Ireland/Scotland tours
 

I am planning a trip at the end of the summer and am thinking of going to Ireland and/or Scotland. I am trying to find a tour - I'm a single woman in my 30's and would rather do a tour. If anyone has any recommendations, I would appreciate any feedback you could give me. Thanks! (thanks to those who gave me RS advice!)

We toured with Barrats tours www.4tours.biz/ .what we liked you we were based at a really nice hotel in Limerick.& toured each day..Richard the owner was very knowledgeable .And we had plenty of time at the sites. if you need more info.

Hi Jean - if you have any more info that would be great. This is all new to me so I'm trying to get all the recommendations possible. Thanks!

Kristine

Hello Kristine email me [email protected]

I went through the UK with Cosmos in May 2008 and loved it. Yes it's a big bus tour group, but it was a lot of fun and I was with a great group. There were a couple other single women traveling alone, there were a handful of small groups of women, and mostly couples in their 30's-50's. One couple had two 18 year old girls along. It was a mixed group from all over the world, but mostly USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Look into Cosmos, Trafalgar and Brendan for various tour group options.

Good luck and have fun! Scotland and Ireland were both amazing.

Globus is the "big sister" of Cosmos and a little more upscale. We did a 28-day tour of Great Britain and Ireland with them, and it was a super trip. Our guide was a former history teacher and really knew his stuff.

There were people of various ages, but you will fall right in with the main sector of the group. All the hotels were nice, and the food was good. In the large cities, meals are on your own and the hotels are not right in the middle of town, which is to be expected on a more modestly priced trip, but we were well satisfied and able to get around on our own.

You can google Scotland/Ireland Tours and get more information than you can use. I made a list of what different companies did and compared what was offered with what I wanted to do in order to decide which one to go with.

Thanks Carolyn and Iowa - I've only heard a bit about Globus and nothing about Cosmos so I'm going to have to check into both. Not particular on how many people are on the tour as long as it's a good group (and that's entirely dependent on the group!). I would like to have a good tour guide so your advice helps a lot. Sounds like my age will fit into both tours so that's helpful. Also important - food and hotels- sounds like that was satisfactory as well.
I'll look into both of these plus Trafalgar and Brendan to see what the options are. Good idea of listing what each company offers. Thanks again for advice - I really appreciate it! Kristine

I've traveled with both Cosmos (UK) and Trafalgar (Egypt) and I bet you'd fit in fine with either, they're pretty similar. While I was touring with Cosmos we kept seeing a few Globus buses and they tended to appear a bit older, but each group is different.

I thought the food was fantastic and the hotels were nice, but I'm pretty easy to please. I loved the UK guide, Peter, and thought he was very well informed for any question we could come up with.

I'm a 25 year old woman who generally travels alone, so I can tell you from my experiences that most people in the groups are very friendly and welcoming. Anytime I was alone it was by choice because someone was always saying "come join us" "sit with us" "how are you today" etc.

One way I decide on which trip to take is the amount of time I have available and my budget. Then I flip through the available tours for the area I want to look at and see what might fit my requirements. Does one tour go to a certain city and another tour doesn't? What is the price difference and what is the difference in what is included? I keep a running list in my head of what are the must see places, the want to see places and the places that a lot of tours go to but I don't really care if I see or not. Whichever tour (that I can afford) fits into my available times and goes to the most must see places and really want to see places wins! :)

I do suggest not booking airfare through the tour group. It's usually insanely expensive compared to what you can get on your own or through a travel agent if you're more comfortable. For the UK they quoted me $1700 for airfare and I could get more convenient tickets for around $1100. Look into what rate you can get on your own before you book so you know if you want to use the tour group for airfare as well or not. Do remember that if you're going to get travel insurance that you need to get it within about 10-15 days of any purchases you want covered, i.e. the tour or flight tickets.

Be careful with Cosmos and Globus -- seems like you can get decent groups according to the comments above, but I've run across these tours and they always had lots of folks who seemed old enough to reminisce about the discovery of fire, invention of the wheel, and those woolly mammoth hunts they used to enjoy so well when their knees weren't so arthritic.

