I would not recommend this program for any teen, especially a child of color. My son was called a…read moreracist nickname the whole trip by other students. When I brought it up to TFT after the trip, they blamed my son for not saying anything. My son had a terrible time. I don't think they did a good job creating a safe community where a child, alone, in another country, could speak to the leader. I was also disappointed with TFT's response. They were dismissive and unresponsive. I would not recommend this program.

"It's not the problem, it's how the problem is SOLVED that counts!"…read more It's the end of June 2022 and our daughter Vlada is on her way to Peru for her third TFT summer experience. After 10 days, she was then to go to Ecuador for another 11 days. Over the last few weeks, there has been extreme political upheaval in Ecuador. It's very dangerous indeed. As concerned parents, we reached out to Ned from TFT whom we've dealt with for three years now. Ned was very aware of the situation and assured us that they were monitoring the situation daily. We trust Ned. Ecuador is a problem. Pivoting the kids to a different destination at the last minute is a problem. Managing concerns and expectations from multiple families from multiple world locations is a problem. Fast forward to a couple of days prior to departure. Ned informed us that TFT made the (right) decision to cancel Ecuador and like travel magicians, they pulled an alternative Costa Rica adventure out of a hat! We could not be more delighted with the RESPONSIBLE decision TFT made and our daughter could not be more excited about the change in plans. As I wrote, "It's not the problem, it's how the problem is SOLVED that counts." Good job Ned and TFT. Excellent job. A heart-felt thanks.

Thank you Peter Levinson! You made our elopement to Iceland absolutely PERFECT! I couldn't be…read morehappier with the service we received. I highly recommend everyone to trust this company for all your special travel needs. My then fiancé, now husband, and I contacted Peter to help us arrange our wedding ceremony and mini honeymoon in Iceland. I was seriously so confused with all the rules and red tape involved with getting married there. It is definitely not as easy as people make it seem in the blogs! Thankfully, Peter had my back! He works with a fantastic company in Iceland called Nordic Visitor. I can't tell you how pleased we were with both companies. They made every day there so special! We were picked up promptly in Iceland by our super nice driver Aleksander. He had a beautiful Mercedes waiting to take us to Hotel 101 in downtown Reykjavik. We were even able to check in way early. The hotel was insanely nice and the customer service was even better! A couple days we would come back from our adventures and find chocolate covered strawberries and complimentary champagne waiting for us! Every adventure we had planned went off without a hitch. Every driver was promptly on time, waiting for us in our lobby. We even got to squeeze in some snowmobile action after the golden circle tour thanks to our awesome driver that pulled some strings! I'm so impressed how amazing everything came together and we're using this company for all our future trips!

One of the best, in service and prices! This is a small family oriented travel agaeny but, you…read morecould not tell by the level of skill and service provided by this agency. They have always been very efficient, friendly and their prices have rivaled doing online bookings myself. They offer both corporate and leisure travel services and are well worth checking out before your next biz trip or vacation!

EXCELLENT TRIP TO GERMANY, SWITZERLAND & AUSTRIA…read more========================== My husband and I booked the eleven day itinerary, but added one day to the beginning and two days to the end. Their website describes the day by day activities and hotels, so you can see the list there. I liked about half of the hotels, but some I would not stay in again like the Hilton in Central Munich, Germany. The breakfast was awful in my opinion and the one dinner wasn't that much better. Our room was alright, but the refrigerator didn't work. They brought an extra one that took up space on the floor. Since Gate 1 books your hotels you don't have control over their hotel choices. Our room at the Hyatt in Mainz smelled like mold, but the hotel kindly switched that room for us. I think my favorite hotel was the AC Marriott in Innsbruck. The food, rooms and location were great. Nadine Sandranowsky was our tour director for our small group of 24. She was great and always did a great job from start to beginning. I would recommend Gate 1 Travel as you do get more bang for your buck.

Update 2026 June 2: Gate 1 staff GSC reached out to me…read moretoday, who, apparently, had replied to me last year but I didn't receive. Thanks for reaching out.

