Sometimes the decision to take a “big” vacation doesn’t come easily. I took my first vacation to Europe in September 2004. The planning for it actually began in 1999.

Back in 1999, I was fresh out of graduate school, trying to keep my business running. There were a lot of long, stressful days of coding and dealing with customer issues (I was running an Internet company back then). I had an idea that I wanted to take a vacation at some point and started looking at the various options. Would I travel independently or should I travel with a tour group. A tour group had a lot of distinct advantages in that I would be with other travellers and a tour guide who had knowledge of the area.

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