My aunt and uncle were Globus and Cosmos repeat customers into their late 70s and mid-80s, respectively and my fairly sprightly uncle (even at 82, 83, etc.) would complain that the tours were "just a buncha ollllllllllllld people" because he could run (figuratively) rings around co-travelers 10 years younger than him.

Contiki has a 14-day Scotland/Ireland tour (http://contiki.com/tours/240-scotland-ireland/itinerary) and its demographic (tours for 18-35 year olds) prevents you from being stuck on a bus with two score of blue-hairs for two weeks. The one/two country Superior tours on Contiki like the Scotland/Ireland tour (as opposed to the pan-Europe tours, the Budget tours or the Greek Island tour) tend to have an older demographic for Contiki -- late 20s/early 30s crowd of travelers who <b>actually have jobs</b> and are responsible adults, not collegians or immediate post-collegians sucking money from the parental accounts. Even if you're over 35, you can probably take the tour. And they're great for singles because most of the group will be singles, not couples who want to you to bugger off every now and again while they do their own tour stuff.

There are a number of small group companies operating in scotland you may want to check out.

You should also look at Prestige and Classique.

Iowa - thanks for your advice. I've traveled a bit (military family) and I'm pretty easy to please as well and have no problems traveling alone (or joining others for meals if offered!). I'll look at both of these companies as they have beeen mentioned by a few - had previously only looked at Rick Steves. I agree, price and time are important. I plan to spend two weeks abroad. I agree about the flight plans - my dad was stationed in England and said that if I planned on visiting Ireland or Scotland that I should spend time in England so I think I will plan my own flight to include this. Am still looking at the France and Italy tours that might fit in this timeline as well! I sound indecisive I know, but there are so many places I want to visit so I'm trying to best judge the options for the first trip. I really appreciate your advice being a fellow single traveler so thank you!

Hi BigRuss,
Thanks for the info - hadn't heard that about these tours but I'm glad to know before I book. I don't want a singles tour but I don't want a seniors tour either or a bunch of college students. I'll definitely check out the site you suggested. Sounds like it would be a good match for me. Have been leary because I want to book with a reputable company which is why I looked at RS tours. I just want to travel and have fun with people at least AROUND my own age. Great tip so thanks!

Shelia - I hadn't thought about looking at those opperating in the country. Probably a really good idea! I will check these out, thanks!

Kristine

Hey BigRuss,

Have you taken the Ireland/Scotland tour with contiki? It looks good but just wanted to know if you'd taken it. Thanks,

Kristine

We had a tour with Celtic Tours in 1999. Great driver/guide, Mick Tracy, best one we've ever had.

I'm curious about what tour company you ended up with. I, along with several friends and family, are planning a trip next year and we're trying to figure out if we want to go with a tour group or do our own thing. My daughter and I went with CIE Tours in 2001 and had a great time. Our group will be in our 40's and 50's - not quite "blue hairs"! :)

Take a look at CIE tours....I did a great tour of Scotland & Ireland this past August...about a week in Scotland and 5 days in Ireland...they have several different itineraries covering both countries....

First class organization too....no optionals everything included in tour price...in Scotland you get a tour director and a coach driver...in Ireland the coach driver was the tour director but it worked out fine.....few if any complaints...plenty of opportunities for shopping if tht interests you...dinners were actually edible...full breakfasts every morning (if you can stand the different bacon not cooked more like ham but it is an acquired taste)...they are good.

We used Sceptre tours (http://www.sceptretours.com/) doing an independent vacation to Ireland 2 years ago and were very satisfied with them.
If I'm not mistaken, they may be the travel arm of Aer Lingus... or somehow connected to the airline.

xyz123/junkgalore: The OP's trip is over and done w/

She hasn't been back to the Forums since June.

I know janisj...you seem to be the police but somebody resurrected the thread right or wrong and asked the same question and stated they were interested in a tour of Scotland and Ireland.

You don't always have to be the police against old threads. Read down towards the end of the thread when somebody asked which tour they took as she was interested in a similar tour so the response was appropriate here.

vickih9 on 30 October asked about which tour was eventually taken resurrecting the thread so the response was appropriate. Please stop trying to be the policeman for bringing back old threads; responses are not always inappropriate.

Actually in many more modern foruns, one has the ability to quote which post they are respoding to; perhaps if I had that ability it would have been clear to you to whom I was replying.