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Monograms Travel Review: Can an independent traveller enjoy a package tour?

Updated on January 26 by Sarah Lee

How do you travel? It may seem an odd question but I ask because I recognise that many of our travel preferences differ. I’ve long considered myself an independent traveller. I enjoy putting together my trip – packaging flights, hotels, transfers and tours getting exactly what I want, rather than an itinerary a travel company has concocted for me. I’ve often been disappointed by package holidays with their one-size-fits-all experience, long waits for coach transfers, and sub-standard hotels. So when I was invited to experience a package style holiday with Monograms I was intrigued to see if it would be a good fit for me.

Monograms is a travel company that does holidays differently. Yes, they provide their customers with a package, but it could be described as a package holiday for people who don’t do packages.

The company has itineraries all over the world but they have considerable strength in Europe where they offer a number of city breaks and travel to popular destinations from Amsterdam to Vienna. I travelled with them on a 10-day itinerary to London, Paris and Rome.

This post is the result of the trip I took with Monograms for a project between Monograms  and  iambassador . As always, all opinions are my own and I maintain full editorial control of the content on LiveShareTravel.

Table of Contents

Experience my Monograms trip – London, Paris and Rome

Monograms – a history of holidays

Founded in 2004, Monograms is part of the Globus group of travel brands, which also includes Cosmos and Avalon Waterways. As such it has a long heritage in package holidays – since 1961 Cosmos has been offering value-priced European coach tours for cost-conscious British travellers. These coach tours were so successful Cosmos soon introduced another form of travel – air holiday packages to the beaches of southern Europe. Then in 1968, Cosmos’ air holidays were so popular, the company formed its own airline, Monarch Airlines.

Monarch has sadly folded – it was a good airline, but is a relatively recent casualty of the hugely competitive aviation industry. And thankfully for a traveller like me, who hates the idea of the long distances and organised nature of coach holidays, this is definitely not the Monograms way.

Instead, Monograms offers holidays in countless destinations all over the world. With Do It Yourself holidays proving popular choice and package holidays offering a comfortable and easier way to travel than going it alone, Monograms offers something in the middle.

They invite you to travel the world independently, with their expert help. Monograms offers:

• Hand-selected hotels in central locations.
• Transportation between cities and countries, including reserved premium seating via high-speed train.
• Included half-day guided sightseeing tours in each destination.
• VIP access to must-see landmarks allowing you to skip the queue.
• Countless customisable choices from optional excursions to accommodation upgrades.
• Services of an on-site local expert, known as a Monograms Local Host.

So does it all live up to expectations, and can travel with Monograms appeal to an independent traveller? I would say yes.

My experience of a Monograms holiday started not a million miles from home at London’s St Pancras station. Arriving by train, I was met by Dora one of my Monograms Local Hosts in London, before I’d even gotten through the ticket barrier. For a moment I wondered how she’d gotten through to meet me right off of the train, but then I was distracted by her gleaming, welcoming smile and before I knew it, we were chatting away about my journey, my plans while I was in London and various suggestions she had for ways I could spend my time.

We were soon in a chauffeured minivan on a private transfer to my hotel, as Dora served up a few insider tips and suggestions for things I could do with my time in the city.

Soon I arrived at my hotel, the Park Plaza Waterloo, and found that Dora had already checked me in and had my key at the ready. So I was able to go straight to my room without the hassle of the check in desk.

Monograms’ Local Hosts

Monograms Local Hosts are more than just couriers to see you through your arrival process though. They are based at your hotel every day and provided information on things to do in the city, as well as my personalised tour itinerary and they are a great point of contact for any concerns you may have.

These are not holiday reps – there’s no unnecessary welcome meeting, they’re not there to sell you tours or push you into doing anything you don’t want to do, they’re just friendly and supportive when you need them.

They also give you a way to discover your destination just like a local – the Local Hosts happily provide tips on their favourite haunts from the best markets, cafés, viewing points, parks and more. And this wasn’t only the case in London, but in each section of my trip.

Get to know your city

With every part of a trip with Monograms you have the chance to do things your way. The Local Hosts are there to make suggestions and book activities for you if you wish, but you can also just go it alone.

Alternatively if you prefer more support as you navigate your destination, Monograms runs a huge number of tours for you to fill your days with – for instance there are more than 50 in Paris alone.

And if you ever arrive in a city wishing you had at least some information to help you get your bearings, then Monograms has you covered. They include a free city tour of all the major sights.

From my experience,  the included city tours vary in quality – in London we had a great guide taking us by bus and on foot to many major sites and providing a huge amount of information on the history, but also offering a broad take on life in London and the UK.

