KE1TH

I have just been informed that my escorted tour of Scotland has been cancelled due to lack of participants. The tour started in Glascow on May 2 and ended in Glascow on May 9. Prior to the tour, I had booked a week in London, arriving April 25. On my own I booked a non-refundable/non exchangable eurostar roundtrip ticket to Paris for April 28 that cost me $94.00. I have been given the choice of taking the escourted trip of Scotland the following week (May 9 to May 16), basically moving my entire ininerary one week. If I choose this, I loose the $94.00 train ticket to Paris. My other choice is to take a more upscale tour of Scotland that costs about $250.00 more. The tour that has been cancelled begins in Glascow, travels to Oban for two days (visits to Isle of Mull and Iona), travels to Isle of Skye for one night and then through Achnasheen to Inverness for one night, then through Royal Deeside through St Andrews to Edinburgh for two days and then back to Glascow. The "upscale" tour also starts in Glascow, goes directly to Isle of Skye for one night, then to Inverness for one night, to Pitlochry for one night, then to Edinburgh for two nights, then back to Glascow. The difference is Isles of Mull and Iona missed on "upscale", a night on Isle of Skye on "upscale" instead of just a drive through and a night in Pitlochry that isn't included in the cancelled tour. The hotels are "more centrally located" on the upscale tour. The cancelled tour is Cosmos' "Scottish Highlights" and the "upscale" tour is Globus' "Bonnie Scotland". If I take the Globus tour, I can still do my trip to Paris from London for one day. Travel Agent says that Cosmos will absorb the airfare change charges if I move to later Cosmos departure, but since I booked the eurostar on my own, I would lose that. So, if you were in this situation, what would you do? Keep the same basic dates and go to Paris but shell out $250.00 more, or shift your dates and lose the $94.00 train tickets to Paris. I don't know yet if I'll reschedule Paris if I choose to shift my dates. Thanks, Keith

janis

First of all before the spelling police attack - it is Glasgow.

This may not be what you want to hear - but if it were me I would not change any dates.

Keep your trip to Paris, and go to Scotland on your own. You can easily get to Edinbrigh by train or plane -- you do not need an organized group to get you to any of the places on either tour.

After you've visited Edinburgh, you can either rent a car or take trains to all those places - or other areas that may interest you even more. And if you want to some traveling w/ a group -- you can go to the Tourist Information Center in central Edinburgh and book inexpensive day or overnight tours to lots of places.

You would save a LOT of money and still be able to see Paris and Scotland.

bettyk

I agree with Janis. Do it on your own. Scotland is easy to do, with or without a car. Here are a couple of websites with tour info if you still decide you want to do a tour:

http://www.destination-scotland.com/...bies-intro.asp
http://www.highlandjourneys.com/

You can do a search on google and probably find many more.

blondiepopo

I just flew from London to Edinburgh for the day on Tuesday. Two days would have been nicer, but I saw a couple of the major attractions, and had a great time. I ate dinner at The Witchery (just a block down High St. from Edinburgh Castle). Not cheap but one of the best meals I have ever had. I flew on EasyJet from Gatwick Airport (London)to Edinburgh ($100 round trip), took the Gatwick Express from Victoria Station to the airport ($12 approx round trip). The express bus from the Edinburgh airport to town was $10 round trip, took the bus to see the Brittania ($2 round trip) and walked the rest of the way. I made all these reservations on the Internet which I would suggest doing if you are limited for time or not sure of how much the cost will be. The flight to Edinburgh was cheaper on Tuesday than Monday, and the tickets are also cheaper if you buy them more than 7 days before departure.

sheila

I sort of agree with the above. Have a look at Rabbie's Trailburners and Haggis Backpackers sites. Also check out Prestige Tours and see if you can mae something work with them.

Stick with it. We're worth it. And if you have to do it yourself, get in touch and we'll all help

myst

Also take a look at astral travel. They have shorter user friendly tours based out of London.

KE1TH

OK, so here's what I ended up doing. The Cosmos itinerary was better, as it included one day on the Isles of Mull and Iona and I really wanted to include that so I stuck with the Cosmos tour and am now taking the tour leaving TWO weeks later (May 16). Cosmos offers this one week tour of Scotland with transportation/ferries, hotels, breakfast and most evening meals and local tour guides for appox. US$850.00. I don't think I could beat that price doing all my own arrangements, plus I don't want to drive either. As mentioned, Cosmos is absorbing the extra airfare costs AND the additional charges of my hotel in London (because May is a higher season than April, the hotel room charge increased somewhat). As for the eurostar problem, it only cost me $94.00. I re-booked the eurostar for the new dates and am looking forward to my trip to London, Paris and Scotland with WARMER WEATHER as a bonus!!