Hi!! Just wondering if there is anyone out there that was on the Britain & Ireland Delight tour with Tour Director Liesa from 10 May through 20 May, 2007. Or, anyone who has been on this tour and would like to compare notes. I had a great time and would love to talk more about it with anyone who is interested!

We're going in August, any information you'd like to share? Best bits, what to avoid, how much $$ to take...more, more, more.

My Husband and I will fly from Australia, arriving a couple of days early to get used to the timezone.

Was it a mad rush to fit all of it in over the 8 days?

We are so excited. 10 weeks to go.
Thanks Lisa

Hi, Larf! I am more than happy to provide some helpful information about this trip. We had such a wonderful time I love to share so others can make the most of their trip. I was also helping out another TT traveler on the "Meeting friends before you travel" thread, so I just copied one of the posts I wrote to her. Here it is:

My husband and I got back from our Britain & Ireland Delight trip on Sunday, May 20th, and it was an absolute blast! We just loved every minute. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind for a bus tour.

- I know you're going on the same tour, so you'll be staying at the same hotels we did. Don't let the first hotel you stay at (in Leeds) worry you. It was not real bad, but not very great either. The food at that hotel was real good, but the rooms are pretty dumpy. However, you'll only be staying there one night, and you leave early the next morning, so it's not a big deal. Also, EVERY ONE of the hotels after that are wonderful. Just wait until you get to Dublin....that hotel was absolutely TOP NOTCH! And the best thing was that you get to stay TWO nights there... I didn't want to leave. It's called the Jury's Croke Park, and it is just fabulous.

-Excursions:We did the Burns Night in Braveheart country excursion, it was great. If you want to check out a real authentic Irish Pub, then I also recommend doing the Irish Pub Night when/if they go to the "Nancy Hands Pub". The Lake Windemere boat tour we didn't do, and I was almost glad because while everyone else was on the boat tour, we got to shop and walk around one of the most adorable towns, Windemere. It was very quaint and relaxing, but it depends on what you like more; boat tours, or shopping.

-Tour Director/Bus travel. Our TD's name was Liesa, but we also ran into a couple others: Pamela and Donavan. It's impossible to know who you'll get, but we really liked Liesa. Our Bus was very comfortable and it was brand new. We did have a toilet on it, but the longest "trek" on the bus at one time is only about 2 1/2 hours, and even then, they take plenty of leg stretching stops.

-Seat Rotations - on the bus every day, they have you move 2 or 3 rows up so everyone rotates and doesn't always have the same seat. It makes it nice so you can get different perspectives, and you also get a chance to meet and talk to different people who are in the row next to you that day.

Overall, I would DEFINITELY and ABSOLUTELY do another bus tour. It's a very busy schedule, and you see alot of places, but it's totally worth it. Just be prepared to be on the go all the time. You do get several evenings where you'll have about 1 to 1 1/2 hours to rest before dinner, so it's not all crazy.

As for money, it's hard to really say. Definitely expect things to be expensive. I don't know what the exchange rate is for Australia, but for the American Dollar the it's $2.00 to 1 pound. Food is expensive, like 9 pounds for a hamburger, and a pizza cost us about 14 pounds, which to us, spending $28 dollars on one pizza is outrageous! Alot of the Australians that were on our trip were also commenting on how expensive things are. Just as a guide for what we did, we spent about $1,000 cash (american) on food and small incidental souviners, then we used our credit card for bigger souviniers and for the excursions (which we did only about 1/2 of them). Using credit cards was no problem at all, and they also have cash machines pretty much everywhere, if you prefer using those. The $1,000 cash was plenty for "cash on hand", then using the credit card for the other things also helped so you weren't carrying so much on hand at one time.

The trip is very full, and it is alot to fit into 8 days, but it is totally worth it.

I wish you all the best, and since you have plenty of time to "chat" before your trip, please don't hesitate to ask any questions at all. I love to talk about it!

Thanks for your great response. I hadn't thought to look in this forum for such detailed information.

My husband and I are doing two tours back to back, the B&I Delight 11/08/07 - 18/08/07 and the European Festival 19/08/07 - 09/09/07 - a bit of a stretch we know but the only time we think we will be able to see the countries we both want to tour.

You've really peaked my interest in the hotels, will be looking forward to them all..... I think.

Looking forward to choosing the optionals, we celebrate our wedding anniversary whilst in Edinburgh.

Yes, it's going to be a whirlwind trip(s), have booked and paid for everything. Holidays are approved. Passports are ready. Booked London accommodation for pre, mid and post tour dates.

Have created the packing lists, purchased the lightest suitcases I could find; planned the clothing; got all the technical stuff organised – cameras, photo storage, MP3 player – with music and audio books, batteries, chargers, adaptors.