The tour in Paris was slightly disappointing because we spent a lot of time on the bus rather than exploring on foot. This was also slow going because Paris’ traffic was the worst I’ve ever seen it as there was a programme of redevelopment going on in many quarters of the city. Add to that, although the guide gave some information on the sites we passed it lacked depth in places. The one good thing about this tour though was that we soon arrived at the banks of the River Seine to continue exploring from the water. This part of the tour was more enjoyable as we were able to get closer to certain buildings without feeling cooped up in a coach, and were no longer battling with the city’s traffic.

Conversely in Rome the included tour is incredible. A mammoth seven hours, it takes in much of the Vatican City and the sights of Ancient Rome like the Forum and Colosseum. Add to that, we started the tour at the Vatican first thing in the morning, so we were able to explore the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel before the crowds arrived. By the time we got to St Peter’s Basilica, the crowds had really started to build, but it was still better than if we had not had early entry with Monograms. I was really impressed by this tour and the guide who knew plenty of fascinating facts about the sights.

I think the difference in the nature and quality of the included tours depend on Monograms’ local partners in each destination – in this instance I’d say that London and Rome have the better tour operators.

Explore more – guided tours

Beyond these tours – which I felt were excellent value as they come free with each Monograms package – you can also book from a huge range of tours and experiences. These include food tours, deep dives into historic sights, river boat cruises, RIB rides, dinner cruises, running tours for fitness fanatics, cooking classes and dining experiences to name a few.

In London, I took a guided coach tour of Windsor Castle, took myself to Hampton Court – something my Local Host had booked for me – went on a fascinating, if gory, Jack the Ripper walking tour, to a pub dinner and on an evening River Thames cruise.

In Paris I did a River Seine dinner cruise and toured the Palace of Versailles on an early entry ticket, thus avoiding the huge queues I saw as I left. While in Rome I took a Pasta and Tiramisu Cooking Class, the following night I spent an evening dining out in the Eternal City at one of Monograms recommended restaurants, toured Rome’s catacombs and the lesser visited, but staggeringly beautiful St Paul’s Basilica.

There are so very many experiences you can book in your destinations with Monograms, and each time you’re assured that it has been tested for quality.

Accommodation

I stayed in four star hotels in London, Paris and Rome. Though there are other hotels available at various price points with Monograms’ packages, the good quality of my hotels – the Park Plaza Waterloo, Hôtel l’Echiquier Opéra, in Paris, and the Starhotels Metropole in Rome, seemed indicative of the standard of accommodation travellers could expect with Monograms.

Prepare to travel

I have to be honest – the more I travel, the less prepared I seem to be. I may learn some language basics before my trip, but I wait till I arrive to look for maps, and navigate my way through any quirks of my destination.

But even here, Monograms makes it easy. Before my trip I received a pack with information on all my destinations – from banking hours and how to use public transport to a few phrases to help you communicate, which is all really useful, especially if you’re not very well travelled.

Packaged options

As someone accustomed to Do It Yourself packaging, I’m used to booking travel to my destination separately, but it was good to have all flights and the Eurostar between London and Paris included in my Monograms package.

The only worry I had with my itinerary was that the time in each city was a little on the short side – three days in each including travel between them. But whether you want to see lots of cities in a few days or spend a week really getting to know your destination, Monograms has you covered. Take a look at their extensive packages .

MonogramsGo app

Carrying print outs of your travel information, flight tickets and booking details is so 2010. So Monograms has an app that puts all your travel info in one place, plus it helps you reduce the amount of paper you’re using. The MonogramsGO app is also useful because it has info on your whole itinerary plus maps of your destination that can be used offline – you just need to connect it to Wi-Fi once to download the maps.

Conclusion: is a Monograms tour for independent travellers?

Going it alone when I travel has become my default and I love it. As an experienced independent traveller I’ve enjoyed putting together my own trips and feel confident enough to navigate a place on my own. And part of it too is that I don’t ever want to feel like a number on a coach tour, or in a big organised group, mindlessly following an umbrella-toting guide around.

I love immersing myself in a destination and seeing it, at least in some ways, like a local, visiting local cafés, unearthing quiet corners of a city. 

But I will say that Monograms allows you to do that, with insider knowledge, quality touches that give you individual, attention and personalised service and rather than making you follow a set agenda, they are there when you need expert local advice.

I loved the tours that I took in my destinations and was impressed by the quality of the tour guides, I also found the assistance of the Local Hosts invaluable in helping me to navigate the destination, and I loved having private transfers to save me navigating my way through an airport to the taxi queue and hoping that I wasn’t scammed or over-charged while travelling to my hotel.

