culture. Our tour director was excellent re Swiss history but offered little insight as to what was happening around us - what was growing in the fields? what/where do the Swiss work? what does that sculpture or mural represent? what does a Swiss village (other than those that are tourist meccas) look like? what is that unusual building? were we eating a traditional Swiss meal? When someone asked what part of the meal at Helvetica was, the answer was "hamburger meat" - sorry guys, that's not helping us learn anything.

But most importantly - who was I traveling with? Other than introducing herself at the opening info meeting, there were no introductions of our travel mates. Why? No name tags? Why no opportunity to meet and mingle and introduce ourselves to each other? There was more than enough time. Seat rotation on the coach was not used, the explanation being that doing so few cities meant that it wasn't effective. It could have had one positive effect in that we could have seen each others' names on a rotation roster.

Some of the communication was unclear specifically re the tipping procedure and pre-paid tips. Our documents included a page indicating that we had pre-paid and that the tour director was aware and would disburse. When we questioned who was covered by the pre-paid amount, she said she was unaware of who had paid in advance and suggested we tell the the driver (and her) what we had done. Our info identified the driver as covered but did not identify the tour director. We pre-paid $152. Using your included tipping guide, tip for the tour director was $40/person and for the driver was $24/person. Who got the remaining $24?

We opted to stay in Lugano two additional days. We paid for transportation from Lugano to Milan Linate. We had positive COVID tests and were quarantined. We notified the Lugano Globus contact to cancel our airport transfer. When we received our negative test we contacted both the Lugano office and the US office for replacement flights (which were quickly obtained). We contacted the original transfer company and were told they could not provide a vehicle. The hotel arranged a taxi for us and we agreed to the 300 CHF charge. The US office told us we would be reimbursed up to $50. #! - what happened to our original payment? #2 - why is there a $50 limit when you are aware that the cost is substantially more?

I have other whines but would prefer to speak with someone if Globus is interested in listening.

I needed to contact VRBO re missing reservation info. Turns out I entered my email address incorrectly, therefore wasn't getting the response I was expecting. Service rep quickly found the problem (and didn't make me feel like an idiot}, made a correction and gave me a direct contact for the property renter. Called the renter and confirmed my reservation immediately plus had a decent conversation re her expectations and my questions. Done deal - I was happy.