We rate this adventure 3 stars. Why?
We travel to learn about other cultures, meet people and have fun.
We have been on 4 other tours that have had consistent leadership. This tour worked differently and did not feel as cohesive and ‘put together’. I felt Amy could not figure out if she was a tour leader or a member of the group. She seemed burned out. There was obvious confusion and hurt between Amy and the bus drivers Liam and Tonka. I thought it was professional of Tonka to give Amy her boss’s business card so she, Amy, could discuss her grievances with the supervisor instead of doing it publicly in front of the passengers in the first few seats. I thought the bus drivers did a great job of relaying history and attractions even though I suspect we went of generic tourist attractions. Candra’s half done ghost castle was a great addition. It was very special.
The several other trips that we have taken as walking vacations, whether led by one singular guide for the entire trip or by several site specific sub-contracted guides or drivers, have made the physical expectations of the attendees very clear in the marketing materials. These have included specifics about distances, length of time and elevations changes. This seems to have worked well for each past trip, until this one. Perhaps this could be made more clear in Walker Wellness materials, well beyond just the implication of the company name. And equally as important, our expectation that the tour leader would adjust the pace (or decompress schedules as needed for the slowest members of the group) was not met. I cannot help but think that the gap between the expectation and the actual conditions may have contributed to two falls.
Did you know there is a difference between the Vaults and Closes? We had the time, after you all left, to stop and visit the non tourist spots on the Royal Mile, like the old Kirk (church) near Hollyrood. The church had a great summary of Scottish history and it put all of the disjointed information that we learned together, for the first time.
We enjoyed our group and had fun getting to know the people. I hope all continues to work out well for Louise. I hope Bekah enjoyed her birthday tour.
Rich and Julie Sanders