A Bucket List Vacation

[nvr2mny]

So, my incredible wife (33yrs married this Dec) hits me up with this vacation idea tonight. Since we love certain parts of Europe AND I want to drive (a P-car of course) the Alps and certain parts of Germany myself, she shows me the website for autobahnadventures.com and says "whaddya think"?! Knowing she's not big on the idea of "group" tours, this was very 'accommodating' on her part. It isn't cheap BUT 12 nights throughout Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy, in a Porsche with accommodations and food (all top notch) you aren't doing on a budget. There are about 3-4 "free" days to explore on your own so it's not like you're joined at the hip with a few dozen other couples.

My question is; Anybody here done this tour, or type, and what are your thoughts? I've seen this group, along with others, advertised in Excellence for years. Is there a better choice?

I'd love to hear what others think.

[KNS]

Never done one but I’d like to. Wife said she was open to the idea.

[teeitup]

If you could find a place that rents Porsches you could probably design your own trip and itinerary.

[ian c2]

I could find you a place in England that rents Porsches , but I suspect costs would make somebody else’s itinerary a better option ...

Unless of course you wanted to do something real special like porsche-club-gb private camping at Le Mans 24hr

Off topic , but I reminder of how stupid humans can be when sorting holidays etc .

Around 2006 I was working in India 6-on/2-off , and the best part of the deal (apart from the wage) was you could spend your 2 weeks r+r wherever you wanted as long as flight costs were similar to a home journey , so I’d split my time between my home in England , socal , and wherever I wanted to party basically

So ... I decided lemans 24hr would be a blast and started my planning .
Ninemeister for a tune-up , changing r+r dates at work , flights from Mumbai to Manchester , lemans tickets , arrange meet-ups on the way to France etc.

On the first weekend home I was feeling all good about it and had started getting everything together for lemans the following weekend , and on Saturday afternoon went to visit one of my sisters .

I noticed my brother in law was looking at me a bit funny , but just put it down me looking a bit rough from the night before , when he finally said “shouldn’t you be in France?”

Yip , I got the date wrong

Over 4500 miles , and I arrived a week late .

[kevin993]

Do it. Do your homework, but do it. Do something. The key question for you is what kind of experience you're looking for. If you enjoy having a stable group to share lunches and dinners with and have someone else do all the legwork, by all means - use one of the tour groups. I can't speak from experience because we're usually not enamored of spending so much time eating - we'd rather be driving, getting lost, stopping in some random town for a drink or a bratwurst, etc.

Of course, we've developed some level of comfort because we've been in the area before. We did an "organized" Danube tour in 2006 which was a great introduction, but the big take away for us at the end was "how hard can this be?" We've been back every year since with our own plans and have had a blast.

We've driven a lot of those roads - mostly in Germany and Switzerland. We've saved some of Austria and Italy for 2019 (we try to synch up with the Nurburgring 24 hour races and the 2018 dates are too early to have comfort the mountain passes will be open).

The scenery is stunning. The Alps are amazing. The postcard moments are around every corner.

Did I mention, do it?

[ian c2]

A couple of irish guys I worked with in Dublin got an “Expedia” type online deal and flew to Germany one weekend and did the ring in their rental cars .

Apparently the smart car roadster was a blast , until they had to push it a mile or so away before they could call the rental company to say “it just stopped working”

[ian c2]

Yeah , as kevin says : do it .

Just remember to get your dates right !!

Another time there was an online planned 964 blast around the country-side , so I rushed and pushed ruf and 9m to get my six-speed conversion finished , and .......

Flew back to England the wrong month

Tbh , with lemans , goodwood , public-day ‘ring , plus all the other great car shows and f1 etc I’d be doubting a planned itinerary of scenic vineyard routes could be a better bucket-list trip .
But the idea of somebody else arranging the schedule and logistics does have its positives ....

.

[mo-mon]

Another alternative-http://www.passo-tourismo.com/

[86 911 Targa]

When we did a factory delivery (1986),
we had the car in Europe for three months.

Never regretted it.

Even lucked out with a Weissach tour.

Perhaps additional members will chime in
with location ideas.

Do the factory tour for sure, along with the Museum,
and Rothenberg.

