It's hard to believe that it's been a year since the pandemic hit....a year of no travel - and a year of no clients. The tourist industry worldwide has been completely devastated as no one is able to travel. We are all anxious to work again, the passion and love of our beautiful area remains strong. So as the saying goes, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
A few months ago, several of my colleagues and I decided to form an association to support each other professionally and to promote tourism in general. Our feeling was that by working together, we can create & offer more and also support each other. Obviously, we are all suffering from no work, as clients can not arrive with borders currently closed and before that many of English-speaking clients come from countries unwelcome in France & even Europe in general.
So with the wonders of modern technology, we have decided to launch virtual live-streaming tours and visits of Bordeaux & the surrounding area.
Wouldn't you love to come along with us as we walk through the bustling streets of Bordeaux, admiring shop windows and the beautiful blonde limestone buildings while learning how it's rich history impacts life today? Or how about a stroll through Bordeaux's Chartrons neighborhood as we share about World War II and how it affected this area and the wine industry?
Speaking of wine, would you like to discover the mysteries of Saint Emilion its village and its wine? Or how about joining us one morning to stroll through a French market and admire all the fresh foods, produce, meats and fish? How about learning about certain types of Bordeaux wine and walking through a wine property? Perhaps you have some other ideas... What would you like to see? Please feel free to comment below.
To launch this new way of traveling/visiting - we have started off by teaming up with VirtualTrips, a new startup company that works with guides all over the world offering free (tip based) live-streaming virtual tours. One just needs to sign up on their site (via an email) and then reserve your desired tour from their many offerings on their calendar. Once you reserve a tour, you will receive an email with a link to click on when the tour begins. From the moment the tour starts, you are with your guide or guides "live", in the moment and you can chat with them via a live-streaming messaging system. Tours allow up to 200 people to follow along, -some fill up quickly, always good to reserve early.
These tours are free (tip based) and we as guides appreciate all the support of people watching and to those who are able to tip. Tipping does support the whole concept of VirtualTrips and the guides who are donating their time to show you all about their cities and regions.
Our group - Avant Guides - Bordeaux is made up of 8 international professional female English-speaking tour guides each with years of experience guiding. We all work with Viking Cruises along with other River and Ocean cruise ship companies and additionally offer private tours.
I am looking forward to collaborating & creating with this team - the energy, the passion and the love of sharing this area is so present for all of us. I will be initially dedicating a page on this site to introduce us while we build our own website. But in the meantime, you can learn more about each of us & follow us on Facebook - Avant Guides - Bordeaux - and on Instagram under the same name to stay updated on our tour offerings.
Feel free to follow and share our Facebook and Instagram accounts with your friends. Why not travel from the comfort of your own home, grab a glass a wine, a cup of coffee or just sit back and relax while we show you our beautiful region!! This is just the beginning!
To start you off - Sarah & I are already offering our Bordeaux - Golden Triangle Tour on a regular basis - You can see when we are offering our next visit & reserve here. We are looking forward to seeing you online! Have a wonderful week!