Love this thread!
We met a family on our first trip (Viva Italia in 2006) and became very good friends. We've since done two more trips with Mary and Len (brother and sister) and are traveling with them and their daughters to Italy next year. They live quite far from Boston but Mary's son is local and when she and her daughter visit, we always try to get together. I can't imagine my life without them -- they're very special!
One large family (parents with three grown sons and one son's wife) from Viva have also become good friends and two are joining us for Bella Italia next year. I'm working on the parents -- we talk every week and I'd love to travel with them again!
There are three other couples and one sister (hi Anne!) who we've stayed in contact with from that first trip. Actually, there are 14 of us already booked for Bella Italia from that first Viva trip -- all the trips are wonderful, but this one had its own special magic, I think!
On our last trip, we met the most wonderful family from California -- parents and two incredible teenage daughters. We actually just had lunch with them two weeks ago in L.A, and then they joined us for a theater event that my son's friends were hosting at their outside amphitheatre. They drove an hour to see us -- some of my longtime local friends won't even do that!
Maybe that's why I'm such a cheerleader for
AbD -- I've gotten so much more from the trips than I could have ever imagined. We were in France discussing how the location doesn't even matter as much anymore as seeing our friends again. Okay... maybe wine tasting in Aix-en-Provence is better than meeting up in Boston for lunch, but you get the idea. LOL.
Speaking of wine tasting in France, this is a funny (at least for me!) little video of my younger son at the wine tasting on the Flavors of France tour:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugXQDe-s040
and this is my middle son singing Winnie the Pooh in French with our Adventure Guide in Paris:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DLl_GIHJAg
How can you not have fun on one of these trips?
Dotti