Ciphering on doing the "Best Of Ireland" (14 days) and the "Heart of Scotland" (8 days) as a combo tour next April / May. Interested in any that have done the same, or either one, for any impressions, or general information you care to share. Main interests are history. culture, photography, and architecture. Not a foodie, but have yet to starve. Flying out Omaha Nebraska, relation in Germany - may go before or after - so air-flights, up in the air. I've learned to ask the smart kids in class. Thank you.
Loved Ireland tour in 2018. One of the best of the 8 I've taken. Took the previous Scotland tour when only 1 was offered & it was 9 or 10 days. Great guides on both tours. Loved the scenery and the people. They were just great trips. Your interests are similar to mine. Have a grand time.
I took my first back to back tours in September (Best of Adriatic/Heart of Italy) and I found that it was (much to my surprise) a bit much for me to do one right after another. Some people really enjoy back to back tours and you may be one of them. However, I found that the touring pace of a RS tour sustained over almost a month was just a bit more than I expected. Walking 5-8 miles a day over 3.5 weeks started to create pain in places where there wasn't usually pain. I found myself dreading just one more walking ( usually means standing) tour by a local guide. I starting wishing I was home before it was "time" to go home. It was a great learning experience for me and I wouldn't know how I would react to Back to Back if I hadn't tried them.
Your experience may certainly vary from mine. But I did want to mention that there may be some unexpected side effects from back to back tours.
I don't have Carol's experience but I sure can relate. I did the Ireland tour last spring and several of my tourmates were going on to Scotland for one of those RS tours. I don't know what they'd say, but I would have wanted to build in a few days between the two, just to rest, take care of laundry, get to the other place, and see some things in the end city of the first and/or start city of the second that I wouldn't see otherwise.
I think that's what the smart kids would do (even the young vigorous ones) if time and budget allowed.
We did back to back with Portugal and the 8 day Barcelona, Madrid last month. We had two days to rest up in between the tours. My feet hurt but I made it. I had to wear one pair of shoes that were not the best because of rain. On days it was nice, my walking sandals helped a lot. So, wear good comfy shoes.