Oops - forgot about that! We are really trying for May. If I can just make my dang decision. I read something about having to pick your meals ahead of time and that is making me a little leery. I have a weird stomach and don't know what will sit well from day to day. Plus, I want to be able to say, "no sauce, please", etc...
Sayhello: read your trip report - great job. One question - how early did each day start? Ok - 2 questions... Can you choose to stay at your hotel if you don't feel like going on an excursion? Or is it set up that you really must stay with the group? (Not that it would definitely happen, but if I felt under the weather, I wondered if I could stay back and lounge? lol) 3rd question - I promise - no more... Are there restroom facilities on the bus?
Thanks!!
First off, feel free to ask AS MANY questions as you'd like! I'm happy to answer any & all of them!
With ABD, you do not
normally have to pick meals ahead of time. Occasionally, due to time limitations, or being somewhere where they need to do a box lunch, etc, they may ask you to select a meal ahead of time. But that's very rare. Breakfast in my experience is almost always a buffet. Let ABD know if you have any food restrictions; they & the Guides are fabulous at working with you on stuff like that. Sometimes the options may be limited, so if you're feeling off, let the Guides know. They might be able to help you.
Days were not too early. I'm thinking most days started in the 8-9am timeframe. I don't remember exactly, but I am NOT a morning person, and I didn't feel it was that bad.
You absolutely can choose to stay at the hotel if you want. There are a couple of exceptions to this (there always are!). If it's a transfer day (traveling from one hotel to another) they generally will not go back to the hotel after an activity, so you will need to go with the group. Secondly, if there are multiple activities in a day, and you want to do one but not the other, you may or may not be able to sync back up with the group (they might travel directly from one activity to another or to a special meal, etc). But ABD will never insist that you participate in an activity. And they'll let you stay at the hotel if it's logistically OK.
And the "restroom facilities" really depends on the locale & the bus. Some of them do, some of them don't. The first day in London, you're on an antique restored double-decker bus. No restroom. But I'll say that ABD's have a LOT of restroom breaks built in. If there's no restroom on the bus, they will make a lot of stops for restroom breaks. That's one of the things I like about ABD (especially in Europe) because restrooms aren't always easy to find there.
Any more questions?
Sayhello