Veteran Tour Members: Ever do a BoE after several other tours? Thoughts?

Gretchen, we just got back from a 21 day BOE, our 12th RS tour. And yes, it was worth it. I always find going back to a place rewarding. You're already grounded, you have an idea of how the town or city is laid out, where the main points are, and what you want to see that you missed last time, or what you want to see again.

And believe it or not, this was our second time to take this tour! (Short version of the story: my DH wanted to revisit his favorite RS tour to celebrate a milestone anniversary year.) It was interesting to note how different the two tours were. We had different guides, different drivers, and at least some different local guides. So it was a very different experience.

There is some of the "If it's Tuesday...." vibe, but there's a lot of free time to follow your own interests. And again, you'll note places you want to return to another time, or places you don't care if you ever see again.

You may well also find yourself an unofficial "leader;" other people on the tour will follow your lead, or ask for advice, or ask to join you in your free time.

BTW, I told DH I'm done with the BOE; I don't care how many more decades we're married, twice is enough.

I have been on 5 RS tours and, on 6, to Turkey this October. I'm considering the 14 day BOE in 2019 because I will get a chance to revisit Venice in hopefully sunny weather! Plus, I have not been to Munich, Lauterbrunnen valley or Beaune so it would be a partially new to me tour. I can always go back to Paris, Venice, Florence or Rome!

As you already know, you have the option to do your own thing on any tour. Another benefit I foresee is that I can see other lesser-known sights once I have been to the biggies.

I'm sure you will enjoy any tour you decide upon. The My Way(R) BOE might be interesting to do. Even more opportunities to design your own itinerary.

Hi Gretchen, Yes, I think it was worth it. I went on the BOE tour after going on a number of Rick Steve tours, three Contiki tours and stayed with friends in England and Holland. I wanted to see more of the same cities I had been to as there is so much to see and I used my free time to see sites, places and churches I had not seen. I also had not been to the part of Switzerland the tour takes you or to Beaune and it had been years since I had been to Munich. I never stayed in Venice proper but loved Venice, so that was a treat and got to see the inside the Doge's Palace.

I loved this tour, it was an adventure. But what really made it worth while was knowing exactly what I wanted to see in my free time since I had already been to most places on the tour. I used my time wisely to make sure I got the most out of the free time and see the museums and sites I still wanted to see but had not been able to as you always run out of time! I even managed to go to a wonderful restaurant in Rome I had been to before and enjoyed for the second time and found a wonderful restaurant in Paris I had not been to before. Now that I have been on a number of tours and really felt I could get around Rome ( went on the week long tour twice), I even stayed an extra day in Rome by myself and was able to see a number of things, churches and other sites which I would not have been able to see if I did not go on this tour.

You will love the tour as long as you know you will be seeing some of the same things and then be able to see things you haven't see yet.

I am going on my 16th tour this year and going on the 8 day Munich, Salzburg, Vienna tour which as you well know is part of what the GAS tour goes to. I loved the GAS tour so much, I really want to see Munich, Salzburg, Vienna again!

Next year I hope to go to some place totally different that I have not been to. But this year, back to London and on the 8 day tour which will be wonderful to revisit all those cities.

Have a great time, no matter which tour you pick.

We went on 4 tours before we did the BOE14 with our teens a few years ago. The Paris part was the only part my kids had done before. My teen skipped out of some of the tours there while the rest of us enjoyed seeing them again. It gave him needed down time . My husband and I did VFR as our first RS tour. The kids had not been there. We enjoyed that we had a little knowledge of the area. It was the only tour we went on where except for us everyone else were 1st timers with RS. We all enjoyed the tour & found towns we did not think would be our favorite were for example Munich
Enjoy

I, for one, can say what happens when you take a 21 BofE RS tour as your first one. 15 more RS tours have happened!

We had been on several tours when we did the 21 day tour. We had been with 2 kids (18 and 20 yrs), backpacks and EurRail passes 10 years prior, using this itinerary with a few changes. After taking several RS tours, I wanted to repeat with local guides and not worrying about getting around. It was definitely fun and there is always something new. Our first trip was in August/September and our bus tour was in May. I remember being amazed at the smell of the wildflowers when hiking in Switzerland.
Our prior RS tours included Spain, Berlin,Prague,Vienna, Adriatic and Eastern France, so not a lot of overlap. We had also spent 3 weeks in Italy. Florence, Rome, Paris and Amsterdam seem to improve with repeated visits in my opinion.

We had been on several tours when we did the 21 day tour. We had been with 2 kids (18 and 20 yrs), backpacks and EurRail passes 10 years prior, using this itinerary with a few changes. After taking several RS tours, I wanted to repeat with local guides and not worrying about getting around. It was definitely fun and there is always something new. Our first trip was in August/September and our bus tour was in May. I remember being amazed at the smell of the wildflowers when hiking in Switzerland.
Our prior RS tours included Spain, Berlin,Prague,Vienna, Adriatic and Eastern France, so not a lot of overlap. We had also spent 3 weeks in Italy. Florence, Rome, Paris and Amsterdam seem to improve with repeated visits in my opinion.

Thanks for all your thoughts! I appreciate it, as always.

I was leaning towards the idea of doing the BoE, regardless of my previous tours anyway, so thank you for helping confirm my idea!

I’m glad you are going for it!

The first time I picked up a RS Tour book I was attracted to the 21 BOE. I did 2 other tours then decided I really had to do that one or might have regrets. It was fabulous.

Spend a couple of extra nights in Amsterdam and Haarlem if you can as well as a few more nights in Paris. I actually added the Best of Paris tour onto the end and that has made me really enjoy Paris!

Hi Gretchen, I think you could pick any of the RS tours and have a fantastic time - no bad options! One thing that might feel different than the other trips you’ve taken is the number of hours on transportation. The number of hours for the 14 or 21 day BoE averages about 2.6 which is the same as the Best of Ireland tour. If you’ve been mostly taking the city tours, you will definitely notice this aspect. For instance, the Venice/Florence/Rome 10-day averages .9 hours per day or even the Best of Italy averages 1.8 hours per day.