Our Amazing Adventure!
We're John and Wendy, and we took the 8 day Rick Steves Best of Munich, Salzburg & Vienna tour. This was our first tour with Rick Steves, and we couldn't be more excited! After watching every episode of "Rick Steves Europe" during lockdown, we became true devotees in Rick's style of travel.
Neither of us had ever been to Germany or Austria, but Wendy has ancestors from the region. Being inspired more and more by every episode we watched, we finally thought to try it for ourselves, and see if we liked this form of travel in person!
Come along with us as we map out our adventure, and share our experiences as first time Rick Steve's Tour members.
About us
We're the McConnells! We've been married for over 28 years, we have 2 adult sons, and our daughter is finishing her senior year in high school. We have a small "zoo" back home, with 3 dogs, 3 cats and a guinea pig!
I'm John, I'm a Visual Effects artist. (A nerd that works with computers.) I make things for movies and TV shows. I spend most of my time in dark rooms staring at computer screens making magic for the movies. I'm a HUGE Disney nerd and I met my wife when we both worked at a Disney Store.
I love to travel with Wendy! She gets me outside my comfort zone going on wild adventures with her!
I'm John, I'm a Visual Effects artist. (A nerd that works with computers.) I make things for movies and TV shows. I spend most of my time in dark rooms staring at computer screens making magic for the movies. I'm a HUGE Disney nerd and I met my wife when we both worked at a Disney Store.
I love to travel with Wendy! She gets me outside my comfort zone going on wild adventures with her!
I'm Wendy, I'm an elementary school teacher, and a huge travel enthusiast. I love travel, food, and exploring the world! I'm always trying to plan new adventures for me and my hubby.
Most of this scrapbook is being put together by me, (John) but Wendy likes to journal when we travel. I'm including pages from her journal on relevant topics. If you want to read a more personable account of our trip click on the Journal entry for that day!
The Rick Steves Experience
• Rick has done it all before
Rick and his team have designed the trip to best maximize your time. His thoughtful instructions on how to get from point A to B are invaluable for navigating new places, and becoming a temporary local.
• Tour guide/s
Having an experienced guide, or in our case two, was priceless. Jana and Katja were extraordinarily knowledgeable on the locals, customs, languages and more. It made navigating a foreign country effortless. They were both fascinating to talk to during the course of the tour, and were very caring and attentive to everyone's needs. (we both felt like Jana had a very "mama-bear" sense of attitude for everyone on the tour. )
• Amazing itinerary
When Rick says the tour is the "best of" he really means it! He's done this for decades so he knows what all the hits are and and what the misses are. This trip was all hits!
• No long lines
One of the advantages with Rick's tours are that all of the museums, attractions and places we visited while on the tour already have the tickets taken care of. The advantage being, that we just show up, and Jana has our tickets ready to go, and we immediately bypass the line and head right in. It was fantastic to not have to wait in long lines at all during the trip.
• Local guides
All of the local guides that we had on the trip were amazing.
Michael, in Munich (wearing the pink shirt in this photo.) He was full of boundless energy, and was a walking encyclopedia of rich historical information. His "Other job" is working as a high school history teacher. His students must love his classes!
The second local guide was Johanna at the Trumer Pils Brewery. While beer is not something that we normally care for, her absolutely infectious personality and incredible passion for her work at the brewery made the stop incredibly enjoyable.
The second local guide was Johanna at the Trumer Pils Brewery. While beer is not something that we normally care for, her absolutely infectious personality and incredible passion for her work at the brewery made the stop incredibly enjoyable.
• Traveling with a group
Normally we travel with just the two of us, or with our kids, so traveling with a group on a Rick Steves Tour was a very different experience for us.
Any hesitations we had were quickly dispelled. Our tour guide, Jana, and our assistant tour guide, Katja were absolutely amazing.
Everyone was very nice and as fans of Rick we all had the same general vibe.
•Packing light
This was not a new concept for us, but it was to a new extreme!
Packing into a tiny suitcase and a small backpack with enough clothes and shoes for total of 10 days was a challenge. Especially since we wanted to leave room to buy souvenirs!
We managed it, and I appreciated not having to drag huge suitcases all over the place. The hotels are usually a good walk from where the bus or city transit drops you off.
• Hotels
All of the hotels on the tour were right in the middle of the action. They were all within walking distance of where we were going throughout the day. The convenience of their locations far outweighed the absence of big name hotels and accommodations.