Let me start off by saying how much my wife and I enjoyed our trip. The entire group was friendly and everyone got on very well, we met people we want to maintain a relationship with and even met people that lived in the same places we did in the past.
Our guide was a delight! She mixed humor in with her historical narratives. She was a great source of information and it is quite evident that she loves Scotland very much. She was flexible in a way that made the tour enjoyable but at the same time allowed all of the places we were to see and things to do happen.
Everyone will have their favorite activity or place on their tour, but I enjoyed the Highlands the most. The mountains and lakes formed by the last ice age is very similar to the topography of upstate New York that was also formed during the last ice age.
Learning of the struggle of the Scots for freedom over the past centuries as very poignant. It doesn't matter if you are of Scots
heritage or not, you can relate to their desire for full autonomy.
Our hotel rooms were top notch, better than any of the major chains we have stayed in. The dinners provided had a set menu but the choices and the food was very good. Everyone had free time to explore and find their own places to eat in; that is part of the fun.
We saw the arrival of guests for what I guess was a upper class wedding. Most of the men wore kilts and each couple was piped as they walked up the sidewalk from the parking lot. The wedding car was a Rolls-Royce!
Lets see, we saw working sheep dogs and that was very impressive. We rode a cable car to the top of a ski slope, visited a Crannog, saw 4,000 year old cairns and took a ferry to Iona. Lets just say that the activities were varied and interesting.
I can't end this without mentioning our coach driver; he was very engaging personally and could drive that coach in seemingly impossible traffic and road conditions. We trusted him completely.
This was our first Rick Steves' tour and our first visit to Scotland. We will definitely plan on doing another tour.
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