Group Tour

(2nd of 3 parts on Brazil)

My husband and I took the “10-day Classic Baltics & Warsaw” tour with Gate 1 Travel (Fort Washington, PA; 800/682-3333, www.gate1travel.com), April 29-May 8, 2014. 

I’m a travel agent, but this was not a discounted tour in any way, as we paid full rate, so my review is as a traveler with an eye on what I would recommend to my clients.

We were so pleased with the 4-star hotels and their locations in Old Town squares, where most of the historical sites were. 

My wife and I traveled with Road Scholar (Boston, MA; 800/454-5768, www.roadscholar.org), June 10-23, 2014, on the first departure of their new tour “The Best of England & Wales: Shakespeare to Snowdonia, Castles to Colleges.”

It cost $4,996 each, including airfare from New York City. There were 24 in the group. We spent two nights in Windsor and three nights each in Stratford-upon-Avon, Wales and Keswick plus a night in Manchester.

Ireland and Scotland were on the list of places my husband, Ed, and I wanted to go. Early in 2014, David McGuffin’s Exploring Europe (Middleburg, FL; 800/570-1351, www.davidmcguffin.com) ran ads in ITN for small-group tours (12 people or fewer), including an “Ireland & Scotland” tour. A small group sounded good, so we signed up.

For a 12-day cruise around the British Isles, in Southampton, England, we boarded the Ruby Princess of Princess Cruises (Santa Clarita, CA; 800/774-6237, www.princess.com) on Aug. 24, 2014. The cruise and ports of call all were very good.

In Belfast, Northern Ireland, we took an excellent bus tour up to the Giant’s Causeway via the Antrim Coast and ended with a tour of the city on our return. The price of the 7½-hour tour was £25 (near $39) for each of us.

Visitors to New Zealand can use TravelPass bus passes offered by InterCity (Sky City Travel Centre, 102 Hobson St., Auckland, New Zealand; phone +64 9 583 5780).

InterCity TravelPass trips follow preplanned itineraries. TravelPasses are good for up to 12 months after purchase, and, for as long as the pass is valid, a rider can pause his trip and stay in one of InterCity’s destinations, then board a later bus to finish his trip. Passes also cover ferrying between islands (when applicable). The buses have free Wi-Fi, too. 

I spent five super-great weeks in the UK, mostly in Scotland, in late summer of 2013. Two of those weeks were spent doing tours with Explore! (Nelson House, 55-59 Victoria Rd., Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 7PA, U.K.; phone 0843 634 5157, www.explore.co.uk). one in Orkney and one in Hebrides and Skye.

I flew into Scotland on July 29 and around Aug. 4 joined the tour “Discover Orkney,” priced at £699 (near $1,093). It ended around Aug. 10. There wasn’t much walking on that one.

I traveled to Kenya, June 12-24, 2014, with Road Scholar (Boston, MA; 800/454-5768, www.roadscholar.org) and I want to commend the company for not canceling this tour even though there were only four of us. Apparently, there had been 16 people registered for this trip, but 12 canceled because of perceived danger in Kenya.

All of the promised accommodations, safaris and lectures (a hallmark of Road Scholar trips) were exactly as promised.

When my wife, Paula, and I visit Europe, we typically travel by train. But while arranging intercity transportation for our visit to the Baltic States in September 2014, our research indicated that buses were a better transit option in those countries.

A few minutes of Internet searching revealed that several bus companies served the region. Lux Express (www.luxexpress.eu), with its English (one of six languages available) website providing comprehensive information, quickly became my favorite.

A friend and I took an English garden tour in May 2011. We did research in English magazines at our library and on websites and settled on one with Brightwater Holidays (Eden Park House, Cupar, Fife, Scotland, KY15 4HS, UK; phone +44 01334 657155, www.brightwaterholidays.com).