READ AN EXCERPT FROM MY BOOK "FOREIGN BRIDE 101" Back “SO WHAT EXACTLY IS A ROMANCE TOUR?” Oh, boy - clear your schedule! How can I possibly begin to describe the life- defining phenomenon called a "Romance Tour?" Group Romance Tours are offered by only a few International Marriage Agencies these days but they provide a relatively stress-free travel package that enables you to meet not only the women you've been writing to but literally hundreds of other ladies at planned social events. Romance tours offer an opportunity to not only find HER, but to share the foreign bride experience with other nice guys from around the world. An agency's tour director will typically escort the group from the states to your destination, then be joined by an international staff or affiliate agency to conduct the actual tour. Romance tours combine typical activities - bus tours, museum visits, etc. - with social activities where the men meet large numbers of women who have joined the agency in hopes of meeting someone. These social functions, actually called “socials,” are the definitive highlight of every romance tour. Socials average 3- 4 hours in length. Women drink champagne, have a lite dinner, dance and wait patiently (and sometimes impatiently) to meet the guys. Virtually anything can happen during a Romance Tour social. I once saw a man propose to a girl he had just met - she accepted and they spent the next 10 days together and seemed incredibly compatible. Now, I guarantee it will not be that easy for most of us. There are typically several social events per tour usually staged in the first few days allowing couples who have met to spend significant time together during the tours later days. Though widely debated on International Marriage forums, and heavily scrutinized by the media, Romance Tours have been responsible for thousands of men meeting their foreign bride, this author included. “I HAVE HEARD THAT SOME MEN TRAVEL TO OTHER COUNTRIES TO PARTICIPATE IN ILLEGAL 'SEX TOURS.' ARE ROMANCE TOURS ACTUALLY SEX TOURS?” NO, THEY ARE NOT! We're talking about two entirely different things here. The guys you will be traveling with will be nice guys who are looking abroad for love for the same reasons you are. The women you will meet will be mature, self-respecting and strong. I am sure most IMA's go completely out of their way to avoid anything like a “sex tour.” There are a few men who definitely do not get that message and show up on a Romance Tour expecting desperate women. All I can say is they are often isolated from the rest of the group and do not meet the “nice” girls. Typically, the good men will meet the good women, the few not so nice guys will meet the few not so nice women and somehow everyone will be happy. “ARE ROMANCE TOURS LEGAL IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES IN WHICH THEY OPERATE?” Again, I am distinguishing Romance Tours from anything related to illegal sex tours. Romance Tours are only conducted in a few countries like Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Peru and the Philippines. Always research your International Marriage Agency before committing to travel with one, but American based IMA's will only travel to cities and countries where tourism is welcomed and thriving. Most foreign governments classify Romance Tours as another form of tourism and have no laws preventing respectable tour agencies. “IS IT TRUE THAT ONLY GUYS WHO ARE DESPERATE LOSERS ATTEND THESE ROMANCE TOURS?” Another of my favorite questions. I have met some of the nicest gentlemen I have ever met on Romance Tours. I have met high profile attorneys, truckers, fighter pilots, school teachers, doctors, and respectable business men from all over the world. I believe many could have met a wife in America had they chosen to do so. Like any random group of people from anywhere there have been a few dumb-dumbs that have shown up on occasion and they ultimately go home frustrated and confused over why none of the dignified women were interested in them. There have been many attempts by our media, magazines, and even our Congress to stereotype the men who participate in Romance Tours as desperate, controlling and unstable. Even the movie “Two Brothers and a Bride,” a fictitious story of two brothers from Iowa who join a real-life Romance Tour to St Petersburg, Russia in search of a housekeeper, pokes fun at the actual clients who appear in the film. I am proud to know many of the fine men I have met and guided through this process. “WHAT KIND OF ACCOMMODATIONS SHOULD I EXPECT?” Your tour host will be sure your accommodations are clean comfortable and appropriate. Some Romance Tours cities offer 5 star hotels while others offer oceanside 4 star rooms with balconies. Sometimes seeing a lesser known city where foreign women rarely meet American men but deeply desire to do so will require a trade off in class of accommodations but you'll always be given the best available options in town. Men have their own rooms of course. Most hotels will have restaurants and cafes, business centers with internet and fax services and most rooms include a breakfast buffet. Russian and Ukrainian walk everywhere - and have the legs to show for it! Bring comfortable walking shoes! “WHAT KIND OF WOMEN ATTEND ROMANCE TOUR SOCIALS?” LOVELY women! EXCITING women! SINCERE and FRIENDLY women! The most amazing women you have ever met will be waiting for someone like you to introduce yourself to them at Romance Tour social events! It's important to ask the tour operator how they invite women to their social functions. Ask if women are generally invited “off the street” with no prior knowledge of the agency or the whole process. Or does the agency invite only women who have registered profiles - with whom they have at least some history? I believe the agencies that allow women to only attend if they are registered members to be acting in the best interest of their male and female clients. Word about socials has hit the streets in those cities and scamming women will always try to get in. Work with an agency that takes some measures to protect you from meeting the wrong person. Remember, the whole reason I am writing this book is to help you and the hundreds of terrific ladies I have met at previous socials find each other. Don't expect desperate women sitting in rows with their hands waiving, saying “Pick me! Pick Me!” Expect feminine, ladylike, intelligent, self-assured women inviting you to sit with them and talk, or asking you to dance. One girl walked all the way across the fairly large room, over the dance-floor, through the crowd right up to me and - and bumped into me so I would spill my champagne on her! She shook off the champagne from her arm and smiled, saying “Thanks alot...will you help me clean this up?” What an introduction! Another girl repeatedly asked me to dance. After several dances I told her thanks but I needed to manage the social. I was, after all, working. Through an interpreter I told her I was sorry, she was a nice girl but I was not there to meet anyone I just managing the social for my company. (Yes, it was a polite, well-intended rejection.) I said was determined not to fall in love. I was in Russia for Russia. She spoke to the interpreter, he smiled and said “She says that's all very beautiful now come and dance with her.” FOR MORE ANSWERS TO YOUR MANY QUESTIONS ABOUT ROMANCE TOURS READ MY BOOK "FOREIGN BRIDE 101" Visit The AFA 2008 Romance Tour Schedule White Nights of Summer in St. Petersburg |
| Meet Me During AFA's Next Tour to Odessa, Ukraine! May 14th - 25th, 2008 Click Here To Learn More! |
| Meet Me During AFA's Next Tour to Saint-Petersburg, Russia! Apr 9th - 19th, 2008! Click Here To Learn More! |
| Meet Me During AFA's Next Tour to Kiev, Ukraine! May 7th - 18th, 2008! Click Here To Learn More! |
| Meet Me During AFA's Next Tour to Medellin, Colombia! May 15th - 21st, 2008! Click Here To Learn More! |
| Meet Me During AFA's Next Tour to Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine! June 18th - 29th, 2008! Click Here To Learn More! |
| Meet Me During AFA's Next Tour to Davao City, Philippines! July 10th - 19th, 2008! Click Here To Learn More! |
| Meet Me During AFA's Next Tour to Odessa, Ukraine! May 14th - 25th, 2008 Click Here To Learn More! |
| Meet Me During AFA's Next Tour to Saint-Petersburg, Russia! Apr 9th - 19th, 2008! Click Here To Learn More! |
