The tour from hell

And the tour group was ~50 members?

Baaa baaa

google maps has it at 30 hrs of travel time, if one believes google is accurate.

Ugh-- poor folks will need a vacation when they get home

When I graduated from high school 33 years ago we went, in 28 days,to London Amsterdam Frankfurt Lucerne Munich Innsbruck Venice Rome Florence Nice Paris. Of course we were 18, were "rich" ($20 got 28,000 lira which bought a lot of wine) and basicly unchaparoned. On top of that it was during a "terrorism scare" so there were very few other tourists. In short one man's Hell is another (young) man's Heaven.

They scheduled 2-nighters nicely to let laundry clothes dry.
These are the types of trips my mother took in her 50's and loved them.

There were 38 people on the tour and no need for laundry drying since everyone, I'm sure, has a large check in bag. (Bellman service is included.) And if not, the hotel will do their laundry. (These are not wash in the sink types.)

The couple I spoke to were in their late 70's.

We did a tour like this in 1990. We went to several countries we would not have gone to otherwise. And our total cost, including airfare, was $4000 apiece for 3 weeks. These kinds of tours do serve a purpose but I would now find the short stops frustrating and the pace exhausting.

No stopping to smell the roses.

Obvs these tours have a demographic - older folks or folks who don't want to do the work of figuring it out on their own - and believe me, there have been times where I would have been more than happy to let someone else do all the work. Just get up, get on a bus, it's all figured out for you...but that pace makes me feel exhausted just looking at it. I guess it could be a good overview if you were of the mind to go back and attempt on your own someday.

Frank II, did they say they were enjoying it?

Some people only feel comfortable in the arms of a larger well-known company. And most people will not have another chance (or the money) to travel there again. So, tours like that fill a need.

That is not a tour of the UK. That is literally a 'bus' tour, basically riding a bus from place to place and spending the night. I've done large group bus tours but never anything like that. I can't even imagine it. How would you even remember what you saw or where you saw it? If anyone enjoys that, well more power to them.

Is this really the route or a miscommunication? I'm sceptical about some of it - Glasgow to Skye to Inverness in one day, with a couple of other stops along the way? It doesn't seem very likely. But it would be interesting to have a link to the tour company to see how they advertise it.

Yes, it's a real tour.

https://www.globusjourneys.com/tour/essential-britain/gc/

They were on day 5 and exhausted with the one night stands. After spending a bit of time with them I realized they were the type of travelers that needed a tour. But it is good that they are traveling.

Emma...I'm enjoying Chester. I decided to stop here because you mentioned it so often. It's an interesting place without being too crowded.

Wow, I'd be exhausted by day 5 also. I've done a couple of Globus tours (many years ago) and they were never this hectic. I enjoyed them, but then I usually picked tours that had more 2 night stays than 1 night stays and not so much travel time. That's way too much ground to cover in 12 days. Amazing that anyone survives that pace to go on another tour.

For me this would definitely be a tour from hell because I get carsick on buses. Feeling mildly nauseated all day for 11 days on end ... oh my. People who don't get motion sickness have no idea what it's like. Bus travel is the worst, IMO.

Looks like they just go to Cardiff to spend the night rather than see anything. They are certainly not going to the best tourist attraction - just on the edge of Cardiff - which takes at least 3 hours to walk around:https://museum.wales/stfagans/castle-and-gardens/

it's my life times ambition to convince visitors to this site that there's more to the UK than Bath and York!:-)

Oh, so you are trying to do for Chester what RS did for CT and Hallstatt, bury it in visitors?

Be careful what you wish for...... :-)

The real tour from hell would be someone seeing this itinerary and deciding to do it self-drive.

I'm definitely not a fan of this tour or of this tour company and I don't understand the need for a bus tour to most of these places that are easily accessible by train and in a country where everyone speaks English, but in places where I like their itinerary and/or public transportation is not as easy, I enjoy bus tours. The bus is quite conducive to naps. and you don't have to worry about missing your stop. I still travel light and carryon only. The company I like has mostly two night stops and most afternoons are free with the option to take optional tours.

I am so glad that there are so many options available for people to travel. Everyone has their own preferences, challenges and tastes. One person’s “tour from hell” is another person’s dream trip of a lifetime.

These type of tours meet the perceived needs of many people or they wouldn’t be so popular.

Frank II

Thank you for the link. Clearly I was wrong to be sceptical! But the mind boggles that people would want such a route.

The locals have been fighting off marauding hordes for millennia, they can cope with a few coach loads.

Bloody Vikings!

That does sound like the tour from Hell and way too much time spent moving around and no time to actually see anything.

I have no problem with people taking organised tours, they fill a niche even in this day of endless online information. But, there are huge parts of the UK that aren’t just very scenic especially from the motorway. I think Rick’s tours are usually too aggressive and this one mentioned is even more aggressive. To each their own.

Reminds me of a movie in the late sixties with Suzanne Pleshette - "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium."

Does make me feel a little better about our upcoming trip -- thought we were doing too much, but we're only in 3 hotels in 10 days.