2018 Tour Catalog

I would like to take the Best of England in 14 Days tour (would be my first RS tour), but I don't see it listed on the website yet for 2018. I hope they haven't discontinued it.

I know I could map out my own trip approximating the same itinerary, and I'm a happy do-it-yourself solo traveler, but there's something so nice about letting someone else take care of everything!

I'm curious if there are any new My Way experiences or any significant changes to the existing ones. Probably never going to do a fully guided.

Julie, this is a very popular tour and no way would it be discontinued!! I did it in 2015 and it was SUCH fun!!!

Hi Celeste, I noticed your location is Atlanta… If you're free, come join us this Saturday at 11 o'clock for our monthly travel group. Judy B posted the details yesterday.... https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/travel-meetings/atlanta-travel-group-meeting-sat-july-22-11-a-m

Pam--good to hear!!

I am thinking about the Best of Spain, or perhaps Portugal. Or Scotland. Or Sicily. Or ...
The new tours will probably be on the website within the next 4 weeks or so, so no need to wait until September!
Happy dreaming!

I was looking at some of the 2018 tours that have been posted. There are several of the Village Italy tours that already have a waiting list. So, if you know of a specific trip you want to take, don't wait too long. Most of the early posted tours are for late winter and early spring departures. Keep dreaming, but take the first step and book if you're ready to go. If you change your mind, your deposit can be refunded for 30 days or you can switch to another tour that has availability.

Hi Judy - Oh how exciting. I love getting his new tour catalog. I sit down after work with a glass of wine and peruse the tours wishing I could go on all of them!! LOL. You already know my answer to where I am headed!! Already booked and confirmed on the 8 day heart of Ireland and 10 day Best of Scotland back to back in mid April - first week of May. Husband has never been and those two countries are calling me back. I am already.... thinking in my head of 2019, 2020 and 2021 possibilities.

Kim

For a short but intense experience of Italy, I liked Heart of Italy. I followed that tour with five nights in Venice. I can't do a lot of walking now, but if I could I would do that tour that includes hiking on the south coast of England. Portugal sounds good, too.

OK, back to a keyboard instead of the phone but I didn't want Julie to worry about Best of England any longer!!

So....I'm interested in Villages of Southern England. I let the time slip away this year and did not get it booked and I will not do that this year. May combine the Scotland tour with it. Various family members have raised their hands to go along including brother, SIL, nephew and the wonderful woman that will be his wife by tour time, SIL's sis/BIL. We'll offer the trip to the other nephew as well. (Both nephews went with us on Heart of Italy in 2013 and had a terrific time!) I've been on tours where there were huge groups of associated folks and it did impact the group experience. We will make sure that does not happen if we turn out to be 5 or 6 or 8 traveling together. Or it just might be me. And maybe some forum friends, lol!!

I've done a number of back to back tours and really enjoyed that! On the Best of England tour we had a discussion at dinner one night on what kind of combo works best. One couple had done the Portugal tour and was then doing Best of England. They liked the very different cultures and food. Another couple was doing Scotland and Best of England and then I think Ireland, and they felt they were having too much the same food/culture/etc and said next time they would go for very different tours instead of similar cultures. That time I did Best of England followed by Paris and Heart of France. I thought that was a wonderful combo.

I keep eyeing the Belgium and Holland tour which I want to do in spring so I can do Keukenhof. That might have to be 2019!

Fun thread, Judy. What about you?

Judy, I loved the Sears Roebuck catalog and I love to page through the Tour catalog, too. The England tour was my very first tour. At the time I took it the tour included Scotland. This was just the beginning, I am getting ready to take number 14 this September. Next year, I am leaning toward the Heart of Ireland, I will combine this with a self guided walk in the Cotswolds. The following year I am planing to retake the Village Itally tour. However, if some new enticing tour is developed, I am easily swayed and my plans could change.

Debra, Jane is currently posting her Village Italy trip report! I'm dreaming of taking that tour again too.

I'm enjoying reading your responses, everyone.

I would love Scotland next Fall. Of course, Best of England, Villages of Southern England, GAS, Munich, Salzburg & Vienna, Loire & the South of France, My Way France, Scandinavia, Tallinn, Helsinki & St. Petersburg are on my list. Too many places to go and too little time. I need to do back to back.
Pam, I would do Scotland and Loire & the South of France, two different cultures, languages, etc.
July 20 the rest of the tours will be announced! Can't wait to hear.

Julie, I do hope you will be able to do the Best of England tour. I'll see you Saturday.

