Glitterqueen
member
Reged: 11/01/2008
Posts: 1281
Loc: Essex
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My son is travelling at the moment and his photo's of places like South America and New Zealand look so great that its made me want to have a "different" holiday next year.
Now i'm not into roughing it so I wont be backpacking or staying in Youth Hostels but I would like to pack in as much as possible into 2-3 weeks.
I'm not sure i'm into all the herding along that some of the organised tours appear to be but if it means I get to see a lot in a short time maybe i'll go for it.
Anyone done any touring holidays?
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Ashbee
member
Reged: 13/06/2008
Posts: 845
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Yep, we did a tour of Classical Spain - all the Moorish palaces in Andalucia a couple of years ago - it's advertised in all the broadsheets. What we saw was fabulous but there was an element of being herded about although we did have lots of free time to balance it out. We opted for it because otherwise we might not have seen half the places on the list under our own steam. You have to weigh the pros and cons, I guess.
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Jenniferpl
member
Reged: 15/04/2008
Posts: 486
Loc: South East London
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How abour cruising, there very popular now and you get to a lot in a short space of time
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 Jennifer
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Glitterqueen
member
Reged: 11/01/2008
Posts: 1281
Loc: Essex
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Yes i've thought about cruising - we've cruised before and loved it so i'm collecting the brochures atm. One of the main drawbacks iwth cruising is apart from the med and caribbean a lot of the more unusual places seem to be longer than we want to go for. P&O do some fab cruises but they're for longer than a month. I dont think I could convince OH to be away from work for that amount of time.
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ButterflyBlue
member
Reged: 19/05/2007
Posts: 2013
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We have done 2 in America, 2 in South Africa and also Australia, part of Germany and a Prague, Budapest and Vienna. Some were better than others.
Depending on where you want to go try and find a tour that doesn't go to different hotels everynight. We've found some that give 2 or 3 nights in one place which allows time to recharge the batteries. A good tour guide will often have lots of additional extras you can do. You see lots with knowledgable guides and can often have experiences you had never thought of trying. We had the opportunity to ride an elephant through the bush for an hour and not seated in a basket but straddled across it. To make matters worse/better a thunder storm started up. We even crossed the Zambezi river on them with the baby elephant using its trunk to hold onto its mum's tail.
There are obviously some downsides like being herded or going to places that you may not wish to visit. Places you'd like to stay longer at. Ages on these trips can be mixed but the norm is usually 50+ but have been on some where younger people have been on them.
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So far so good,so far so good (Magnificent Seven)
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hollyj
member
Reged: 12/01/2008
Posts: 997
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Butterfly blue, which tour companies did you use ?
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ButterflyBlue
member
Reged: 19/05/2007
Posts: 2013
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We've used a variety of tour companies but recently Travelsphere and found them good value for money and with good tour guides. We did South Africa (Sun City, Victoria Falls and Cape Town) and Australia (Perth, Ayres Rock, Alice Springs, Cairns, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne). Have to say couldn't find fault with them and would certainly use them again. The others have been Thomas Cook(California & Arizona), Page and Moy (Prague, Budapest & Prague(not impressed with them) a specialist avaiation tour company (Germany) and the other two escape me.
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So far so good,so far so good (Magnificent Seven)
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hollyj
member
Reged: 12/01/2008
Posts: 997
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Thank You ! i would love to do Australia and the South Africa one, a tour would be good for me as i am on my own.I will defo check out Travelsphere,thx again.x
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Glitterqueen
member
Reged: 11/01/2008
Posts: 1281
Loc: Essex
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I've got a brochure from a company called Milestones which looks really good. Also have another from
Trailfinders.
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rosettastone
member
Reged: 11/03/2008
Posts: 468
Loc: Kent/Surrey borders
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OH and I have done tours in NZ and Australia. We travel independently, but everything is prebooked regarding accommodation and flights. We have used Travelbag and Trailfinders before, both good.
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carpe diem - seize the day!
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smaureen
member
Reged: 25/09/2007
Posts: 77
Loc: North East Wales
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Have done a couple of coach tours in the States. First one did the West Coast - San Francisco, Los Angeles, Los Vegas, Grand Canyon, Phoenix, cannot remember where else, and it was fabulous our Tour Guide was a retired teacher who had lectured in American History so was a great source of knowledge. Second time we did the Southern States, New Orleans, Savannah, Missippi, Baton Rouge, Memphis, etc. Kennedy Space Centre, then down to St Pete's Beach for a week to chill out. Both times travelled with Archers, but the company had been bought out in between these holidays and (although I enjoyed the holiday) I would no longer recommend them. One example was a NINE HOUR wait at Chicago airport between flights. This was not a delay, this was how they had booked it! When I wrote and complained they were not interested.
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dec
member
Reged: 29/01/2008
Posts: 672
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We did a tour of New Zealand.We planned it all ourselves,decided which places we wanted to visit and booked most of the accommodation on line before we went.We also booked internal flights with Air New Zealand before we went so we were able to travel about without driving too many long distances.We stayed in most areas for at least 3 days and had a great time.
Just remember that if you use internal flights to check the luggage allowances as these are much less than on International flights.We booked places with washing machines so were able to travel light and this also made travelling around much easier.
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lucii
member
Reged: 30/03/2008
Posts: 126
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Trailfinders are wonderful for organising touring holidays. You tell them where you want to go, how long for and what class of airline/hotel you want and they give you a quote. You can then amend it to fit exactly what you want. They also have very good insurance included when you book.
We did do an organised tour to China last year and although it was very hectic I think it is the only way to see a lot in a relatively short time.
L
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