Have narrowed the shopping/souvenir list down to the essentials - now just to save some more spending money for said essentials and the optional excursions (our dollar = about A$2.50 in the exchange) and somehow get through the next 10 weeks. Thanks again.

Lisa

quote:

Food is expensive, like 9 pounds for a hamburger, and a pizza cost us about 14 pounds

Either you're kidding, or you managed to find the most expensive restaurants in the UK . Those prices are absolutely outrageous!

I'm not really a "burger" sort of person, but I know that a "Big Mac" costs about £1.50 - something like that - and you can get a pizza for £5.

Hi Michigan girl,

I am looking at Britain and Ireland also, can you tell me where you paid those amounts for food. I know London is expensive, but I thought it was much cheaper the further you got away from London.

Missy/Chris M: Well, I am probably exaggerating a littleabout the cost of the food, but it was more expensive than at home. The hamburger that cost 9 pounds was at the hotel, so yes, we did find one of the more expensive places to get one. In addition, we didn't have a lot of time to find places to eat in London, so we didn't have a whole lot of choices, and places around the hotel were a little pricier. I do remember one evening in Dublin that we all went out to find something to eat, and the average price for dinner was around 15 to 20 Euros. I also have a tendency to just get whatever I feel like when I'm on Vacation/Holiday, so I don't pay alot of attention to the cost too much. You know....if I got it with me, it gets spent! ha,ha. The places that the bus stopped for lunches while driving to each destination had better prices; you could pick up a sandwich, bag of chips and a drink for a few pounds. Sorry if I "scared" you about the prices, they weren't bad everywhere.

LARF: I am very jealous of your trip, you are going to have a fabulous time seeing so many places. You sound alot like me: very organized with having everything so ready to go so far ahead of time. But it sure does make you more relaxed and excited about traveling when you have everything in place, doesn't it?

I'd love to keep in touch and compare notes when you return, in addition to hearing about how your other tour goes after the Britain & Ireland trip.

HI Michigan Girl

Apologies - have been flat out tidying things up at work with end of financial year etc.

Received our travel documents yesterday - 32 days to go - woohoo - it's a good thing I'm so organised - if I had to think about packing/booking things in the last few weeks I'd be a mess!!

Looking forward to getting on the plane - a two flight from where I live to our main departure point - then the big flight - excitement +.

Lisa

I'm so glad to hear from you...no apologies necessary for the delay... I am sure you have alot on your mind to get ready to be gone from home for almost a month! If I remember correctly, you're getting into your winter months... is it cold where you are now? Are you expecting a big climate change while on your trip? (We're in our Summer months, and things are getting pretty hot, around 25-30 cel.)

Anyway, I'm getting real excited for you. If you would like to see my photos of our trip, I'd be happy to send you the link to them on a website called "Winkflash.com", but I need your e-mail address. Have you ever contacted "Steve" on this forum board? If you go to the forum titled "Meeting Friends - Before you travel", he has some instructions about how he can help exchange e-mail addresses. I'll send him mine, and request yours, and if you do the same, we can communicate directly via e-mail and I can send you my photos so you can get a little taste of what you'll see on your trip.

Oh, before I forget...you said you'll be celebrating your anniversary while in Edinburgh...first of all, congratulations, and second, you should consider doing the "Burns night in Braveheart Country" excursion in Scotland. It's fabulous.

Anyway, take care and hopefully we'll be successful in getting those e-mails exchanged.

LARF - if you want, just Email me at (include 'trafalgar' in the subject line).

trafex@iprimus.com.au

and just post a message here telling me that you have sent the email. I have Michigan Girl's address waiting for you.

Steve

quote:

trafex@iprimus.com.au

Thanks Steve - have sent the email for you.

LARF

quote:

Originally posted by Michigan Girl:
I'm so glad to hear from you...no apologies necessary for the delay...

Hi
Have made contact with Steve so we should be able to hook up soon. Would love to see your photos.

Yes we are into our winter - we haven't really had a winter here for about 5 years - it came with a blast this year. We had a week of low temps in the last couple - one day we had a high of 13 degrees cel. Believe me after a January of 45+ degrees cel. it kind of came as a shock. Expecting temps in the low-mid 20's for the rest of this month. Our nights can get to 0 during July/Aug. I expect we will feel the cold whilst doing both tours, given where we are coming from. Have got clothing that will layer.

Yes anniversary whilst at Edinburgh - we've decided to do all excursions that are offered. Looking forward to all the new experiences.

looking forward to emailing with you, take care, LARF.

Hopefully by now you will both be in possession of each other's addresses. If there is a problem, or if I have sent you your own Email address (not beyond the realms of possibility ), please let me know.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Steve H,