Monograms made exploring some of Europe’s most exciting cities easy, exciting and fun and I would definitely travel with them again. They allow us independent travellers scope to explore and discover the world on our own terms but with quality service to support our adventures.

My London, Paris and Rome itinerary with Monograms costs from US$1,721 per person, including nine night’s bed and breakfast accommodation in quality four-star hotels, travel between the cities, the services of the Local Hosts, and a free included city tour in each destination.

About Sarah Lee

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WillyG says

January 25 at 9:38 pm

Thank you so much for sharing your experience because I find myself having to travel alone, not by choice, and it’s a little frightening as a 59-year old soon to be 60, female. My choice has been Monogram and sadly had to cancel trip to Italy because of pandemic. I’ll definitely rebook when it’s safe to travel again. You gave me the feedback I was hoping for!

Sarah Lee says

January 26 at 12:39 pm

I’m so happy to hear that Willy. It can seem pretty daunting travelling on your own, especially a little later in life. But this is a great way to do it as you have the support of the Local Hosts in your destination and the free guided tours to help you get your bearings. I also got to know lots of other people on the tours, so there were plenty of people to chat to. It’s like travelling solo but with support, and you can stick with the group tours or go it alone depending on how you’re feeling. I hope you have a wonderful trip once we’re able to get travelling again!

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Calling all true explorers: the rocky Scottish Highlands, lush Irish landscapes and the sights of Stonehenge await you on a trip to the British Isles. Experience the best of the UK as you explore the British Isles with Monograms. Be energised by the sounds of Big Ben and the buzz of Oxford Circus in London, before zipping over to beautiful Edinburgh in neighbouring Scotland. Breathe in the history of the Scottish Royal Family at Edinburgh Castle, or gaze down at this magical place from the top of Arthur’s Seat. Enjoy Irish hospitality over a pint of Guinness in Dublin before discovering the Book of Kells at Trinity College. For history, sights and culture in tonnes, create your own adventure with Monograms in England, Ireland and Scotland.

Monograms is independent travel that takes all the hassles out of planning and organising your dream holiday. We’ve done all the work to build just the right all-in-one package for you – your choice of the right hotels in the heart of the action, sightseeing, transportation around cities, a Local Host at your destination and much more. We handle all the details so you can enjoy your destination like a local.

Monograms: What an Independent Tour Has to Offer

Destination Guide , travel , Travel Abroad , Wanderlings 3

Seeing the world, as you may have already picked up on here, is very important to us.  Every spare minute, day, or week we have, we seem to be on the road or on our way to Europe or Asia.  Sometimes, we don’t even realize HOW MUCH we’ve been gone…like now.  As I sat down to type this post, I was reminded on Facebook where I was a brief year ago today. (Turns out, we had just arrived from Morocco into Budapest .)  But that got me to thinking.  Where all have we been in just the past year?

22 countries .

In one year.

That’s a lot of not sitting still, kids.

For the most part, I have always been an FIT.  FIT, in the tourism world, stands for Fully Independent Traveler.  An FIT books their own flight, hotel, car service, train, opera, dinner, museum ticket, and so on.  Fully Independent.  It’s what we do. I like the idea of being in charge of my own fate, I like research, I like feeling as though the hours I spend online waiting on ridiculous airfares to pop up are my reward for diligence.  In other words, I have OCD about travel and I want to be in charge of every detail.  I enjoy it, but it’s not for everyone. (Actually most people hate this.)

On the other end of the spectrum are Group Travelers.  There are lots of reasons people choose to take the Group route.  My grandparents, for example, would fall into this category. Once upon a time, after years of saving, they had me book them a group adventure to Australia and New Zealand.   The airfare, a cruise, all transfers, meals, sightseeing – all wrapped up in one big package.  All they had to do was get to the airport, and voila, they never had to think again.  This is a comforting way for lots of people to travel, especially in countries that are foreign, where you don’t speak the local language.  You know you are taken care of, you have an itinerary, you have a guide to rely on, and you know you aren’t going to miss a thing, because EVERYTHING is mapped out for you.

But what about the in-betweeners?  What about those people who like the idea of having someone help them out in foreign cities, but still want to be able to choose their own Parisian Café for lunch, who don’t like the idea of wandering through the Louvre with 50 other people in tow?  Is there an option for these travelers?

As it turns out – yes, there is.  And I have just experienced this phenomenon myself.

A few months ago I was approached by Monograms , a vacation and travel package company that is owned by Globus. Most everyone has heard of Globus – they are one of the elite group tour companies catering to thousands upon thousands of travelers every year across the globe.  Monograms is NOT a group tour, however.  Instead, they are a hybrid that strives to be everything good about both a group tour and an independent tour. 