On our recent visits, the Autobahn was very
busy, and staus are not uncommon.
pm me as needed.


^^^^^
This is not as frequent as it used to be.................

[RDM]

Definitely look in to Passo Tourismo. I haven't been on their tours, but I've heard great things, and they have answered all my questions patiently. They have choices for group tours or individual, and they do it in classic Porsches rather than new.

[Boomtown Rat]

RDM: Thank you for your kind words. I look forward to seeing you on one of our tours next season!

nvr2mny: Hi! My name is Lars and I am the owner of Passo Tourismo. Yes, we offer (probably) everything that are interested in for your Bucket List Vacation. We have a small (7) fleet of classic, air-cooled 911s and tours (both group and individual), that are turn-key, ranging from 1 to 5 days. Feel free to contact me and we'll find the right package for you.

All the best,

Lars

[reachme]

Lars thank you for this.
Great to know there are air cooled tours, I will try to fit this into my next trip over.

[bdisco]

On my bucket list as well. Yes it's a lot of money but you are buying memories. 1 kid in college and 1 high school freshman means my trip is on hold. Maybe next year for my 50th b-day?

[Boomtown Rat]

reachme: I thank you for your interest. As a matter of fact, when I founded the business in 2009, it was Pelicans that were at the front of my mind. Basically, I had folks like us in mind. Folks that have air-cooled 911s and want to drive them on the roads they were built for. When you're up for one of our tours, we'll be waiting...

bdisco: I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience. Yes, it does cost money. But, our tours are purposely not "over the top" and the memories will last a very long time, if not forever. A 50th birthday next year? Sounds like excellent timing to do this! Feel free to reach out whenever you're ready!

[yelcab1]

The cost of that tour is eye watering but .... you only live once.

[Luccia at Pelican Parts]

I haven't done this, but it sounds amazing! I hope you two are able to do it and enjoy your time together.

[group911@aol.co]

Planning down to a gnat's ass is overrated. Rent the car and start driving.
Accommodation is pretty easy in just about every village in Europe.

[matthewb0051]

There are several hire car agents in Europe that have luxury cars. Sixt has Jaguar F type. Just do your Google search and you can find what you are looking for.

I spent three wonderful years living in Bavaria. Never took a tour.

Rent the car and do your own thing. You will be much happier. You can go to the out of the norm locations that the tour will not. You can stop when you want, eat where you want, and so on. You can also choose your accommodations with a price to suit your budget and class of service.

One word of advice, don't drive to Prague. Most car rental companies used to restrict that due to theft. No joke, you have been warned.

A great drive is to start in Garmisch Germany, go over the mountain B roads to Innsbruck Austria, then the Brenner Pass to Northern Italy and down to Venice. That is a great mix of twisty mountain roads and Autostrada. Tell Frau Bruting I said Hallo

[nvr2mny]

ALL, THANK YOU for your input! I (we) really appreciate it.

ian C2 - We've been to London a couple of times and are looking to visit other areas we haven't been to yet. Trust me, you're not the only one who's made boneheaded mistakes!!

Kevin993 - Yes, we WILL do it! Thanks for pointing out that life is short and we don't know what is "around the corner" and to LIVE!!

We are re-thinking "a planned route" as have both ian C2 & Kevin993 have pointed out, they don't leave a whole lot of room for exploring and getting lost.

mo-mon, RDM & Lars, Checked them out. Nice fleet. Honestly, our collection consists of all aircooled ('86 and earlier) P-cars. My amazing wife "puts up" with my disease and is not a fan of riding in them especially for long distances. So, since she's being SO accommodating in being willing to do this, for her, I must give her a "bit" of luxury.

86 911 Targa - WOW! 3 months, how'd you work that out as a young(er) couple??!! What amazing memories! Yes, we will be doing the factory tours.

bdisco - Yes, I feel your financial pain. We have 2 in their senior years of college. BIG RAISE coming soon! UNLESS grad school hits us.

matthewb0051 - Yes, we've looked into a few as our plans may be changing. Fast Lane Luxury Rentals has some nice late model vehicles to choose from all over Europe. Looking to do wife's bucket list trip first - Ireland, and then in 2019 doing this trip.