For those who have followed this thread from the beginning you will know that there were some concerns over itinerary changes for those traveling in late July/August. There were also concerns regarding feedback on earlier trips. Since I was one of the people who was quite vocal regarding these topics I thought I should share my impressions regarding my experience since we have completed our trip.
Let me start with the itinerary. There is simply no way we would have been able to do this type of a trip on our own. The logistics alone of getting from point a to point b would have been beyond daunting. I don't think this is something we appreciated until we were actually on the trip! Some of the most amazing things we experienced would have never been on our radar. What I thought would have been the biggest highlight of our trip surprisingly was not. Our biggest highlight was something we nearly skipped because it held no interest for us.
Our guides, Hanneke and Zoe were absolutely amazing! We don't have kids but from my vantage point they were wonderful with the kids. They seemed to spend time with everyone on the trip equally, including the adults. They did their level best to make sure every person was having a great experience. They took pictures with each family's camera so that the entire family would be in the pictures they took home. If you needed reservations for a restaurant on your own, a cab to go wherever or to find out where to buy a "insert random souvenir request" they took care of it for you. They were fun to be around and made the trip incredibly enjoyable. Their chemistry together is amazing and they really helped all of us come together as a group.
Itinerary changes for the people going during the Tattoo: Many people, myself especially, were extremely disappointed over not having a private dinner at Edinburgh Castle. I thought that would be the highlight of my trip and one of the things I was most looking forward to experiencing. When this was switched to Stirling Castle it was still ok because it was a castle. Then when it got switched to the Signet Library I was really disappointed. A library doesn't sound as cool as a castle no matter how you describe it. The extra hour it would have taken to get there and back seemed like a small sacrifice and worth the experience.
Here are my thoughts now. The private dinner at Edinburgh Castle is in the same room where we had our VIP Military Tattoo dinner on our pre-trip. So, suffice it to say, we did have a private dinner at Edinburgh Castle, just not with ABD. We also toured Stirling Castle on our pre-trip, so we've seen it and are well aware of the distance from the Balmoral. We just had our farewell dinner at the Signet Library this evening. Driving to Stirling is a lot, especially considering all the time on the coach today. If I were given the choice of the three venues today, I would choose the Signet Library hands down. I never thought I'd say that, but there you have it.
This is by far the best trip we have ever taken. I never thought that anything could top 3 weeks in Australia but this did! I am almost afraid to go on our next ABD in 2014. The bar has been set so high I can't imagine anything else will come close.
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If it is not specifically mentioned in the itinerary then I won't post about it.
but I pm'd you the info. Let me know if you didn't receive it.
