Original Scotland Itinerary

[Networth]

Does anyone happen to have the original Scotland Itinerary from the first 1-2 years the trip ran, prior to all the modifications? Or possibly remember some of the highlights? I am curious to see what it looked like since everyone raves about it. Thanks!

 

[Mathmagicland]

Found this on allears.net - One of their people did the Scotland AbD the first year it was offered, 2013.

https://allears.net/2012/06/07/my-next-adventure-scotland/

 

[RogueX]

I made my own itinerary for a trip to Scotland years ago and one place that no tour company ever seems to go is Fairy Glen. The best word I can use to describe it is: wow.

 

[sayhello]

If you *really* want to know what the original Scotland itinerary was like, read this fabulous Trip Report by @calypso726 . I was interested in this trip, but after reading her report, I was dying to take it!!

https://www.disboards.com/threads/our-scotland-brave-adventure.3150065/

(P.S. it really was an incredible itinerary!!)

Sayhello

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Found this on allears.net - One of their people did the Scotland AbD the first year it was offered, 2013.

https://allears.net/2012/06/07/my-next-adventure-scotland/

Great find. That’s it. I did this tour the first year and it was awesome. Right up there with China as my faves.

If you *really* want to know what the original Scotland itinerary was like, read this fabulous Trip Report by @calypso726 . I was interested in this trip, but after reading her report, I was dying to take it!!

https://www.disboards.com/threads/our-scotland-brave-adventure.3150065/

(P.S. it really was an incredible itinerary!!)

Sayhello

I was on this trip with Calypso and couldn’t agree more. Great trip report and great group of people to travel with.

 

[Bobo912]

I made my own itinerary for a trip to Scotland years ago and one place that no tour company ever seems to go is Fairy Glen. The best word I can use to describe it is: wow.

We did the Outer Hebrides tour with Rabbie's Trailblazer 2 years ago and we went to the Fairy Glen.

 

[RogueX]

We did the Outer Hebrides tour with Rabbie's Trailblazer 2 years ago and we went to the Fairy Glen.

Thanks, that's good to know, especially if my husband ever decides he's not doing the drive again.

 

[calypso726]

Does anyone happen to have the original Scotland Itinerary from the first 1-2 years the trip ran, prior to all the modifications? Or possibly remember some of the highlights? I am curious to see what it looked like since everyone raves about it. Thanks!

Late to the party here but it looks like @sayhello linked my trip report. We have done 11 ABD trips and Scotland remains the favorite. It was magical!

 

[Calfan]

Late to the party here but it looks like @sayhello linked my trip report. We have done 11 ABD trips and Scotland remains the favorite. It was magical!

Ditto from another DISer who was on the same Scotland departure as @calypso726 and @CaliforniaGirl09!! Still my favorite ABD out of the 4 we have done.

 

[AquaDame]

Ditto from another DISer who was on the same Scotland departure as @calypso726 and @CaliforniaGirl09!! Still my favorite ABD out of the 4 we have done.

I went back and read @calypso726's report... all this time I thought you all must have flown to isle of skye! Now I'm even more confused about them taking it off the itinerary.

 

[sayhello]

I went back and read @calypso726's report... all this time I thought you all must have flown to isle of skye! Now I'm even more confused about them taking it off the itinerary.

Report was people thought it was too much bus time. I totally disagree, but oh well.

Sayhello

 

[Calfan]

I went back and read @calypso726's report... all this time I thought you all must have flown to isle of skye! Now I'm even more confused about them taking it off the itinerary.

Report was people thought it was too much bus time. I totally disagree, but oh well.

Sayhello

The days on the Isle of Skye were probably my overall favorites of the trip. I don't recall thinking it involved too much bus time to include it.

 

[AquaDame]

Compared to some of the other days on other trips I agree... especially with the payoff given. Plus the hotel seems close by too, so its not a long drive back at the end of the day. Oh well.

 

[Grifdog22]

Seems like they are often tinkering with trips based on feedback from a few vocal complainers. Sometimes for the better-loved the Byrons Bay addition to Australia. There is very little of the Winter wonderland trip we took that now remains. Sometimes for the worse-I can’t imagine going to Australia without Uluru and they so vastly improved it before ripping it out.
Didn’t the locals at Isle of sky complain about too many visitors once ABD started their trips? I may be mistaken...
How I wish I had booked New Zealand this year, but we hadn’t time to research the new stuff and the wife was still upset over the France cancellation so we jumped on the new Poland...on which she will be very happy as we add Lithuania days and a day in Vilnius. IF Americans can behave themselves long enough to let us all out of quarantine which looks increasingly unlikely.

