1. Tell us a little bit about your most recent UnTour.
We spent two weeks (May 7-22, 2013) on the Holland UnTour. We were in the Frans Hals apartment in Leiden. Leiden is an ideal place to stay: a beautiful university town that didn’t feel the least bit touristy. Wonderful museums, too.
2. Why did you choose to go there?
Tom had always wanted to see the tulips at Keukenhof. Dutch art has always been my (Nancy’s) favorite, and I wanted to see it at its source. It’s fascinating to see daily life in another country, too; there is a quality of practicality and coziness in the Netherlands. The 17th century Golden Age of the Netherlands is still visible, as seen in the beautiful architecture and canals.
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| Frans Hals—where they stayed |
3. What is your favorite UnTours memory?
It’s not possible to choose just one, but they often seem to be food-centered! To list a few: the tour of the Frey Chocolate Factory (site in German) on our Swiss Heartland UnTour, the Sunday markets in the Piazza Santo Spirito on our Florence UnTour, and eating Bossche Bols in s-Hertogenbosch’s market square during Jazz Weekend.
4. How is taking an UnTour different from other ways of travelling?
Being able to choose what you do on any given day, depending on how you feel, what the weather is like, or what neat thing another UnTourist recommended. Along with that freedom is the great sense of security of having help or advice close by should you need it. The little UnTours guidebooks are marvelous.
5. If you could describe an UnTour in just three words, what would they be?
Immersion, enrichment, independence
6. Have you heard of our trailblazing UnTours Foundation? What do you think of a company whose profits have gone to create jobs among vulnerable populations through loans to pioneering, green businesses?
People in difficult circumstances are chided to pick themselves up by their bootstraps. What if one doesn’t even have bootstraps? The UnTours Foundation can provide them. UnTours will have our business as long as we are able to travel.