Make Your Next Trip Extraordinary

Sipping wine in the vineyard with the winemaker, a private tour through the cellars of Trier, cycling through the Grand Cru vineyards of the Mosel...
Kelvin Roth | May 29, 2023

We just returned from a wonderful wine trip to Germany. Claudia and her team helped us plan a magnificent itinerary and she connected us with great hosts/guides. We had many highlights but a few that jump out — sipping wine in the vineyard with the winemaker, a private tour through the cellars of Trier, cycling through the Grand Cru vineyards of the Mosel, and a special wine tasting in an old Roman wine press area. Additionally, when a couple things went wrong (e.g., lost rental car key), her team jumped in to support logistically and emotionally. We felt well pampered and taken care of during this trip and would highly recommend Claudia for any adventures in Germany.

He brought us to an outdoor market and we had a delicious lunch, someplace we would have never gone to on our own
Brenda Osborne | May 12, 2023

My husband and I traveled to Europe during the month of February 2022. We chose to spend a week exploring Prague and Vienna before continuing on to Germany. Claudia designed a lovely four-day stay in Prague at a former monastery, which provided us a view of Prague Castle from our room as well as a great location for exploring the city on foot. She arranged for a guided walking tour of the city when we arrived so that we could navigate on our own after that. We always enjoy visiting castles and other historic places, so Claudia had a driver/guide pick us up for excursions outside of the city to visit a palace, castle, and a national park. On our transfer day to Vienna, he also took us to Chesky Kumlov, which we enjoyed very much. Upon arrival in Vienna, we checked into the famous Sacher Hotel. We once again had a guided walking tour of the city and our guide also took us out to the Schonneburg Palace. Afterwards, we invited our guide to accompany us to his favorite lunch spot. He had a bit of free time before his next client, so he brought us to an outdoor market and we had a delicious lunch, someplace we would have never gone to on our own. Our last day in Vienna was very special, as we had a private tour of the Spanish Riding School. We had a great experience meeting many of the horses and watching a practice session with the horses and riders. The restaurant reservations were all made by Claudia in advance and if the timing didn’t work for us, we simply cancelled or changed the time. We always like to have private guides/drivers and Claudia is able to set up the best for us. The travel experience is so much better with knowledgeable guides. We would highly recommend Claudia and intend to use her services again in the future.

Claudia was prompt, pleasant to work with, and provided everything I dreamed of for this trip
Christopher Herzner | September 27, 2022

Claudia was under our wing for 3 years while Covid played havoc with our Alps vacation. Finally getting to take the trip, we were overly excited and found the wonderful locations, hotels and food options which were planned for us to be even more than we hoped. We hit the alps just as most of the hotels, restaurants and store were closing for nearly 2 months before the winter ski season rush. Everything was quiet and quite a few places were not even open. If you go in fall…plan it in August (mid to late) cause after the beginning of Sept. everything shuts down. Claudia was prompt, pleasant to work with, and provided everything I dreamed of for this trip. Plus, when we did run into issues on the trip, she was right on it and found resolutions very very quickly.

We had the joy of our surprise WOW Moment.... A special riverside gourmet dinner followed by a wonderful nighttime cruise on the Spree River
Bill Martin | September 13, 2022

PANDEMIC TRAVEL We have just returned from a spectacular 2 ½ week trip to Germany. We were not sure what to expect, but we found a beautiful, diverse country with friendly people and an interesting but complex history.
Our August 22 trip was planned by WOW List Germany expert Claudia Schwenger in Toronto. Claudia was a pro every step of the way. She listened to our needs and desires and addressed them admirably. She contributed great ideas which immeasurably increased our pleasure. She arranged outstanding driver/guides and hotels. She recommended wonderful restaurants for every evening. Throughout out trip, Claudia connected with our guides almost daily to ensure all was well. She quickly addressed and resolved several challenging personal hiccups which occurred along the way. We can’t say enough about Claudia.
Great guides can make or break a trip. Aaron and Sue in Berlin, Uli in the Rhine Valley, Black Forest and Alsace, and Andreas in the Bavarian Alps and Munich were among the best we have ever had. They were highly experienced, unusually knowledgeable about sights, culture, and history, communicated well, were flexible, and patient. They had been well-briefed by Claudia. In short, they were a joy to know and be with. They went out of their way to make our trip special. For example, Uli brought a scooter for me to facilitate long center-city walks. Andreas put remarkable effort into helping Lynn trace her family roots.
Without exception, Claudia’s recommended hotels were amazing. To cover a broad swath of Germany in the time available, we moved every third day. Each time, we regretted leaving our wonderful hotel. The locations were ideal, our rooms perfect, the staffs friendly and responsive, and the breakfasts terrific. Especially memorable were our room in a real castle with a patio overlooking the Rhine River and our balcony overlooking Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Castles in the Alps.
A variety of special experiences planned by Claudia enhanced our trip. They included visits to the Berlin Wall and Potsdam, castle visits, boat trips on the Rhine and Lake Constance, and a side trip to Strasbourg, France. In Berlin, we had the joy of our surprise WOW Moment, earned after two Wendy Perrin trips. It was a special riverside gourmet dinner followed by a wonderful nighttime cruise on the Spree River. This cruise, with all the city lights and activity, gave us a whole new perspective of Berlin. We were hugely appreciative.
I could go on and on because we can’t stop talking about this trip. We thank Claudia, her colleague Saskia, and our exceptional guides for making it successful and truly memorable.

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