Cartan Global

Spent a bucket on their World Cup package. Then they literally left me stranded in the middle of a crazy intersection in Rio, abandoned with all my bags. Spent a couple of months trying to get some kind of make-​good out of them. Will not use again.

My coach worked with Cartan Tours to set up packages for our running group, the Sole Runners, to go to Athens, Greece for the 2010 Athens Classic Marathon in October.
I’ve never been to Greece before and as you can imagine, I am full of questions. Debra at Cartan Tours has been really helpful and responsive. The cool part is that she will be traveling with us and running in the marathon, too.
I did some price comparisons and the Cartan Tour prices seem to be comparable to other Athens Marathon packages but if you were to book the hotel and register for the marathon on your own, it seems like it would be significantly cheaper. Since I will be running 26.2 miles, I’d rather make this as hassle-​free a vacation as possible and I’m willing to spend a little more for peace of mind.

Cartan specializes in special event packages mostly. Olympics, World Cup, large international travel based events. They setup travel, hotel, and event based ticketing for you. There’s a bit of a premium but it’s nice that someone is doing most of the legwork for you. For most high profile events, there’s going to be a premium anyways. I’d used them in the past and actually ended up making some friends with some of the crew that will work as information/​guides/​concierges during the time of the events.