I’ll be honest…at first, the idea of being on a “tour” of any kind was not something I was terribly excited about.  I am a blogger for a reason – real life person to person interaction just isn’t my forte.  Yet, I knew the brand, Globus, was top notch, and that Monograms was supposedly something entirely different .  Plus, who really turns down a chance to visit London, Paris, and Amsterdam?

Not me, that’s for sure.

So, we booked.  Of course we booked!  For 10 days we toured around Europe with Monograms, and got to experience first hand what their product really has to offer.  Could someone like me, a proud, die-hard FIT, enjoy a “package” vacation?  What does Monograms even offer that makes it so special?  Are there benefits to joining a group, are there benefits to avoiding a group?

Well, the quick answers are yes, a lot, yes, and yes.  Here’s why.

At the Airport

I can’t tell you how many flights we take a year, but it’s a lot, and usually, the place we land has signs in languages we don’t stand a chance of reading.  We’ve followed pictures of stairwells and luggage to get out of the airports, and hoped and prayed the driver of any taxi we found would one, understand us, two, take a credit card, and three, not completely rob us with some ridiculous fare.  It’s a real issue, and not one that unseasoned travelers even stop to think about.

It should be.

The very first thing you are confronted with once you land is How Do I Get Where I Am Going .  Your mom isn’t there to help you, and neither is your French Teacher who brought you and the rest of the French Club to Paris.  It’s on you now, Mister Grown Up.  You.  You’re tired.  Your French is poor.  You have luggage and you need a nap and your wife is not being very nice.  How do you get to your quaint little inn in Montmartre?  You don’t really even know how to pronounce it!

Had you booked with Monograms, you’d be covered.

Stepping off the plane, all we had to do was get through Passport Control, and to the Arrivals Hall.  A lovely woman was awaiting us with a sign, she had a van all lined up, the driver scooped up our bags, and bam, we were off.  No fussing, no negotiating, no mispronouncing the hotel.  Just in the van and away we went.  Every landing should be this easy .  Not only that, they’ll get you BACK.  And, if you’ve booked multiple destinations with them?  They include getting you to each one, be it train, plane, or ferry.  Someone will see you off, someone will pick you up.  It really couldn’t be any better.

I know, I know.  Hotels can be hard.  I’ve been known to spend over 30 hours researching hotels in different cities.  I compare location, price, access to public transportation, reviews, amenities, and décor.  It’s a time consuming job, though one I love, but not everyone finds their joy in online hotel pursuits the way that I do.

Again, Monograms steps in to save you ALL the hassle.

They have pre-selected hotels in each city, based on what you, the traveler, want, need, and expect .  If you’ve not traveled to Europe before, for example, you may not realize that most hotel rooms are very small, often just big enough for one double bed, the bathrooms are tiny, or retro-fit to even HAVE a bathroom, and if there is a lift, it may just hold you and one of your suitcases.  Heck, you might even have a toilet in a little closet, and a shower at the foot of your bed. (Yes, I have had this happen.)

Europe is quirky, I tell ya.

Monograms doesn’t offer those hotels.  They know you expect more, and with their expertise, you GET more.  Each of our Monograms hotels had very nice, large modern rooms, well equipped bathrooms, full sized lifts, and excellent locations.  We could easily walk out the front door of any of our hotels and be in the heart of each city, surrounded by restaurants and cafes.  To me, this is HUGE.  In an unfamiliar city, it can be daunting at night to have to find your way around, when all you want is just a quick bite.  I love that Monograms takes this into account and has chosen such convenient accommodations for its travelers.

A Friend of a Friend

I haven’t even mentioned the best part yet.  Your Local Host.  That perfectly placed hotel you’re staying in?  Monograms has a Local Host there for you, on site, whenever you need .  For example, in London, our Host, Gita, was at her dedicated Host Desk from 7am-7pm.  Anytime we came in from a tour or walk, she talked to us and made sure we were comfortable.  Had we wanted to book a Pub Crawl across the Thames, Gita would have set it up.  A trip out of town to Stonehenge?  Yep, she did that for us, too.  Anything we wanted or needed, she was there to arrange it.  I liken it to having a friend of a friend share their local expertise with you while you are in their town.  The best part is, you don’t even need to have a friend that has a friend…Monograms just takes care of you.

Don’t Forget to Eat

One of the best parts, for me, of our hotel stays were the incredible buffet breakfasts .  You’re on vacation, you have about 256 things to see, and breakfast may not be high up on your list.  It should be!  An included breakfast, especially breakfasts as delicious and filling as the ones we were offered, should be paramount.  Fill up and fuel that body for a day of siteseeing!  We never skipped our breakfast, despite being late-sleepers…they were just too good! Hot cocoa, teas, fresh pressed juices, local favorites, pastries, waffles, you name it, we had it.  As a typical FIT, I almost always overlook breakfast.  After traveling with Monograms, I certainly see the benefit!