Our tour was excellent! I don't know if this is commonplace, but we ended up on an individual tour…read morewith just our family, and from previous reviews it seems that the groups remain very small. Our guide was Clark, he was very knowledgeable about the historical information that was included on the tour. It matched up very well with what we had already learned in previous areas of the city and other historical areas in the country that we have visited. I wish I had been carrying cash at the time, as he deserved a generous tip, for his attention and for his excellent tour. He carried pennies for his guests to throw a penny on Franklin's grave and explained the custom. I found that incredibly kind and attentive to detail for his guests. He took us to multiple sites and shared small details wherein I learned new information, even after having visited several of the sites before. He was careful to stop in the shade as much as possible, to take the easiest routes when feasible, and he asked questions of us in return to ensure engagement. It was very enjoyable! His closing stop at the liberty bell and the story he gave, gave fresh perspective, and was incredibly moving. I am very glad we made the choice to take this tour! There are certainly many to choose from in the city - and this proved to be an excellent choice. Thank you Mr. Clark!

As previously expressed in other reviews, you know how much I love people wearing period costumes…read more If you've got 90 minutes to spare, you should definitely try this walking tour on for size. Our tour guide was really knowledgeable and brought us all over the old part of Philadelphia for a great tour. We stopped often to listen to 2-3 minutes of history provided by our tour guide at each stop. We walked all over the Old City to talk all about our Founding Fathers, the Revolution and the start of the United States. It's a great tour to take if you're just arriving in Philadelphia and haven't really done anything else yet. Our tour guide took us into the Liberty Bell Center to see the bell, gave us a talk about it outside (the workers inside wouldn't let us stop in there to discuss). We went to a couple of parks and walked on the grounds of Independence Hall, but tickets to that aren't included on this walk, so we didn't go in. We proceeded to see the country's first stock exchange, taverns, Founding Father's residences, churches, etc. He even threw in some older history (like a former house of Edgar Allen Poe) and information about sports. Our tour guide was definitely knowledgeable and gave a nice tour. At times I'd even say he was a bit over-enthusiastic, which is fine since this was a tour four out-of-towners. He even played to our group, which was nice. We were a bunch of French Teachers visiting Philly for a conference, so he threw in a lot of history about our relationship with the French and showed us some famous French spots around town. Awesome! You can get tickets right at the Independence Visitor's Center if you're interested.

Washington Crossing Historic Park in Bucks County is a cool destination for history buffs and…read moreoutdoor enthusiasts alike. I've often walked the tow path from Yardley to the park and back, which is a great little hike and quite beautiful. The park commemorates George Washington's legendary 1776 crossing of the Delaware River during the Revolutionary War, where he and his troops marched on Trenton and captured the town from British allied Hessian soldiers. It features well preserved historical landmarks and a bunch of exhibits. Visitors can explore the visitor center's museum, which showcases artifacts, interactive displays and there's also a short film detailing the historic event. The park also offers guided tours of the McConkey Ferry Inn and other 18th century buildings, providing a glimpse into colonial life. I also have to mention the annual re-enactment of Washington's crossing, which is a must-see in my opinion. Overall, this is a very nice community asset and cheers to local residents who keep it vibrant and engaging after all these years.

(Note: This review is for the Thompson-Neely Section of Washington Crossing Historical Park, since…read moreI didn't have time to visit the main section! Washington Crossing Historic Park is more than 500 acres, and it has several sections.) The Thompson-Neely Section includes the Thompson-Neely Bridge, the Thompson-Neely House, the Thompson-Neely Grist Mill, and a memorial cemetery (graves of Washington Crossing soldiers). The Thompson-Neely House and grounds served as an encampment site for part of the Continental Army in December 1776. So there's a lot of history here, and you can walk along the Delaware Canal Towpath to each of the sites in this section. It's perhaps not as organized as the main section of the park; there's no visitor center in this section, but it's not too complicated - there's parking near the General Sullivan Pavilion and the house and grist mill, and then you can wander to each of the sites. (I don't recall a map of the section anywhere, but each site is on Google Maps, and that's what I used to make my way between them.) I was at the park in the late afternoon, and I don't think the house or grist mill was open, but I enjoyed walking along the towpath to the memorial cemetery, the bridge, and to see the exterior of the house and grist mill. New Hope has a lot to offer, but Washington Crossing Historical Park is great to include on your itinerary for exploring the area if you want to take in a little local/regional/American history!

