We enjoyed ourselves immensely on the 2008 BB tour.
For the next one, we would like a similarly paced tour in southern England or Southern France.
In England, please avoid London, Bath, Stonehenge and Stratford. What about smaller towns/cities in Kent, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall?
We love France. Strasbourg and Colmar were treats! We have done the Grand Tour (great!) and the Country Roads (okay). We would like to avoid Paris and fly into Lyon or Nice and then concentrate on Southern France, especially along the Mediterranean. What else is available in addition to what was included in your previous tours? We would love some suggestions.


Bill and Diane

Phil...


Insight really wants our input on BB tour ideas, etc.

2009/2010 Members Tour
(QUOTE)
"Dear BBers, It would be great to hear your ideas, views, suggestions for another Members Tour in the future. Please post your ideas for itineraries and dates over the coming weeks. We will collate this information and set up polls to ascertain what tour/dates best suite you...."

I would like to do a tour of Italy including the Amalfi Coast if possible and Sicily. My preferred time would be around October 09.

Bill and Diane, I like your suggestion. There are so many lovely areas in England and France that I see on travel shows, like Rick Steves, but most tours concentrate on the more well known areas. I would also love to do Southern France and skip Paris. I'd like to see parts of England that I didn't see the first time. Maybe some type of combination England/France tour would be nice, that includes the "less traveled" cities and towns. Maybe throw in Wales too. It's a beautiful country, but most tours just zip through it. I would like to see more of it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Linda,

quote:

Originally posted by margaretc:
I would like to do a tour of Italy including the Amalfi Coast if possible and Sicily. My preferred time would be around October 09.

The Amalfi Coast is a must see in Italy! I would even consider a night stay on Capri instead of a a normal one day visit.

If the BB Tour includes Rome, Italy, I have a suggestion: PLEASE INCLUDE a visit to Rome's Pantheon (the temple of all the gods. AD 118-125 by Emperor Hadrian.)

Most tours do not. They drive near it and say there it is.

Can I suggest September? Visit places like Monaco, Tuscany, Cinque Terra, Sorrento, Italian Lakes. Weather is great in September and almost everyone loves Italy.

Gen

Having carefully read through all the details of the 2008 BB members’ tour, I have tried to discern what made that itinerary attractive enough for almost 30 people to book that tour, rather than something else from Insight's brochure. Whilst there was the attraction for several to meet others that they had previously been communicating with via the BB, there were quite a few tour members who were not BB regulars.

Back in early 2007, Insight put the following tour suggestions to a vote:

- Vineyards and Wine Festivals of France [9 votes]
- The Romantic Roads and Alpine Wonderland of Germany [28 votes]
- Treasures of Portugal, the Algarve and Southern Spain [13 votes]
- Sicily and Malta in depth (this is now a regular tour) [9 votes]
- Other (to be decided) [5 votes]

The Romantic Roads and Alpine Wonderland of Germany tour itinerary was clearly based on the Insight Country Roads of Romantic Germany tour (which last ran in 2003) with the sections through the Black Forest and Alsace back to Rudesheim added on. However, the intending travellers were also able to suggest quite a number of enhancements to Insight's original proposal (eg. Ehrwald rather than Innsbruck, traditional hotels wherever possible, etc.) and this seemed to be a significant factor.

A few BB members have suggested Italy/Sicily for the next BB tour. However, using the number of tour journals posted on this BB as a very rough measure, 36% of journals cover either tours in Italy or Discovery tours that spend time in Italy. This tells me that selling a BB tour based on Italy might be much more difficult than the 2008 tour, unless it covered areas of Italy not usually visited on Insight tours and there aren't many!

Others have suggested the smaller towns/cities in Kent, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall and these are indeed very interesting for touring: I have done so several times by car, staying in B&Bs. In my view, the paucity of coach tours in these areas is mostly a reflection of the poor access in many of these areas for coach size vehicles and the lack of "Insight" standard accommodation of an adequate size. Wales also has many interesting places to visit that are not included in Insight's itineraries.

Another suggestion involves the area of southern France and although the CR tour of France covers a few places in this region, there are many other towns and cities in this region which could be explored on a BB tour. These could be combined with several places of interest in northern Spain and Portugal.

Given the recent major currency devaluations in many southern hemisphere countries, 2010 would probably be best for many travellers from this part of the world.

phil

quote:

These could be combined with several places of interest in northern Spain and Portugal.

I agree with Northern Spain Phil.This part of the country is very scenic and green. For those who have been to other parts of Spain you would find this very different. Northern parts of Portugal are also worth seeing.

I also have to add my favourite-Morocco.The most fascinating country I have ever visited. I think however, this would be to radical for most and take them out of their "comfort" zone.
Jim

I was not fortunate enough to be able to go on the BB tour but have read with much interest the comments of all who went. It certainly appears everyone had a wonderful time for several reasons, including the itinerary and the Tour Guide and Driver.

I agree with Phil on the suggestion of a tour to the smaller villages of France and then into Spain. I spent 3 weeks in France with a french family and had the most incredible experience of my life touring the many villages of the Dordogne and the caves and cycling the islands in the Atlantic coast. The Pyrenees mountains are also worth seeing, in fact France is beautiful everywhere.