Those Tours

Monograms doesn’t want you to feel contained, and that’s the beauty of their product.  It’s up to YOU to decide what you want to do…even if it’s NOTHING. Yes, they know you are a tourist – you booked a trip to a foreign country, after all – and they know you have an idea of what YOU want to do.  So, they offer you an included City Tour to kick off your stay.  In London, for example, our included tour whizzed us around to St. Paul’s Cathedral and Buckingham Palace, past Big Ben and Parliament, down cobbled London streets, by the Tower of London, and more.  For those couple of hours, we got to see the highlights of the city, and could leave knowing that yes, we DID see London even if that’s the ONLY thing we did.  However, they offered a bevy of optional tours in case we wanted them.  One afternoon, we boarded an inflatable speed boat on the Thames for an hour of sightseeing, followed by fast action river fun…a tour we would have never considered had Monograms not told us about it.  One evening we stepped out for dinner, followed by the musical, Wicked, all arranged by our Monograms Host.  We never had to stand in line for tickets, or worry about how to get there – Gita arranged it all.  And Stonehenge?  Yes, Monograms carted us all the way to Stonehenge, with a guide, and then included an amazing lunch in a thatch roofed tavern on our return, something we would have never done on our own.  They just made it all SO easy , and it never felt like a pre-packaged tour.  We loved the flexibility, as well as the comfort knowing we were being taken care of.  Truly the best of both worlds!

Big Group Drawbacks

For me, the idea of a big group is just, well, not pleasant.  We’ve all seen these groups.  We see them pull in to our restaurant, and all 51 of them spill out, stand in line for the bathroom, and order off the somewhat limited, pre-arranged menu.  We’ve seen them waddling behind their guide, headsets on, looking up at cathedrals or countless works of art.  I think it is this experience that turns too many would-be travelers off, and into NON-travelers.

Luckily, Mongrams solves this, too.  Your local host can set you up with PRIVATE tickets, often jump-the-line tickets, to most every attraction in any city.  We took a tour to Versailles on a rainy Tuesday, and outside the gates, the line looped and meandered 5 people wide for 70 yards.  In the rain.   Our group of 5 waited a mere 4 or 5 minutes, headed through a separated entrance, and away we went with our own tour guide.  Many of the people I saw in line when we got there were STILL in line when we were leaving.

Going back to the groups at restaurants…this is something I really enjoy about our travels.

I want to be able to taste what I want, when I want, and as much as I want. (One look at me and my jeans and you’ll know it’s true.)  Having the luxury of being on a “tour” with the option of eating anywhere I want, versus where the group is going to eat, makes a huge difference!  While I do lots of research and mapping, and know many of the cafes I want to visit ahead of time, I also took full advantage of my Local Hosts.  Take Wendy, in Amsterdam, for example.  Wendy knew we had a long tour to Brugge booked one day, and that we would be missing dinner.  However, right across from our hotel was the most bizarre floating pagoda restaurant.  After her telling us that it was outstanding Chinese cuisine, and that the pagoda was actually built in Hong Kong and then brought to the Netherlands, and a few funny bits of trivia about the restaurant, we knew we had to give it a try after our Brugge adventure.  It was one of the best meals we’ve had in a long time, and so unexpected.  And, all thanks to our Local Monograms Host!

Monograms was a huge surprise.  As an FIT, I came in with a bit of bias to overcome…and boy did Monograms ever overcome it.  In fact, upon leaving London, Rusty was convinced there should never be any other way to travel .  I can certainly see us using Monograms for future trips, especially in countries where we have limited knowledge, or places that are a little more daunting.  South America and Africa, for example, aren’t places I feel entirely comfortable, so Monograms taking the wheel would be very welcome!  Did you know they even offer tours to Antarctica??  I didn’t, but do now, so they may never get rid of us!

One should be so lucky, lol.

If you have ANY questions at all about Monograms, or our trip, please let us know !  We want everyone to get to experience the world, and in the way that best suits them.  We think Monograms is a great solution for so many!  So ask!

Disclaimer:  This post and trip was sponsored by Monograms in cooperation with iAmbassador .  All thoughts and opinions, as always, are my own.

If you liked this article, you might like:

Wow! Sounds fantastic. I’m goinf to have to check out this Monograms thing. I’ve never heard of it before. Seems super easy. Glad to hear you both had a good time. We need to get back to Europe soon!

