Best trip for a solo traveler??

[SnowhiteHeather]

Here's my story:
For the past ten years I have been drooling over the adventures by Disney website. Last year I decided I would try to do it the cheap way and take a different tour in Ireland. Long story short, American airlines crashed the day I was supposed to leave, leaving me with 2 days of layovers, where I just decided enough is enough and I just went home. The tour did not give a single care. I lost all my money and didn't get to see Ireland. I took this as a sign that I NEED to do Adventures by Disney. Of course nobody I know is willing to pay the money for this so i'll be going it alone! I just can't decide which adventure is the one for me! I just want to throw it out there that I am obsessed with Marie Antoinette so seeing Versailles may send me into tears. But Norway and Scotland look amazing too! I also want to see natural beauty. As opposed to all city lights. Help help!

 

[sayhello]

Here's my story:
For the past ten years I have been drooling over the adventures by Disney website. Last year I decided I would try to do it the cheap way and take a different tour in Ireland. Long story short, American airlines crashed the day I was supposed to leave, leaving me with 2 days of layovers, where I just decided enough is enough and I just went home. The tour did not give a single care. I lost all my money and didn't get to see Ireland. I took this as a sign that I NEED to do Adventures by Disney. Of course nobody I know is willing to pay the money for this so i'll be going it alone! I just can't decide which adventure is the one for me! I just want to throw it out there that I am obsessed with Marie Antoinette so seeing Versailles may send me into tears. But Norway and Scotland look amazing too! I also want to see natural beauty. As opposed to all city lights. Help help!

I travel ABD solo all the time. Honestly, *ALL* of them are good for a solo traveler. The Guides really work to make everyone like a family, and there's no lack of people to eat with, sit with, talk with, etc. I generally take the Adults Only trips, partially because they are usually during the "shoulder season" when the locations aren't as crazy or hot. I kind of like the dynamics of the Adult only trips, but if the only departure that worked for me for a trip was not Adults only, I'd still go for it.

Anyways, the London/Paris trip, while fabulous, does not have much nature or natural beauty involved. It really is a city trip, with history and historic sites. No-one's done the Norway trip yet, but it looks like a good mix of history & nature. And from the reports I've seen, the Scotland trip has plenty of natural beauty. It's one reason I'm taking it this summer!

I say go for it.

Let me know if you have any more questions!

Sayhello

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

What a bummer about your cancelled trip! So sorry to hear about that. I can't comment on the single part of the equation, but I've done both Scotland and Ireland ABDs, and they both have plenty of natural beauty with some cityscapes (Dublin in Ireland and Edinburgh in Scotland). Both trips were fantastic, but I'd have to give the heavy nudge to Scotland. It was simply an amazing--amazing!--trip, with some pretty special Disney touches (more than I remember on the Ireland ABD). These are the "magical moments" that you won't read about in trip reports because people--rightly so--don't want to ruin them. If you haven't already seen it, I highly recommend Calypso's Scotland ABD trip report from last year. We were on the same tour http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3150065 The highlights of the tour for me, like they were for Calypso, were the outdoor parts--hiking the Quarrang, canoeing on Loch Ness, archery at Glamis, horseback riding at Rothiemurchas . . . I could go on But all of it was great. The charter plan to Lewis for the day was also pretty special.

 

[SingingMom]

Here's my story: For the past ten years I have been drooling over the adventures by Disney website. Last year I decided I would try to do it the cheap way and take a different tour in Ireland. Long story short, American airlines crashed the day I was supposed to leave, leaving me with 2 days of layovers, where I just decided enough is enough and I just went home. The tour did not give a single care. I lost all my money and didn't get to see Ireland. I took this as a sign that I NEED to do Adventures by Disney. Of course nobody I know is willing to pay the money for this so i'll be going it alone! I just can't decide which adventure is the one for me! I just want to throw it out there that I am obsessed with Marie Antoinette so seeing Versailles may send me into tears. But Norway and Scotland look amazing too! I also want to see natural beauty. As opposed to all city lights. Help help!

During ABD Knights & Lights, I was mesmerized with Versailles. I think my mouth stayed open the entire tour! And, the gardens were beautiful!!
The ride to Windsor was lovely - looking out over the countryside. It was a nice mixture of city and country for me.

Last year's Germany ABD was lovely! I never imagined such beauty!

I don't think you can go wrong with any of the ABD tours!! ;-)

"SingingMom" ....Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[SnowhiteHeather]

I LOVE reading trip reports and I think Ive read every one I can find. I don't think I've come across a France one. Just the Knights and lights. Im really torn between France and Norway. I guess i'll have to wait until I read a Norway trip report. I know you have to pay more for a single room, and im ok with that. I do have to ask. Are there ever direct flights to Paris or London? cause layovers and I do not get along.

 

[sayhello]

I LOVE reading trip reports and I think Ive read every one I can find. I don't think I've come across a France one. Just the Knights and lights. Im really torn between France and Norway. I guess i'll have to wait until I read a Norway trip report. I know you have to pay more for a single room, and im ok with that. I do have to ask. Are there ever direct flights to Paris or London? cause layovers and I do not get along.

There are a couple of reports for the France trip in our Trip Report Sticky at the top of this Forum.

Here's tsgirl's report: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=45795242&highlight=france#post45795242

And Cousin Orville's is the next post down.

There are direct flights to London; depends on where you are flying from. Check Kayak.com, they can help you pick and choose what you want to look at.