This was a hard review to do but in the end I gave it 2 stars over 3 . . . would have given it 2.5…read moreif it was available. First off, this tour is rain or shine. Obviously I am mentioning this because it "rained" and we had to continue on and find trees and parts of roofs hanging over to keep dry. The tour guide even thought some would drop out but nobody did, hell people were paying 17.50 a ticket . . . you kidding me? If you know my reviews by now, u know damn well I didn't pay that price, I only paid 8 dollars (Groupon) a ticket . . . but still if your reasoning for a "rain or shine" policy is to skip parts of the tour and get people soaked, you can keep it. This definitely is a ghost tour, filled with "ghost stories" about every place we visited. I guess I should have known lol, but I didn't think everything was going to be about ghosts that were seen at certain areas. I will say our guide did a good job explaining history of the places we saw so it was informative, but we visited a number of cemeteries LOL . . . thats cool, where is the Liberty Bell though? How do you do a tour and not take us to see the Liberty Bell? The website says we would see it . . . I guess the rain messed up the path . . . I dunno. The walk isn't bad though, you are given a glow stick to start the tour but it wasn't close to daylight and by the time the night hit the light was dim. Probably a better idea to give us that later on but they explained they use that to identify who is on the tour. The tour guide again was informative and he was a nice guy, was very convincing on all stories he told and he was a people person. Not stuck up which is why if you go here on a non rainy day, I think you would find it to be a 3 star experience. For me, 2 stars seems right though. Have some ghost tour ponchos or something, I'm on vacation and I had to swallow a bottle of Nyquil that night to keep from being sick.

Michael was our guide for the night and he was exceptional. His enthusiasm and wit really carried…read morethrough the entirety of the tour. It was my first time in Philly and it was a great way to see the city! Michael also gave our family an awesome cheesesteak recommendation, and it checked out! Five stars all the way!

Avi is very fun, has researched for questions. Had a great time on the tour. :) Also easy to catch…read moreas it meets three times a day.

We really enjoyed this tour. Kudos for letting us book last minute because we did this trip a…read morelittle impromptu! A lady did our tour who had been doing it for 20 years, and she was very kind and kept the group together. We learned a lot about the area and some hacks (ex. how to see some things in the independence hall with no tickets). Only negative was that they did not seem to encourage masks at all. I know we were outside but delta is extremely contagious.

This is the Paoli/Thornedale line. The Norristown High Speed Line is .5mi Southeast on King of…read morePrussia Road. It's a Septa station. It's fine. Much better than years ago when it was a dilapidated wood structure filled with urine. Although it would be nice if there were still a Post Office there. The tunnel under the station always floods when it rains. The ticket office is barely open. Only in the morning. The digital signs are always incorrect. Cheap parking is limited, but there is ample parking in the attached Radnor Township lot. There are only 6 spots, all for monthly pass holders, on the inbound side. There are about 100 $1 spots on the outbound side, which is accessible from Matsonford Road. Look for the entrance to Archbishop Carroll.

I only recently discovered and love the R100 High Speed Line (aka Norristown High Speed). So much…read morefaster and easier than the R5 regional. Transferring to the Blue Line at 69th St. Station is easy and rarely a wait. Using the R100 Radnor Station and the High Speed Line shaves nearly 20-25 minutes off the trip down into Philly. And the parking, albeit limited, is free! However there is no ticket booth/kiosk, so bring correct change ($3.50 peak fare with transfer to downtown Philly). Make sure you ask for the transfer when paying the fare!