European tour

[Tom]

Have you done it before? We'd like to go for a European round trip next year.

Do you know any good travel agent for this kind of travel?

 

[jpgeek]

I have been around Europe before due to my many connections to Aunts, Uncles, and relatives (England & Hungary) but I have never gone through an agency or guide program. I just recommend that you give yourself enough time, several days in each major city to truly enjoy the surroundings. If not, you will be rushed around like cattle and your pictures will be your only memory as you take them from the bus.

 

[hellomimi]

This is an old thread but someone may still benefit from the info. I used Collette when I joined a group tour to Northern Italy. I had a lot of fun with the relaxed itineraries.

 

[CinnamonSugar]

Always interested in hearing peoples' experiences and tips in travel. My European travel dreams may have to change with the times but it costs nothing to dream...

 

[Leann]

Whether it will really happen or not, I can only hope it will. I've planned a trip to Russia and the Baltic States for 2021. It may be my last trip to that part of the world so I wanted to make it a big one.

 

[Don M.]

Traveling to another country for just a week or two can be a nice "sample" of other nations wonders. Then, after such a trip, a person can think about what really caught their attention and plan a longer, more specific trip.

I spent 4 years in Germany, courtesy of the USAF, back in the 1960's, and decided to see Europe, rather than sitting in the barracks. I learned to speak German fairly well, and probably put over 50K miles on a couple of cars traveling all over. Those were probably the best 4 years of my life, and I even found a cute little German Fraulein to bring back with me...we're still together.

 

[jujube]

I spent three months as a teenager, bumming around Europe but I haven't been back since except to change planes. My traveling since then has been in the middle east, Asia, Africa and South America. I would really, really like to go to Scotland and Ireland. Cornwall is on my wish-list, too.

 

[Capt Lightning]

When all this virus business has gone away, you'll be most welcome to visit. If you don't know the UK and Ireland, they're very diverse places and it takes time to see even a fraction of what's on offer. Occasionally on caravan websites, visitors want advice on 'seeing' Scotland in a week and this is greeted with laughter as it is pointed out that you can't even scratch the surface in a week.

In a recent documentary about cruise ships visiting Shetland, one passenger (not realising that Shetland was a group of Scottish islands) asked if she could take a trip to Edinburgh. She was most surprised to be told that it involved a 2 hour plane journey.

 

[CinnamonSugar]

When all this virus business has gone away, you'll be most welcome to visit. If you don't know the UK and Ireland, they're very diverse places and it takes time to see even a fraction of what's on offer.



no fear @Capt Lightning... I have enough plans for an extended stay... dream visit is to have 1-2 (or 3) “base camps” and visit areas of fave authors, etc, over several weeks

 

[Capt Lightning]

I have enough plans for an extended stay... dream visit is to have 1-2 (or 3) “base camps” and visit areas of fave authors, etc, over several weeks

Who are your favourite British authors? In Scotland we would naturally think of Sir Walter Scott, Robert Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Connan Doyle etc... but there are numerous modern writers like Ian Rankin, Iain Banks, Muriel Spark etc..

In England, you would be spoiled for choice with Shakespeare, Dickens, the Bronte sisters, Beatrix Potter and my favourite childrens' author, Arthur Ransome ...

 

[CinnamonSugar]

Ah, there’s a question... Agatha Christie, Jane Austen, Brontes, James Harriott, AA Milne, Beatrix Potter... so many more. Really, I probably have 2-3 trips needed lol. And I’d love to get the feel for their areas through lesser-known, regular-people kind of places, not so much the touristy places

as to Scotland, that’s a whole different trip. My eldest daughter is big into her Scottish heritage so that trip would be a mother-daughter focus vs literature

 

[gennie]

If you are at all adventurous, look at what Eurail and Britrail have to offer.

 

[Capt Lightning]

Several of those names were from the north of England, so you could certainly make one trip just to see them. If you like Harry Potter, then Alnwick castle (used as Hogwarts) is well worth a visit.

I have to confess my ignorance when I first saw a road sign for the "Grassic Gibbon centre". I'm sure many people thought it was an animal park, but no. Lewis Grassic Gibbon was the pseudonym of James Leslie Mitchell, who by coincidence, was born not far from here in the village of Auchnagatt. He died young, but in his day, he wrote a number of books which were later televised.
His seminal work was "Sunset Song" capturing the world of rural Aberdeenshire before the first world war.

 

[bowmore]

I have dealt with 3 companies, all good, but in different price ranges. Vantage Travel offers many tours all over the world. Odysseys Unlimited offers almost the same type of tours, but limits the group to 16-20. The most expensive is Tauck. They have much higher rated accommodations. Also if you travel with them, on you next tour you get a free pre or post night.
We are happy to answer any questions.