Best of G.Britian in 15 days, tour or not to tour?

In the UK I would definitely go on my own. We
have spent six weeks there in the last couple
years and did it all independently using the
internet and RS guidebooks. With the rails and
other public transportation, it is easy to get
around.

I believe that I am about to quote Rick correctly... Rick has said that his tours are for people "with more money than time". This made more sense after we took our Village Italy RS Tour. Rick is in the business to help people do it yourself. For some people doing all of the planning is a great part of the fun and adventure of the trip. And he promotes this method. And people who do it this way have a great trip.

However there are some people who don't have the time or desire to do all the required research to do it themselves. And for many a vacation is a time to relax and not be stressed out.

If you want to have a great, low stress trip take a RS Tour. Most if not all of the basics are taken care of for you. PLUS you will see and do more things in less time than if you did it yourself. You will travel with a small group of great "like minded rick-o-philes", you will eat at places you would probably have never found on your own, you will learn more about what you are seeing and doing from great guide/teachers and you will have ample free time to explore on your own.

In previous postings others have suggested - take a RS tour and then do some do-it-your self travel. The best of both styles of travel.

So figure out what type of travel fits your travel situation for this trip and go for it. Do what makes you the most comfortable! You will have a great time either way.

I am sure you will get several other view points to you posting.

Carrie, We've traveled to Europe 5 times on our own (we almost did a RS tour once, but decided against it). I'm one who enjoys the planning almost as much as the trip itself.

That said, I have always wanted to try a RS tour, and have signed up for the GB 14 day tour in September. I'm thinking it will be more relaxing, and fun for me (I am usually the planner, and the one responsible for finding our accomodations and the sights). One of the reasons I thought the GB tour would be good is that it takes you to places that are not so easily reached by public transportation like the cotswold villiages. I also expect that I will learn a great deal more about the places we visit than I would on my own.

So, I think it all depends on what you want to get out of your vacation - if you want your independence or if you want to just have fun and let somebody else figure out all of the logistics for you.

I took a graduate course in decision making (from Dr. Detlof von Winterfeld) a few years back.

The first point in the class was to identify the decision maker. That's what it comes down to in tours vs. DIY travel.

On a tour, all the decisions are made for you. The only decision you make, in effect, is to make no decisions. The tour will decide where to eat and sleep and what sights to see.

Since my personal preferences are probably not the same as a tour operator, I prefer a DIY tour where I can decide where to sleep, what and when to eat and what sites are worth spending time (and how much time) at.

Ive never taken a tour either Steves or any other.However I fail to see how the cost can be the same.Ive gone to Europe many times and the cost of tours is much higher .The advantage of tours is they do it for you which is the part I really enjoy.

Never thought I'd say this but take the tour. After 30 years of traveling planning on my own I took my first tour in December. RS Florence in 7 Days.
It was far more enjoyable than I ever anticipated. Small group of people.
Accommodations better than I expected. Fabulous meals. However, what sold me was our guide and the other guides he had join us when we visited the galleries, museums and the town of Lucca. All extremely knowledgeable and personable. The information they shared and how they shared it made all the difference. I also enjoyed that we did have free time to ourselves.

I loved being nearly always be the first people to gain entrance into the museums and galleries. Turning the corner in The Accademia and seeing David with no one but us in the place....well, still takes my breath away. Then getting to hear about how Michelangelo was commissioned, where the statue first stood, being asked to find the "mistake," and learning why the right hand appears larger...

Having someone else being in charge was most enjoyable so I say sit back, relax and take the tour.

The previous posters make some good points. I'd suggesst that you look very closely at the tour to see how well it aligns with your personal interests. If it is not well aligned, plan for yourself. We started off more than 20 years ago on packaged tours. We finally got confident enough to start planning our own. The UK is the best place to start on your own, too. No major language problems! Feel free to private message me for more input.

