Private Tour Operator - Please advise
 

My husband and me are thinking about an England, Scotland and possibly Ireland vacation for summer 2012 (August?). We were looking at a Globus Tour but would prefer to hire a Driver/Guide for the two of us for this tailor made trip. I have found "LV: Luxury Vacation UK"; Has anyone had any experience with them? Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Budget?

Interests?

Trip length?

Ages (approx. ok) and level of physical competence?

Why do you need a driver, can't you do this yourself?

Are you going primarily to cities? If so, why not take trains where possible?

Why spend your time fighting with a "guide," when you two can fight about driving, exits, where to go etc? Nothing like a 3rd wheel to ruin your trip. Do some research, take the train, drive. It's really cool and you have no constraints or stress that someone else give you.

If you can afford it, private tours are the way to go. You'll have someone answering your specific questions and you can choose what you see. With a short term private guide you can also have days on your own.

A friend recently went to Scotland and while she was willing to rent a car and drive her husband would not drive and would not let her drive. When they got to the hotel in Glasgow they booked private tours and loved them.

I would definitely get a private guide or small group guide over a Globus tour any day. I'm not a Globus fan as I feel they do not have the most knowledgeable guides.

I'm not familiar with the company you mention but I'm sure someone one this board will have heard of them.

We used them for a day trip from London for four of us in 2010. I highly recommend them as we had a great time. We covered Bath, Stonehenge, Salisbury, etc.. The guide was extremely knowledgeable and we had great conversations with him in the car, which was immaculately clean and spacious for us. We stopped by Silbury Hill and we also saw the White Horse driving to the next destination. It was a really long day but better than a bus tour would have been for the four of us.

Thanks everyone!

Adrienne, we took a private tour of Egypt and it was fantastic. I did the research, I knew what I wanted to see and do, emailed with the guide...and voila. In France, we just rent a car and go.

Europeannovice, good to hear a positive review. We are not 100% sure of next summer's destination...back to Italy??? Northern Europe???