I do have to say, ABD's single supplement is not bad as single supplements go. It tends to be around 40% of the trip cost, which is way lower than most I've found.

Sayhello

 

[bliscum]

I am a single travel love as well and have done a lot with ABD as a single. I got hooked after China. I can saw any trip abroad is perfectly fine for a single. I always meet a lot of interesting people to hang out with but still have my own space and time. The guides also go out of their way for you. If have any specific questions just PM me and I will be happy to answer. Scotland is beautiful did it last year.

 

[SnowhiteHeather]

If you do a pre night, does ABD still offer transfer service to the hotel?

 

[RSM]

If you do a pre night, does ABD still offer transfer service to the hotel?

Yes. As long as you book the pre-night through ABD.

So sorry to hear about your previous experience attempting to go to Ireland. Although I'm not sure the outcome would have been different with ABD given the same set of circumstances. Perhaps if the flight was booked with ABD's travel service they could have gotten you on a different flight. I would speculate that if you booked the flight on your own, and scrapped the trip after 2 days of waiting, you wouldn't have gotten anything from ABD either. Again, just speculation on my part.

 

[DisneyKevin]

If you do a pre night, does ABD still offer transfer service to the hotel?

They do, as long as you book additional nights through ABD.

If you book pre or post nights on your own (even at the same hotel) transfers are not included.

If you have any questions, I am happy to help.

Kevin@DreamsUnlimitedTravel.com

 

[RSM]

Yes. As long as you book the pre-night through ABD.

So sorry to hear about your previous experience attempting to go to Ireland. Although I'm not sure the outcome would have been different with ABD given the same set of circumstances. Perhaps if the flight was booked with ABD's travel service they could have gotten you on a different flight. I would speculate that if you booked the flight on your own, and scrapped the trip after 2 days of waiting, you wouldn't have gotten anything from ABD either. Again, just speculation on my part.

Probably should have mentioned unless you have adequate trip insurance to make a claim.

 

[SnowhiteHeather]

I plan on booking EVERYTHING through ABD and I am definitely getting the insurance! With my luck and travel history. So these trips can obviously be pretty pricey so I have to save for a good while to go next year, if the average is about 10,000 for just one trip. What if I become addicted to them. does it make better sense, financially to just join the vacation club? or just keep shelling out the 10,000? This is kind of on and kind of off topic I guess. But I don't understand the vacation club and how it works with ABD for each trip.

 

[abdgeek]

I plan on booking EVERYTHING through ABD and I am definitely getting the insurance! With my luck and travel history. So these trips can obviously be pretty pricey so I have to save for a good while to go next year, if the average is about 10,000 for just one trip. What if I become addicted to them. does it make better sense, financially to just join the vacation club? or just keep shelling out the 10,000? This is kind of on and kind of off topic I guess. But I don't understand the vacation club and how it works with ABD for each trip.

If you became a DVC member(purchased directly from Disney, not a resale purchase) , you would need a good amount of points to take the ABD trips each year. You could also save up your points for three years to take one trip. For example, the France ABD(Giverny) is 794 points per person. Traveling solo, you need to add about 40% in points to that or you could just pay the single supplement. Your total in points for the trip would be about 1114.

Lots of people will tell you to only pay cash or to rent out your points to get the money for the trip because they don't feel it's a good use of points. They're your points, so you make the decision. There have been several threads on the disboards that address that topic.

That being said, I'm a DVC member and solo traveler. So far, I've done three ABD trips(Greece, NYC, Med Cruise add on) and I'm doing ABD Italy(Venice) this summer. I do use my points to take ABD and DCL trips, that's why I bought them. I have had nothing but positive experiences on the ABD trips. I can only do the family ones, and as OP have said the adults bond and the kids bond. I like the fact that I don't have to do anything but show up at the correct time and ABD takes care of the rest! I also feel more comfortable traveling abroad as a solo traveler knowing that someone is meeting me on the other side. If you decide to do an ABD trip, definitely get trip insurance. Good luck with your decision.

 

[SnowhiteHeather]

In three years I can just save up the $$ for each trip. Tricky tricky. Some day I will become a dvc member! Luckily I live an hour from Disney World so I get my Disney fix that way! But seeing it around the world via ABD is my next step!

 

[CarrianneB]

FYI - you don't need to use points to get the DVC price. We just got back from Peru, got the DVC price and paid cash. So that's an option.

 

[CarrianneB]

And we had a solo traveler on our trip last week and he had a blast. The kids tend to hang together and he was very friendly and so was the rest of the group. We had a few adult only couples and one single traveler and it worked out gret.

 

[marivigi]

How do you get the DVC price by paying cash?

 

[Bobo912]

How do you get the DVC price by paying cash?

The DVC price starts out the same as the price for everybody else. As more people book, the price goes up. But it doesn't go up for DVC members, i.e., DVC members always receive the initial price regardless of when they book or how many other travelers have already booked. So the only way to get the DVC price is become a DVC member, or book early before the price goes up.

 

[DisneyKevin]

FYI - you don't need to use points to get the DVC price. We just got back from Peru, got the DVC price and paid cash. So that's an option.

The only way to take advantage of the DVC guarantee s to pay cash/credit.

The points "price doesn't increase.

If it's 765 points on day, it remains 765 points.

 

[sweeteypie1118]

How much extra does a single traveler have to pay?