Hi, All,
Just wondering if anyone on the forum is on this tour. The info on the hotels and tour participants was just released. I'm very excited-this will be our first RS tour but we've travelled to Europe independently several times. We're arriving in Barcelona a couple of days early, staying at the tour hotel. I know many people on the tours don't know about the forum, but just in case there is anyone out there, please let me know.
Judy
Hi Judy,
We are on this tour. Myself, A C Bennett, spouse Linda, my brother Andy, his spouse Linda. We, also are arriving in Barcelona on the 24th. We are booked into the Sensation Sagrada Familia apartments before transferring to the tour hotel on the 26th. This will be our third and fourth RS tour as we are continuing on to the Portugal tour directly after Spain. We intend to visit places not on the tour itinerary for the two days prior, and possibly make a day trip (maybe more) out of the city.
We could possibly meet for tapas and drinks, or dinner, if you would like. If our past experiences with RS are any indication, these will be wonderful trips.
Linda and I have travelled in Europe several times on our own, and this will be our second excursion with Andy and Linda.
A C
Hi, AC,
I've sent you a Private Message. Thanks so much for your response. We'll see if any of our other tour mates respond.
Judy
Hello,
I am new to the RS forum. I am looking into tours to Spain. I am interested in the Best of Spain Tour. How was your experience?
Thanks so much!
Hi Judy,
I'm curious why you opted for a tour this time (since you've already traveled to Europe on your own)..is it specific to your perception of Spain and ease of getting around, etc?
Arlene, we really enjoyed the tour. It covered so much of the country and we saw so much. Our guide, Helen, was wonderful and so were the local guides. Even though I don't have another tour, or even another tour company, to compare it to, I can't imagine that it could have been much better. Have you had a chance to read the reviews of the tour (they are listed under each individual tour). I think you will see that they are overwhelmingly positive. Feel free to send me a private message if you have other questions. If the tour covers the parts of Spain you are interested in, I don't think you can go wrong.
Agnes, we decided on a tour for a few reasons: Spain is a big country and we hadn't traveled there before, so it did seem somewhat overwhelming to try to plan everything. We've also found in traveling independently that we sometimes waste time getting lost, waiting in lines, etc., and we wanted to avoid that. And we are getting older, so there was the appeal of turning over the logistics to someone else. On the downside, I enjoy the planning, and researching hotels and restaurants, but I got to do some of that for the days we spent in Spain before and after the tour. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Arlene...we took this tour last autumn and thoroughly enjoyed it. We had travelled in Nothern Spain on our own plus I had been all over the country as a 20y.o. (in 1960!).
This was our fourth RS tour and we chose it because it covered so much of the country and we knew from the previous tours that the guides would be well-worth listening to...and they certainly were. Our Susanna was a font of knowledge and a lot of fun to boot and the art historians in the various museums were terrific!
We're finding that taking a RS tour one year and our own trip the next year is the best of both worlds
(at least for us).
Would you be willing to share the name of your tour hotel in Madrid and in Barcelona?
JHF, if you are asking me, the hotels our tour used were the Catalonia Portal d'Angel in Barcelona, which was extremely nice with an outstanding buffet breakfast, and the Europa in Madrid, which was more moderate. Both were in excellent locations. Let me know if you want more information.
