Best of Scotland Tour Review

My husband and I are just finishing up the Best of Scotland RS tour, and since everyone on this site has been so helpful, I thought I should add a quick review of my tour in case it can help someone else. This was our first tour with anyone, and I was a bit hesitant. I was worried that difficult group dynamics might make everything uncomfortable, and I knew that being only 30 we would likely be the youngest by far on this particular tour. I quickly found that all those fears were completely unfounded. We arrived in Edinburgh three days before the tour started and really enjoyed having some free time to explore and adjust to the time change. We booked the extra nights at the tour hotel and they were very nice about merging our reservation with the tour so we didn't have to change rooms. We were the youngest by probably 20 years, but everyone was so welcoming and kind that I felt at home quickly. Because of all the talk about hotels maybe being quirky and discussion about more emphasis being on the location of the hotels, I was prepared for the hotels to be of a lesser quality than I was used too. They were so much nicer than I expected though! The breakfasts were all pretty good and the included dinners were very, very nice. There were a few things on the itinerary that I didn't think I would love - the whisky distillery tour and the battleground tour - just because they aren't really interests of mine. I discovered that even these I enjoyed very much. Our guide was very good about making our bathroom stops and lunch breaks at interesting places, so we saw lots of nice little towns and natural sites and castles that weren't on the itinerary. The guide also included so many extras I wasn't expecting, such as snacks like fruit and shortbread on the bus, dark chocolate to go with our whisky samples, and gifts at our goodbye dinner. She even arranged to have a bagpiper come after dinner one night to play for us and teach us about the history of the bag pipes. She offered many different kinds of extra walks in our free time, and she helped arrange dinner together on one of our free nights for those who wanted it. She played all different styles of Scottish music for us on the bus that coincided with the sites. She was always teaching us about the culture - ancient history as well as current history and politics and even pop culture as she pointed out places where things were filmed and where famous people had lived or visited. She even planned a picnic for us one day where she brought all sorts of locally produced cheeses and fish and fruit and she bought locally made beer and other beverages.
Each site we stopped at we usually had around 2 hours to see, which may not have been enough for some people but was perfect for us. I can't get over how much I saw and learned and we experienced in 10 days. I was surprised by just how nice the hotels and dinners were and how much I liked my tour members. I probably could have found a cheaper way to come to Scotland, but I wouldn't have been able to create such a full cultural immersion experience, and I would have wasted more time. Each place was so organized. We got on and off the bus and checked in and out of hotels quickly, so there was no wasted time. Our guide usually gave us our room assignments on the way to our new location, so we just got off the bus and asked for the key and we were in. All the tour members followed directions and were always on time. This was only my first tour, but most of the other tour members had been on several. One person had been on 10. I apologize if this sounds like a commercial, I just wanted to give a full, honest review and this was my experience. Please let me know if you have any questions about the tour. I really appreciate all the great tips I got on here. Can't wait for my next tour!