I took this tour 4 years ago - my first trip to Europe and would not hesitate to recommend it. It was a little different as Edinburgh was included but I had a great time and I am still doing RS tours with some people I met on this one. I know that it is possible to do an independent trip for less money than a tour, but you have to factor in what having a very knowledgeable guide and the great people you will meet on this tour will add to the experience. Maybe I am in the minority, but I still think that even when taking a tour, there is still a lot of planning that you need to do. First of all, how will you get from the airport to the hotel in Bath - car, train or bus. Not all your dinners will be group dinners so you may need to research where else you want to eat. I usually research each stop and see what is not included on the tour that I want to see and then when there is free time, I have something planned. You can always break away from the tour and choose to do something else if what they are doing doesn't interest you. One day, 5 of us hired a cab and visited the Hidcote Gardens, another day a group hiked up to a stone circle outside of Keswick so that we arrived as the sun was going down, some people choose to do their own thing in London. I usually do some time before or after the tour on my own as other people have suggested. On this tour, I would definitely spend more time in London. It's a big decision so I hope this helps you in some way.

Carrie,

I have a few points to add to the great replies you've received so far.

First, I have to somewhat disagree with one point:

On a tour, all the decisions are made for you

I don't think that's always true with a RS tour, as they're structured with a good balance of both group time and free time. During the free time, you have the option to see whatever interests you. Also, if the planned touring is somewhat "flexible", so if you wanted to break away from the group to see something particular or miss one of the group dinners, I'm sure there wouldn't be a problem (however you'll be paying for the group acitivities, so probably better to take part in them!).

I've taken both self-guided trips as well as RS tours. Lately my preferred method is to take a RS tour and combine this with an equal amount of self-guided travel either before or after the tour. That's really been working well for me so far. Self guided travel is an enormous amount of work to plan, especially in terms of transportation and lodgings. With a tour that's all taken care of, and in addition there's not only a Lead Guide but also a group of local Guides (which you wouldn't have if travelling on your own). I've found that the tour provides a much more interesting and rewarding experience than self guided.

If you have the funds, my suggestion would be to try the tour this time to see how you like travelling with a RS group. The cost is a bit higher than independent travel, but I think it's well worth it! My usual comment on the RS tours is that they're "a very efficient way to cover a lot of territory in a limited time". I suspect you'll really enjoy the experience and will probably take more tours in future.

Good luck and happy travels!

Thank everyone so much for their wonderful suggestions and advise. My husband and I have decided for our G.Britian trip we are going to plan on our own, however the next trip my husband and I are going to take is the RS. Best of Europe tour in 21 days. After reading all the posts we decided we want to plan this trip and then really take it easy on our Rick Steves tour. Thanks again everybody you gave us great advise!!

Carrie,

You're certainly welcome! I'm sure you'll enjoy the "flagship" 21-day Best of Europe tour (that's the experience that's shown on the Tour DVD).

Happy travels!

Our RS tours, combined with some extra travel before or after on our own, were perfect for us. For us, time is money, and you are able to fit so much more into the time you have when on an RS tour. And the folks on these small group tours are so much fun. I highly recommend them. Will take more. Want to do the Ireland trip, the week in Florence, the village Italy, heart of France, GAS ......
I, too, love the planning of it all, and there is still more than enough planning that must go into any trip, tour or not. I have decided that since I am the family planner, it's nice to let the RS folks help me in that regard, so that I can RELAX and have a grand time. Check out the tour scrapbooks from years past and just see how much fun these tours are.

We had always done the diy travel with me doing the planning. It has worked out well. Last April we took the Village Italy RS tour and got to see some places that we probably would not have found on our own. The initial cost of a RS tour may look like more than a diy trip, but there are things that we did that were not listed in the initial itinerary, that would have to be added into the cost of a diy trip. We have been to England 3 times own our own and had great trips. You didn't mention how old your Mother is and how she likes to travel. A RS trip may be more her "cup of tea" & you and hubby could travel on your own later. Either way have fun!