Louise

Does anyone have any good ideas for a family of 4 adults and 3 children (ages 12 to 16)who would like to do an escorted tour of England and Scotland? Seems to me like most tour groups may not appreciate children and interests may be different. They may be better off trying to arrange something on their own. Thanks for any input.

Karl

We went on an Insight Tour last year with our then 10 year old daughter. We all had a great time. Other than my daughter the only other "young" person was a 16 year old young man traveling with his mom and dad. Almost all the adults went out of their way to make the two kids feel welcome. I was pleasantly surprised at the reactions of all on board. My daughter is used to being with adults and is very well behaved (really she is) so I guess it depends on your kids. We went on the Highlights of Britain tour which includes England, Scotland (including Highlands), and Wales. It was a fantastic tour. I would highly recommend it.<BR><BR>Karl

David White

Louise,<BR><BR>In my experience, most traditional escorted tours in Britain tend to consist exclusively of older adults, not families with children. Most 12 to 16 year olds would probably not enjoy this type of tour. <BR><BR>Over the past couple of years, there have been a number of Harry Potter-theme tours that go counter to this trend. Those tend to be ALL families with younger children. <BR><BR>And of course there are escorted tours for teens traveling without parents on cultural exchange visits, such as People to People or AFS.<BR><BR>With a group of 7 people, a self-drive tour may be a possibility, but finding a 7 passenger rental van in Britain can be a challenge. (check AutoEurope.com as a start). Self-drive tours can come from travel agencies that make many of the arrangements, or they can be simply a vehicle rental.<BR><BR>There are also companies that specialize in small escorted tours. They provide drivers and vans and arrange accomodations, etc. This type of small tour is fairly expensive, but it does work for a family group. One such service--and this is not an endorsement of the company--is:<BR><BR>http://www.ukvacations.com/bobby/services.html<BR><BR>Hope this helps.<BR><BR>David White<BR>http://www.KidsToLondon.com

janis

Personally I think an escorted tour is a terrible idea for 4 adults and 3 kids. Do you have any idea how much more expensive that would be than doing it on your own?<BR><BR>say you wanted to go for 2 weeks -- rent a cottage somewhere for one week and use it for a base to tour within a 100 mile circle. Good places to look would be Central Scotland or the Western Cotswolds. <BR><BR>From near Perth you would be within a reasonable drive of Edinburgh, St Andrews, Stirling, the Highlands, and even Skye, Mull and other islands.<BR><BR>Or from near Cheltenham you could visit Wales, Bath, Oxford, Warwick, Stratford and all of the Cotswold villages.<BR><BR>After that week spend the 2nd week touring farther afield staying in B&B's and hotels.<BR><BR>Or Better yet - rent two cottages - one in the north for a week and one in the south and then if you like spend a few days in London before flying home.<BR><BR>Having 3 or 4 bedroom cottages would be 1/2 (or less) the cost of hotels, you would actually see more since you wouldn't be packing up and moving one every day, you would have a LOT more room, and a full kitchen and a WASHING MACHINE (a big plus, especially with kids!).

Jo

You may want to look into just going on your own and then taking tours to the different areas.<BR><BR>I have to tell you, we went with our kids to Italy last year and they wouldn't have made it through a tour, too rigid, being up at 7am to get on the bus and go to the next stop, etc.<BR><BR>Being on our own we had the option to just stop and rest when we wanted, get up when we wanted, etc.<BR><BR>England is great as there isn't a language barrier at all<BR><BR>Check these 2 websites to see if it fits what you are looking for<BR>http://www.etmtravelgroup.com/frames.htm<BR> www.evanevans.co.uk<BR><BR>There is also the hop on hop off buses throught out London and many other areas of England<BR>http://www.bigbus.co.uk/<BR>