 

[Grifdog22]

Just my two cents

 

[sayhello]

The days on the Isle of Skye were probably my overall favorites of the trip. I don't recall thinking it involved too much bus time to include it.

I totally agree with this. The days on Skye and the day on the Isle of Lewis were the highlights for me. And I totally didn't think it was too much bus time. You got Eilean Donan castle in there, also!

Compared to some of the other days on other trips I agree... especially with the payoff given. Plus the hotel seems close by too, so its not a long drive back at the end of the day. Oh well.

Yes, once you were on Skye, the hotel was relatively close to what we did. And it was a beautiful hotel with a gorgeous setting!

Seems like they are often tinkering with trips based on feedback from a few vocal complainers. Sometimes for the better-loved the Byrons Bay addition to Australia. There is very little of the Winter wonderland trip we took that now remains. Sometimes for the worse-I can’t imagine going to Australia without Uluru and they so vastly improved it before ripping it out.
Didn’t the locals at Isle of sky complain about too many visitors once ABD started their trips? I may be mistaken...
How I wish I had booked New Zealand this year, but we hadn’t time to research the new stuff and the wife was still upset over the France cancellation so we jumped on the new Poland...on which she will be very happy as we add Lithuania days and a day in Vilnius. IF Americans can behave themselves long enough to let us all out of quarantine which looks increasingly unlikely.

Yes, they re-did the first day of the Iceland trip, flipping the Welcome dinner's restaurant to the Farewell dinner, and taking everyone to the Blue Lagoon together for the Welcome Dinner after they'd settled in. I do think that was an improvement. But what they did to Scotland was just sad. And taking Uluru out of Australia has me doubting if I'll be doing Australia with ABD.

And it was the folks on the Isle of Lewis who complained about folks invading them once a week on the ABDs. The Isle of Lewis we *did* fly to on a charter plane.

I hope they don't mess up New Zealand or Portugal too much after the first year, because I don't see me signing up for either in 2021.

Sayhello

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

I'm skeptical of the too much bus time. I think it was not enough profit time.

 

[Bobo912]

I totally agree with this. The days on Skye and the day on the Isle of Lewis were the highlights for me. And I totally didn't think it was too much bus time. You got Eilean Donan castle in there, also!
Yes, once you were on Skye, the hotel was relatively close to what we did. And it was a beautiful hotel with a gorgeous setting!
Yes, they re-did the first day of the Iceland trip, flipping the Welcome dinner's restaurant to the Farewell dinner, and taking everyone to the Blue Lagoon together for the Welcome Dinner after they'd settled in. I do think that was an improvement. But what they did to Scotland was just sad. And taking Uluru out of Australia has me doubting if I'll be doing Australia with ABD.

And it was the folks on the Isle of Lewis who complained about folks invading them once a week on the ABDs. The Isle of Lewis we *did* fly to on a charter plane.

I hope they don't mess up New Zealand or Portugal too much after the first year, because I don't see me signing up for either in 2021.

Sayhello

What did ABD guests do that bothered the locals so much? It's not like there aren't other tourists. We saw big motor coaches from the cruise ships while we were there. And the smaller tour buses, like the ones Rabbies and some of the other UK companies use, were all over. Maybe they complain about those too.

 

[sayhello]

What did ABD guests do that bothered the locals so much? It's not like there aren't other tourists. We saw big motor coaches from the cruise ships while we were there. And the smaller tour buses, like the ones Rabbies and some of the other UK companies use, were all over. Maybe they complain about those too.

On the Isle of Lewis? Interesting, because we didn't see any other tours while we were there. Hmmm. Yes, maybe they complain about everything!

Sayhello

 

[Bobo912]

On the Isle of Lewis? Interesting, because we didn't see any other tours while we were there. Hmmm. Yes, maybe they complain about everything!

Sayhello

Before we arrived at the Callanish Stones, our tour guide called ahead to ask the folks at the visitor's center to save some tables for us at the little cafe there, because sometimes the big buses come and fill it up. When we arrived there was a motor coach from a cruise line just pulling into the parking lot ahead of us. We're thinking oh no there's going to be a big crowd. And then a little gray haired couple got off the huge bus followed by nobody. Very big bus for two people. There were very few people there until just shortly before we left when another motor coach showed up with more people . We also met a few of the big buses on those tiny roads. Glad I wasn't driving! Maybe it was the time of year. We were there in August. We also visited some places where we were the only ones there.