It did not feel like real pilgrimage unlike our previous pilgrimages . We only visited one or two churches . We have to pay to enter one church and we did not have a ticket for st mark’s . One monastery is closed. Too much walking before we reached the bus in Santorini . In fairness the places are beautiful . Grateful that Father Ven officiated Mass everyday

Overall, the trip was wonderful, even with the unexpected travel issues. Loved Porto and wish we had more time there. The hotels, with the exception of Andorra, were good. The food was the food, the Fatima hotel was the best. Our bus driver was exceptional! In hindsite, I think we needed more time between flights on the return home. There was a delay in taking off in Portugal which added to the challenges of the Frankfurt airport. Lastly, again looking back, I am not sure how useful our individual tour guides were for the group. I know I paid attention, as well as my friend. Most of the group were not very attentive. It was a disservice to the guide and possibly money might have been spent in a better way or not spent at all for the guides.

The trip was mostly wonderful. Fr. Mark and Fr Ace were great leaders for the trip and every one on the trip interacted very well. I made good friends and enjoyed following St. Paul's journey. The tour guides were really good and gave lots of good info as we travelled. I thank everyone who planned this trip, as I know it was challenging with the changes that had to be made, and it went very smoothly overall. The amount of travel per what we saw was large - in general there was too much time at travel. I know this was in part because the cruise was cancelled and we had to find a way to reach Ephesus and Santorini, but the 3 extra long days of travel did really affect the enjoyment. By the last day after a long day of bus and walking, flying Athens to Istanbul during the night and then a 13 hours flight to SFO was very uncomfortable. I really loved all the places we saw and loved having Mass said outside at these locations. We could have dwelled longer at some of these sites, it would have been very enjoyable. All the ruins were really interesting, and the guide through Greece that was explaining things to us was very knowledgeable about history - I loved that. Being rushed through a site so we could get to the scheduled hotel dinner was not good. This happened a couple times. Why did we come all this way to be rushed through what we want to see? I would have liked more freedom choosing places to eat - eating at the hotels wasn't very fun. The food was generic, and not interesting, especially for dinners. It was implied that we would have more choices for lunch, when really there was only two days where we had any choice. Also, the food-to-go on the trip to and from Ephesus (2 meals of the same thing) was not good, I didn't eat it. We should have been able to go to the Grand Bazaar, that is a highlight experience that was brushed aside by the leather jacket sales experience - not a good tradeoff. The sales pitch for the leather store, I felt, was insulting. The Grand Bazaar is about the experience of seeing it, and I didn't appreciate the tour guide implying it wasn't worth it. Trip Planning Changes: We should have had full introductions of names of everyone going on the trip, before the trip. We spent a lot of time asking each other "what is her name?". This should have been a separate zoom call before the trip so we could learn about who was there. Even understanding who was at what parish is still confusing to me. I would also have appreciated a more detailed itinerary in advance so that I knew better what to expect. Maybe that is not possible and there is too much variability? But rather than a list of named places that would be visited during the day, we could get an idea like 1.5 hours touring Philipi ruins, 2 hour bus ride, stop for lunch at X. Even if it is stop for lunch at one of these towns that works in our schedule: A, B, C. We were told that no Turkish Lira was needed, but it was totally needed. Also we should have been told *before the trip* that we need a head scarf to visit the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque, and a skirt to visit the Meteora monasteries, and that they may provide something at the door for these requirements - these things seem like a big missed set of information that is basic for planning the trip. The phone app never updated with changes in itinerary or details of our days. That would have been a good communication mechanism that was not used to its potential. Thank you for a great experience on following St. Paul's footsteps. I hope my comments are useful for future trips.

Alan was an amazing tour guide? So knowledgeable and we had so much fun with Father Pedro and the rest of the group. Would highly recommend!!

Overall there’s room for improvement. It accommodated my request for adding an extra day at the beginning of the pilgrimage along with providing transportation from the airport. Could use improvement: 1. have a sign in the lobby that would tell our pilgrims what to expect the next day. It would save our guide from having to repeat himself. 2. The info sent out stated which hotel had laundry service coin operated machine..but when we asked the front desk said they didn’t have any. 3. Some people didn’t drink liquids for fear that the next bathroom break was going to be too far. That’s not healthy. 4. It would have been great if pilgrims were given the option if they wanted to go to the baths at Lourdes. Guide didn’t seem to know about it. 5. We didn’t get to visit the museum that had mother Mary’s crown with the bullet that hit Pope John Paul II. I felt bad for the pilgrims whose flight came in late. The hotel did not have food for them. This was the first time visiting Lourdes, Montserrat and Fatima. I felt like missed a few important sites. Oh well. It just means I have to plan another trip back..