We’ve been wanting to visit Europe for a while. All our friends do. But we’ve been skeptical of safety and language barriers. Seems like maybe this is the way to overcome that. I’ll definitely have to check it out and see what’s best. Thanks for this info!

My wife and I just got back from our first tour group and we were not fans. So many people all the time. I wish we would’ve known about this beforehand. I can’t wait to play around with the monograms site and build our next trip. Seems like this is the best of both worlds.

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I am planning a trip to italy with my parents both with knee and back concerns. Has anyone ever used Monograms Travel to plan a trip? How dis it work out??

Marie, you can get great advice and book this (or something else) with a local expert, a travel agent. I haven't looked but you can check the website and most likely find experts who have experience and//or have completed course work and are now selling this product. They will know what types of folks are most pleased with what you are planning and if it will suit or something else would be better. Why gamble with holiday time and money when you can get something that is perfect?

I am also thinking of booking a Monograms travel tour to Germany. Have you booked yours or have you found any reviews anywhere else? Thanks.

Thanks for your input. The Monograms travel idea is more to take care of all the arrangements of travel, such as arranging the hotel, transfers to and from the airport to the hotel. If you go to more than one city, they arrange travel. There is a very short orientation bus tour of the city and then you spend the remainder of the time on your own. We are thinking of doing this in Germany, to Berlin and Munich only, because we have been to those cities and just want to revisit without the hassle of independent travel. (We are older and don't feel up to doing it on our own.)

We investigated river travel, but the cost is very expensive, and most river cruises are sold out many, many months ahead of time.

Well river cruising is much more all-inclusive than ocean cruising or the accommodations that you are booking. In the end you will still be buying meals, sightseeing, admissions and so forth. With a river cruise you are just paying it all upfront instead of seeing it on your credit cards when you get home. It is true that the best river cruises book in advance with the Sept. dates going 12-18 months out. They continue to be more and more popular since folks can make it (well , for many companies) exactly what you want it to be....either more independent or fully escorted. It is up to you to make the choices that suit you.

I don't have any experience with Monograms, but my elderly aunt and uncle went to Italy a few years ago with a company called Next Step European Travel. They offer easy-going walking tours (all-inclusive) in Italy and Germany, I believe. My aunt and uncle had a great time and loved that everything was taken care of (hotels, meals, activities). Maybe check them out?

Just returned from touring with Monograms. Traveled to Dublin, London, and Edinburgh. I don't think I would use Monograms again. They really did nothing I couldn not have done myself. The tours we purchased through them were the descriptions from last year, so we did not see what we were promised. The itinery they sent us they changed. We booked thinking we could do things on certain days and then found out, after we arrived, that we had to change our scheduled plans. Hotels that we were told we were staying at were changed at the last moment. Monograms is a mono time with me!!

We were on the same Monograms trip that Katie was on and had problems as well. Hotel was not booked correctly and when we asked to change, Monograms never responded, and still have not responded to our complaints regarding the trip.

We found their personnel in London to be especially rude and unfriendly.

You might be better off with a motor coach tour.

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Prince William's Next International Trip Revealed — and It's Sooner Than You Think

The Prince of Wales is packing his bags for Germany

Janine Henni is a Royals Staff Writer for PEOPLE Digital, covering modern monarchies and the world's most famous families. Like Queen Elizabeth, she loves horses and a great tiara moment.

Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty

Prince William is heading abroad for one of his biggest passions.

On June 12, Kensington Palace confirmed that the Prince of Wales, 41, will travel to Germany next week for the UEFA EURO 2024 Group Stage match between England and Denmark on June 20. Prince William is president of the Football Association, the governing body of English soccer, and will attend the match at Frankfurt Arena.

The update comes two days after Prince William visited the England men's soccer team at St. George’s Park in Burton upon Trent to wish them luck at the UEFA EURO 2024 tournament, which kicks off in Germany on Friday. During the stop on June 10, he learned more about how the squad is preparing for the championship, presented jerseys to players and shared an encouraging word to hype them up.

"I think the biggest thing I've learned from coming and seeing you guys over the years... is the togetherness. I just want you guys to know how much it means to everyone back here, that you go out there, give it your all, play for share, play for each other, play for your country," William said in a video shared to X by Team England.

Andrew Parsons / Kensington Palace

The heir to the throne (and loyal soccer fan ) also passed along some lighthearted advice from his kids Prince George , 10, Princess Charlotte , 9, and Prince Louis , 6, after he asked what he could tell the England team while driving them to school earlier in the day.

"The best bit of advice I got was to eat twice the amount you normally would eat!" Prince William told the athletes. 

