Fish Don't See Water ~ Fun on Cote d'Azur

Travel is a school for me. I crave it and love sharing it with my family and friends. I would organize trips for my family and friends each year to different attractive destinations worldwide.

In 2009, I wanted to learn about Spain, the South of France, and Monaco, so I organized a fourteen-day trip with my family and twenty-five neighbors to explore the area. I enjoy every aspect of traveling. I want to select a destination, participate in the planning, lead the tours, and have sessions where we would reflect on what we saw and learned. I accomplished all these goals during my trip to Cote d'Azur.

I was always looking to see how I could become a better tour designer, and the trip to the Cote d'Azur was one of the best designs. The journey to Spain and France was packed full of exciting activities which represented, at that time, my best vision of a great travel experience. We would fly into Barcelona and out of Nice and spend four days in Spain, four days up in the hills of Provance, and four days on the coast with visits to St Tropez, Cannes, and Monaco.

Otherwise, we enjoyed some other fantastic highlights from observing the area through the windows of the Trafalgar tour bus, taking guided tours of Barcelona, Avignon, and Nice, and eating traditional food in each location. The wild flamenco dancing near the Rambles thrilled us; The art class in Sitges, led by a Spanish artist who said, "Don't think, just do." brought out my inner artist; Cooking and eating our lunch in a five-star restaurant near Avignon gave us some insight into French cooking. And this was not all; we had a riverboat ride from Avignon to Arles, took a bicycle tour to taste wine in the hills of Aix en Provance, and learned about the Nose at a perfume factory near Monaco.

The trip was beautiful because we all bonded over the fourteen days. Even though small groups went off to do activities like watching bullfighting in Spain or meeting with friends in Avignon, we would get back together and share information. When the trip was over, we made a photo album of the journey and had a party to celebrate our time together. The pictures I will share here will give you a visual idea of our fun. I would love to read your comments and questions.