What I learnt from travelling about travelling (n°1)

Posted on Aug 24, 2017 in Time out to reflect

My first trip alone was in far 1996, to Paris! It was the first summer I had a salary  and few days of annual leave. I  immediately understood my “holiday time” was precious  and I had to plan the trip well. Now I’ve just returned from a a wonderful trip to Bali, where I had […]

Why we’ll never be N°1 on TripAdvisor

Posted on Mar 3, 2017 in Time out to reflect

Every traveller on planet Earth knows about TripAdvisor  and how their ranking system works: quality, quantity and “freshness” of the reviews let a business grow its popularity. We  know that too, and we came to terms with the fact we will never compete with the companies who are in Top 20 about “things to do” in Rome. But […]

Why we do NOT offer segway tours?

Posted on Sep 22, 2015 in Time out to reflect

We decided to offer you authentic local experiences  only and you will never see a Roman on a segway in Rome! We offer bike and Vespa tours as we regularly go on bikes and scooters ourselves. Moreover in Rome there are steps, holes, cobbled stones and crazy traffic jams, therefore a segway can be hard to […]

A city is not a theme park

Posted on Sep 4, 2015 in Time out to reflect

[revised November 2021] On Tripadvisor for each city you have a list of “attractions”. We are now used to these “lists of things to do”, but I recently realised (while travelling to a foreign city) that when it comes to a *city* this approach has no meaning. Is the Pantheon more “important” or  “interesting” than (for example) the […]

“Family travel grows up”

Posted on Jan 25, 2012 in Time out to reflect, Children

“It’s no longer automatic that a vacation with the kids means a week in Waikiki or four days at Disney. Increasingly, parents are figuring out how to bring the family along on trips to explore the world in all its complex glory”… this is  the incipit of  an article from Conde Nast Traveller published in March […]

To be or not to be (a tour guide)

Posted on Jan 8, 2012 in Time out to reflect

[revised November 2021] We have to admit it: our job is wonderful! BUT…. it is not so easy as it might seem… From the list of 7 qualities you can read in this article, we especially believe in empathy and organisation skills… a tour guide is not a teacher, but someone who helps you to navigate and […]