"So, I now have visions of you running around with massive great tummies. So maybe take my youngest’s advice with a pinch of salt, particularly around the physio team," he added, revealing that the tidbit came from Louis.

King Charles ' eldest son also showed off his soccer skills later in the day, kicking a ball during his tour of a soccer festival for local school children organized at St. George's Park in honor of the England men's team's participation in the UEFA EURO 2024 tournament. 

Prince William's plans to travel to Germany will take him overseas for the second time in three weeks. On June 6, the Prince of Wales stepped out in Normandy, France on the 80th anniversary of the D-Day Landings, and significantly represented the British royals at the international commemorative ceremony at Omaha Beach. William joined over 25 heads of state, fellow European royals and veterans from around the world at the key ceremony to remember the sacrifices made on June 6, 1944; the massive military campaign cost around 10,000 lives and changed the course of World War II. 

King Charles and Queen Camilla also traveled to France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, and attended the event at the British Normandy Memorial at Ver-sur-Mer with French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte.

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Can't get enough of PEOPLE's Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more!

William's upcoming trip is his latest solo engagement on the calendar as his wife Kate Middleton remains out of the spotlight. The Princess of Wales, 42, announced in March that she has cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy . She has maintained a low profile since then. She did not join him at the wedding of Hugh Grosvenor , the Duke of Westminster, in northern England on June 7.

During the U.K.'s national event commemorating the anniversary of D-Day, William gave an update on Kate when a veteran asked if she was " getting any better ."

"Yes," William said on June 5. "She'd have loved to be here today."

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Strasbourg for Book Lovers

Bibliophiles will find plenty of centuries-old tomes, graphic novels, modern works and more in this French city, which also happens to be this year’s UNESCO World Book Capital.

By Seth Sherwood

Attention, bibliophiles: Put Strasbourg, the largest city in eastern France, on your radar. Once home to the godfather of publishing — the 15th-century printing-press pioneer Johannes Gutenberg — the city is the UNESCO World Book Capital for 2024. Through next April, more than 200 events and activities will take place in and around Strasbourg, a polyglot city on the German border whose half-timbered gingerbread houses, gabled roofs, picturesque canals and church spires seem to have sprung from a storybook of their own.

Among the events are exhibitions devoted to Gustave Doré — a Strasbourg native and perhaps the 19th-century’s most celebrated illustrator of literary works — and Julie Doucet , a groundbreaking Quebec graphic novelist and visual artist. The annual Fête des Imprimeurs on June 29 and 30 in Place Gutenberg will showcase all of the trades involved in bookmaking, including through interactive workshops.

But the UNESCO events aren’t the only reasons to visit. Strasbourg has many spots for the literary-minded that are permanent fixtures, from comic shops and indie book emporiums to historical libraries and antiquarian specialists . Here are six favorites.

Place Gutenberg: The story begins

A native of Mainz, Germany (about 100 miles away), Gutenberg lived in Strasbourg in the 1430s and 1440s, developing the initial plans for his revolutionary moveable-type printing press, which would come to fruition in Mainz in the 1450s.

To honor him, Strasbourg in 1840 erected a statue in a square near the city’s red sandstone cathedral, whose Gothic design another German visitor, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, famously rhapsodized about. (The future literary star studied in Strasbourg in the early 1770s, living nearby at 36 rue du Vieux-Marché-aux-Poissons.)

The stone statue shows Gutenberg, bearded and solemn, holding a page bearing the French words “Et la lumière fut”—“And there was light” — a reference both to his famous Bibles and to the enlightenment of humankind made possible by the spread of printed matter.

On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, some of the fruits of Gutenberg’s invention — used books and historical prints — go on sale nearby during the open-air book market along rue des Hallebardes, just across the street.

Fairy tales and fountain pens

The smells of leather, parchment and dust suffuse La Jument Verte , an antiquarian book shop along rue des Juifs, one of the streets near the cathedral where some of Europe’s earliest print shops once operated.

Sun-filled and cheerful, the store has extensive holdings in French-language works of history, science and medicine, including an 1863 Paris travel guide (€80, or about $87) and an 1870 surgical primer (€200). Literary works are another specialty. If you don’t have €50,000 for the first six volumes of the original 1668 edition of La Fontaine’s fables, a pillar of French literature, a six-volume set of “The Divine Comedy,” with illustrations by Salvador Dalí, costs a mere €5,800.

If you feel inspired to do some sketching or scrawling afterward, the city’s most elegant stationery store is steps away: Monogram . Don’t miss the display cases filled with handcrafted Namiki-brand fountain pens from Japan. Each is an individual artwork embellished with gold dust and lacquer (€1,580 to €2,850). Less extravagant items also abound, including rustic leather-bound notebooks by Lamali (65 euros) and scads of greeting cards, wrapping paper and bookmarks.

