Booking and travel
From the first email to the last plate: payment, what the price includes, passports and insurance, diets and allergies, and how much walking to expect.
Bolhão market, Porto
Booking
Most guests book four to eight months ahead. The wine harvest in September and October, cider season in the Basque Country and spring in Japan fill first.
Email [email protected] with the tour, the date, how many of you, the room type and any dietary needs. Lena replies within one working day with seats and the total price.
Per person, by card or bank transfer, for a multi-day tour. Day tours are paid in full. The confirmation and booking terms arrive in writing the same day.
Lena sends the group transfer times and the entry rules for your passport, so you can choose a flight that lands by mid-afternoon on day 1. For Europe and Japan most guests arrive a day early after the overnight flight.
The balance is due 60 days before departure. Two weeks before you travel: the hotel list, the menus, what to pack and your host’s cell number.
Your host meets you at the hotel, or at the airport if you take the group transfer. The welcome dinner is that evening.
Prices and payments
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Pace
Every tour is one of two levels, shown on its page. Easy (2 of 5): two to three hours on foot on the busiest days, mostly level, with the van close by. Moderate (3 of 5): up to four or five hours on foot, walking between stops in a neighborhood, often on cobbles or up hill streets, as in Palermo, Lisbon, Porto or the Japanese cities.
Eating has its own pace. Tastings are portioned so that four or five stops make a meal, there is always a gap before dinner, and nobody minds if you skip a plate. Most hotels are booked for two nights or more, and travel days rarely start before 8:30.
Tell Lena before you book. Old towns have steps and cobbles, cellars are cool and dim, and southern Europe is hot from June to August. We would rather say honestly that a tour is hard for you than have you struggle on it.
Insurance
Travel insurance is not included, and we ask every guest on a multi-day tour to have it. Choose a policy that covers trip cancellation and interruption for the full price, medical care and evacuation abroad, and missed connections. Many US health plans and Medicare pay little or nothing outside the country.
Buy it soon after you pay the deposit, so cancellation cover starts early. If you have a medical condition, check that the policy covers it.
Before you go
Groups of 12 fill early
Tell us the tour and the month. We reply within one working day with dates, seats left, the price and the menus we can adjust for you.
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