Do you have any thoughts on, or a ETBD experience with the following tours? We are contemplating our choice of a Rick's ETBD: 1. Adriatic, 2. Scandinavia, or 3. Village Turkey. We've enjoyed nine of Rick's ETBD tours as well as two on our own. So, other than the Scandinavia tour we have visited some of the places the other tours will include; which is OK with us.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32322 posts
Anne & Andy, I'm sure any of the tours you listed would be fantastic. I had a chance to visit with many of the Guides on Jan. 14th, and they're all getting ready for another busy season. I'm also considering the Adriatic tour this year, but noticed that six of the 19 tours are now fully booked (Waitlist only). Some of the Scandinavia tours are also fully booked (two of them say "Filling Fast"). There are fewer departures on the Village Turkey tour, but one of those is also fully booked. The bottom line - it would probably be a good idea to make a decision soon and book, in order to provide the best choice in travel dates. As you haven't yet visited Scandinavia, that would probably be my choice (provided your budget will allow - that one is a bit pricey). Good luck and happy travels!
Posted by
OP
San Luis Obispo, CA, USA
58 posts
Ken,
Thank you, we appreciate your opinion. We are tempted to sign up the Scandinavia tour. Our reluctance is the overall cost, we always spend extra time, plus would probably take the train from Bergen to Oslo (understand that is really special scenery) and additional stay over to return to home. We've enjoyed the Eastern Europe and Turkey tours and there would be some revisits on them, which is OK. Your are right, we need to get on with our choice!
Posted by
Seattle, Washington
682 posts
Anne and Andy,
You might want to think about what time of year you'll be traveling. We took the Scandinavian tour in July and we were blessed with beautiful weather most of the time. As someone who hates cold, rainy weather (yes, I live in the wrong place), I would be wary of going on that tour in the Spring or Fall. We took the Adriatic tour in July, also, (different years, of course) and we endured many days of 100+ degree temperatures. That was tough. I'd try to avoid the summer months there. Weather concerns aside, we loved both tours. Scandinavia was more expensive (I remember those $9 beers), but the scenery was amazing. There was a good combination of big cities and small towns and I'd go back to any of them in a minute. The Adriatic tour perhaps was more varied and certainly was less expensive (for personal expenses). We love being along the water and this tour has a good dose of that. Learning about the history of these countries and meeting locals who shared their war experiences made the trip very special. I don't think you'd be disappointed with either tour. We're signed up for the Village Turkey tour for this Fall, so I can't comment on it, except to say that we're quite excited to finally see Turkey.