Surrealism, satire and more

An extensive collection of historical works can be perused — for free — in the soaring, airy library of the Strasbourg Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art , a repository of about 140,000 books, magazines, museum catalogs and other materials.

Want to flip through the original proclamations of the Dadaist movement? Just ask. Published in 1918 in the Zurich-based group’s Dada magazine, the poet Tristan Tzara’s so-called Dada Manifesto (written in French) still amazes with its absurdist tone, nonsensical language, inventive syntax and gleeful vulgarity as it mocks literature, art, language and authority.

The periodicals archive includes famous titles related to Surrealism (Minotaure), German art (Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration), French satire (Le Charivari) and photography (Nouvelle Vision). A maze of shelves packed with mostly French books on a gamut of subjects — from art history and architecture to ceramics and graphic design — rounds out the offerings.

If you’re looking for something to take home, the museum bookshop down the hall contains a smattering of English-language gems, from “Dan Graham’s New Jersey” (€45) to “Young, Gifted and Black: A New Generation of Artists” (€50).

A stream of words

The award for homiest bookshop goes to L’Oiseau Rare (the Rare Bird), a small, cozy hangout in a half-timbered yellow house from the 1600s. It’s one of a trio of bookstores along Quai des Bateliers, a lovely, tree-lined canalside walkway that could easily be renamed Readers’ Row.

Outfitted with a three-table cafe and hung with paintings by a co-owner, Diane Albisser — whose scenes of dance halls and boxing rings take inspiration from African American history — the shop specializes in French literary works and socially activist nonfiction, particularly on feminism, race and the environment. You can walk in for a café au lait (€3.80) and stroll out with novels by Françoise Sagan, a dual-language edition of Maya Angelou’s poetry, and tracts by Mary Shelley translated into the language of Molière.

Down the quay, in another half-timbered house, Le Tigre bursts with French-language comics, manga, graphic novels and other illustrated works. Wordless treats also abound, from pop-culture figurines (the Notorious B.I.G., Grandpa Munster; €25) to vintage vinyl albums (€15 to €20) by David Bowie, Bud Powell and other heavyweights of rock and jazz.

Things suddenly get dark inside La Tache Noire (The Black Stain), a shrine for worshipers of crime novels from China, India, Iceland, Mexico, Belgium, France and other far-flung nations. Nearly everything is in French, though a section of American and British Hall-of-Famers, from Raymond Chandler to James Ellroy, caters to Anglophones.

Central Vapeur: Postcards from the fringe

The location of Central Vapeur , an arts organization devoted to alternative illustration, graphics and comics, is apt. Occupying a warehouse in a semi-blighted industrial zone, the group’s headquarters sits on the geographical edge of Strasbourg, and its tiny bookstore is similarly filled with visions and voices from the fringe.

Within, a pipe-smoking cartoon elephant in striped trousers looks on from a tote bag (€8). A pink-eyed skull covered with birthday candles peers from a tiny round lapel button (€1.50). Donald Trump, biting into a drippy scoop of ice cream resembling Earth, grimaces at the world from a wall poster (€40). Offbeat drawings, postcards and prints also decorate the shop.

In addition to graphic novels from local authors, the store’s offerings include dual-language French-English design magazines like Cercle (published in Strasbourg; €22) and Back Office (a periodical based in Paris; €20).

And if you’re up for a festival, the organization hosts Format(s) , which celebrates French and international graphic design.

Place Kléber: A multilingual mecca

Even if Strasbourg’s grandest, liveliest square didn’t have a thrice-weekly vintage book market (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday), an emporium of Japanese comics ( Le Camphrier ), or a megastore of French-language books ( Librarie Kléber ), it would still be an obligatory stop thanks to the globe-spinning Librarie du Monde Entier . Poetic translation: The Whole Earth Bookstore.

Desperate to find a guide to conversation in Basque? Look no further. A Danish edition of “The Handmaid’s Tale”? Ditto. Urdu dictionaries, contemporary Turkish novels, Russian storybooks for kids — all in their original language? They’re all here. Dual-language books also abound, from Italian-English versions of Machiavelli’s “The Prince” to French-English editions of the experimental French classic “Zazie dans le Métro.”

The most robust offerings are in English-language fiction, history, biography and current affairs. You might even find a remaindered edition (€6) of “84, Charing Cross Road,” Helene Hanff’s charming collection of letters about the book trade. As she writes, “Buying a book you’ve never read is like buying a dress you’ve never tried on.” So always take the time to browse.

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram and sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to get expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places to Go in 2024 .

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