Pam, when do you think you might do Scotland? I'm thinking of the one in October so I can take advantage of the Columbus Day holiday.

So fun to read all your responses!

Debra,
I'm going on the 8 Days Heart of Ireland tour Sept. 3 - 10. Post tour I am spending 5 days in London and have a day trip planned to the Cotswolds. I signed up for Becky's Secret Cottage tour which my friend, Julie, who has posted here and, is in our Atlanta Travel group, took recently. She came back with a very positive review of her experience. I like your idea of a self-guided walk in the Cotswolds. I think that sounds lovely, another trip idea on my bucket list!
I can so relate to your statement that you are easily swayed and could change tours on a whim!

I hope to go on the Belgium/Holland tour and the Eastern Europe tour! I also would love to go on the 8 day Munich, Vienna,Salzburg tour as I loved the GAS tour so much and the 8 day tour goes to some of the same places. So many great tours to choose from! I have done the week long tours back to back but never the bus tours back to back. I now stay a few days before and after a tour and love doing that. My favorite was staying in Vienna after the GAS tour! I loved Vienna and really want to go back to that amazing city. I also enjoyed staying in Dublin before and after the Ireland tour.

Judy, hope to see you in London!

Best,
Ann

I love hearing about everyone's travel plans! We had a hard time narrowing things down because we have so many on the wish list, but we have settled on Greece in April and Portugal in October. We've never done 2 in one year and are so excited! We've already reserved our spots. After this year we will have a hard time deciding between England, Ireland, Adriatic and Eastern France. Although we have also considered Prague and Budapest; St. Petersburg, Tallnin and Helsinki; Scandinavia; and a whole bunch of others. But dreaming is half the fun, right?

Tamara, I just returned from the RS Portugal, then Greece tours, in May/June, with extra days before, after and in between. Both tours (and countries) were really spectacular, so you will enjoy them I'm sure. I must admit that once I arrived in Greece, my experiences in Portugal quickly receded into the historical part of my brain. Hard to savor multiple things at the same time.
In 2016, I had planned to do the RS Bulgaria and Turkey tours in the fall, but the Turkey tours were canceled some weeks before, due to political disruption. I still had an extraordinary time in Bulgaria and spent a great week in Istanbul on my own, which was excellent, peaceful and quiet.
I just today saw that the Turkey Tour is on the schedule again for 2018, so that jumps to the top of my list for next year, along with, Scandinavia, Basque Country, and on and on.

I've been trolling the tour dates for the 2018 GAS tour to post. And to my great surprise, they posted yesterday. I was booked before I left for work! This will be our first RS tour. We're looking forward to how taking an organized tour is different from planning our own trips. I'm so happy we didn't have to wait until August to book. RS team, if your watching, thanks for posting a little early ;-)
~Alison

Larry - so glad to hear your positive reviews of the Greece and Portugal trips! The Greece trip has been on our radar for a long time and we decided this was the right time because we have family in Istanbul that we are going to spend a few days with first. Portugal has been on the "someday list, but we decided to do it this year because it is a bit shorter than others on our list so it fit in better. I'm excited about both!

I've been eyeing the Eastern European tours. I couldn't decide between the Best of Eastern Europe and the Best of the Adriatic. As a compromise I think I've decided on Best of Prague and Budapest followed by Best of the Adriatic. I'm also hoping to spend a few days in Krakow before heading to Prague. I have never taken a trip this long before, or done back-to-back tours, so this will be quite an experience if it all works out. At this point I'm just waiting to confirm vacation time at work so that I can book my tours!
Even though I've already read the tour descriptions in great detail, I also look forward to receiving the catalog. I like to hold books in my hands, it's one of the reasons I just can't get on board with digital copies of guidebooks.

Hi Rosemary,
Your plans sound amazing for Prague-Budapest and the Best of the Adriatic tours and back to back! It makes sense to take advantage of stretching your airfare dollars and it gives you the luxury of more time to feel immersed in the culture. I love the Tour catalog as well, all the pretty pictures!

I have signed up for the Turkey tour in 2018 and am thinking ahead to 2019, where should I go? Greece in 2019 and St. Petersburg maybe the next year or Scandinavia. So many places, so little time!
I hope you will report back when you make your decisions.

Doing the GAS tour in 2018 (with several days after in Prague)! But also at the top of my list are the Best of Europe in 21 days, Eastern Europe, South Italy, Best of Germany, Best of Bulgaria, Village England, Turkey and Loire to the South of France. So many places to see and so little time (and money) to see them in! And we have already done Greece. It was wonderful!!