One of the best tours I’ve done in Germany and that was mainly because of Sasha. He was an absolute comedian and I would even want to do the tour again when I go back to Cologne in a couple of weeks. He made my friend and I feel very welcome as Americans. He actually showed us the most attention since he knew we were indeed Americans. He also made sure to give us many recommendations throughout our stay at Cologne. Highly recommend this tour as an American.

My guide Sascha, obviously disliked (hated) Americans, and was outspoken about it. I was in tears before the walking tour even started. He said that Americans shouldn’t expect Germany to be like America, that if we didn’t speak the local language, we shouldn’t travel to that country, and that if our American phones wouldn’t work overseas that we should at least buy a flip phone so we’d have something while we were there. I picked an English speaking tour specifically because I don’t speak German. I’m an American citizen that was born on German soil in a military base, I even have a German birth certificate; I was thrilled to be traveling to the country that I was born in and horrified at the way I was treated by this particular guide. So sad that this person ruined such a wonderful opportunity to spread the welcome mat and encourage tourism. I was all by myself in a foreign country trying to learn my way around, I didn’t dare ask him for any more suggestions on possible places to eat or other tours, or places that were safe or not safe; I didn’t feel like he would give me an honest answer. I wanted to give up and not bother with the tour after being treated like that, but that was also the only person that could’ve showed me a restaurant or other places in the city that might’ve been wonderful to see. I also was hoping to give him maybe a different impression of Americans in general, so I stuck it out. Ultimately, he had a significant negative impact on my travels. I returned to my hotel, ate dinner and breakfast there, didn’t feel comfortable venturing out. And the next day elected to Uber to the Düsseldorf airport, as I was afraid others in Cologne would treat me poorly. He treated the Australians, Brits differently, better, more respectful. His attempt at different accents was near impossible to understand. Bottom line, if you’re American, avoid this particular guide.