Disappointed we can't attend the reunion on Friday

Uh, I don't think this was personal.

If you look at the tour reunion schedule, you will see that Ireland is with several other popular northern European countries, including the British Isles and Scandinavia. And the other time slots for other groups of countries might be inconvenient for those participants' work schedules. Not everyone works the same kind of hours.

For that matter, not everyone who goes on RS tours lives in the Seattle area, so many of us can't attend either, my husband and I included. The fact that the reunions are held in Edmonds makes sense to me. It was up to us to decide whether to fly up to Seattle from Tucson to attend ours. We chose not this time.

I feel your pain Joe. I cannot believe they did not personally contact you and organize their reunion schedule around your needs.

Personally, I think they knew your wife worked on Friday afternoons and planned it so you could not attend. It was a giant conspiracy.

Hard to believe you view this as a personal slight and that you believe organizers of an event as massive as the annual RS reunion would be able to consider schedules of all potential participants. BTW, you'd have to look long and hard to find any other tour organization that even offers a tour reunion event, let alone a reunion event encompassing all the tours they offer each year.

Maybe you could contact your tour mates and meet at one of the popular Irish bars in Seattle, instead. You pick the date/time. : )

Whoa, that's quite an expectation of "I paid for this and you now owe me something else" kinda attitude.
How in the world do you bring thousands of people together from around the country and expect to accommodate each persons individual schedule? We havnt the slightest possibility of attending any reunion from our trip, but read all the news and correspondence through the forum and get to feel connected this way. Can't wait for the actual participants to post how the reunion went! Joe, you need to chill and look at some pics from your trip and say "maybe next time"...

I was told this was done on purpose because nobody in the tour group liked Joe. They said he took everything personally and complained a lot.

Joe,

Are you serious????

The easy solution would be for your wife to take the afternoon "off". Also, having attended numerous tour reunions, I can tell you that few (if any) of your fellow tour members will likely show up so missing the occasion is no big deal. In addition, your guide may or may not be there (depending on which guide you had).

@ Ken....hoping neither of us has to contend with freezing fog this year! As I look out the window in N. Idaho to ...yep...freezing fog today, and hope you are having clearer weather in Canada.

Ken is right about the reunions. No one showed up but us last year for our tour group. We saw our guide but she was really busy working another area. It is an excellent time to check out the tours and plan what you want for this summer.

Other then that did you enjoy the play Mrs. Lincoln?

Perhaps the "No Grumps" RS Tour policy is being enforced for this reunion. Maybe someone from your Ireland tour reported you to the proper authorities. :O

So you weren't sent the memo that went out to everyone ELSE that the Ireland meeting has been changed to Sunday afternoon, and there will be free food and drinks and travel books for everyone?

I'm going with Norma's conspiracy theory. :)

I went on two tours to Israel (not with Rick Steves). We had great people on trip #1 and even better on trip #2. Some were on both trips. We had such a great time on the second trip that one of the group proposed a reunion where he lives in the mountains of North Carolina. Many attended though I did not. It was such a success that every year after someone hosted in their city and planned the events. We paid all our own expenses and got to visit old friends. Reunions have since been held in Kentucky, Seattle, New Orleans and New York. Maybe you could plan your own.