Travel offers amazing opportunities to see the world, to experience other cultures and to broaden your horizons!  While travelling is AMAZING for you personally, it is not always so amazing for you financially.  Don’t worry…I have a scoop to share with you.  A handful of years back one of my sister’s dearest friends from college was getting married.  While planning her honeymoon a friend of hers recommended an amazing on-line travel agency.  She followed her friend’s advice and booked a honeymoon in the Greek Islands.  She was so delighted with her experience that she and my sister later booked a trip to Italy through the same company and LOVED it!  A few years after that my sister and a friend of mine used the same company to go to Greece.  Then my friend and I booked a trip to Italy last year through this agency.  So who is this mystery travel agency and why are they so great?  The company is Gate 1 Travel and they are fabulous for a multitude of reasons.  Gate 1 allows you to travel the world for far less money than you would expect.  The company offers trips all over the world which can be taken as either guided tours or else as independent vacations.  Once you have selected your destination, you choose your departure and return from a multitude of pre-set dates; I believe that Gate 1 keeps costs low by buying massive group rates which are then extended to their customers.  If you choose to take an independent vacation, then you may choose to upgrade your hotels as well as to add optional tours to your package.

Last fall I went to Italy with a friend.  With all of the options that we chose, our trip package included the following:

• Roundtrip airfare NYC-Venice//Rome-NYC
• Airport transfers
• Hotels (2 nights Venice, 3 nights Florence, 3 nights Rome)
• Breakfast Daily
• A gondola ride in Venice
• A guided day tour to Tuscany
• A guided Vatican tour
• First-class EuroRail transportation between cities

Our total cost (apart from spending while on vacation) came out to a ridiculously amazing $2,500 per person!  If this sounds crazy to you, know that a trip like this would normally be at least DOUBLE that cost!  Simply amazing!

Granted, we could have gone for even less; however, we did choose to upgrade our hotels (which I strongly recommend…if you have never been to Europe know that a four-star hotel there is something akin to a Holiday Inn in the States (enough said).  Additionally, we did upgrade to first-class on the EuroRail (another must-do…trust me…more about my HORRIFIC experience on the EuroStar between Paris and London someday… 15 years later, I am still too scarred to write about it)!  Of course we added in our gondola ride (approximately 50% off when purchased through Gate 1), our full-day in Tuscany and our Vatican tour.  Lastly, we did add in our airport transfers (another thing that I do reccommend when you are travelling internationally…we’ve all seen the film ‘Taken’).

Over the past few years, I have recommended Gate 1 to any number of my clients; they have all been happy with their experiences.  If you are looking to take a trip, be sure to check them out!

***BTW, I am NOT being paid (sadly) to write this or any other post…I just feel that this is a good company worth spreading the word about!