Anyone else on this tour?

Hi AussieKathy

My wife and I took this tour in September last year and in case you are interested you will find my trip report on this tour at:
Treasures of Turkey - September 2008

If you also have a look in Phil's excellent list of tour tales located at WHERE ARE ALL THE TALES? (which sits permanently second from the top of the Tour Tales section) you will also find 8 other trip reports on the Treasures of Turkey tour.

I also suggest that you have a look at Phil's Weblinks: Treasures of Turkey tour where you will find a wealth of informative links to information including the hotels on the tour, shopping tour highlights and much more.

I am sure you will have a fantastic time on this tour and I hope you are able to give us a report on your trip after you return.

Have a wonderful trip.

thanks Dragon, I have found all those links and they have been very helpful.

Can't believe no one else has joined me yet! Only three months to go!

Hi Kathy

Don't be too surprised if you fail to receive any responses from other people travelling on your tour. Unfortunatelly, the sad fact is that not too many people out there know about this Bulletin Board and as a result miss out on the opportunity to meet up with potential new friends before a tour and benefit from the wealth of information that is available from other Bulletin Board members.

Apart from last year's Bulletin Board Tour, on all of the tours that we have done, we have only ever met up with one other person on the Bulletin Board beforehand.

I'm sure you will finish up with a terrific bunch of people on your tour and that you will all have fantastic trip.

If you can, make sure that you do the Baloon Ride over Cappadoccia. Its fantastic.

Hi Kathy,

I've booked a spot on this trip to Turkey also. Sorry for the delay in responding to your original post I've only just signed up to the BB today, when I discovered your post.

Rosemary

Welcome Rosemary! Finally someone! I had almost given up. Are you travelling with friends or family?

I am on the bus tour with another couple so have opted to share with someone. We are in our late 40's. We are meeting up with some other friends at the end of the bus trip and doing a cruise on the Norwegian Jade and then spending another 10 days in Greece after the cruise. Can't wait!

Only 10 weeks to go I'm sure that time is going to fly by before we know it.

Phil, I had noticed not many people use these boards which is a shame. I have been on the Cruise Critic boards chating and organising optional tours with lots of people that are doing the same cruise as us after the Turkey tour and it's so much fun finally meeting everyone on the ship.

I will check in more often now so hopefully we can manage a couple of more people.

Kathy

Kathy,
It's not long to go now - I leave Australia in 2 months.

It would be great if a few more people going onthis tour jumped on board the BB.

Rosemary

Hi Kathy,

quote:

Phil, I had noticed not many people use these boards which is a shame. I have been on the Cruise Critic boards chating and organising optional tours with lots of people that are doing the same cruise as us after the Turkey tour and it's so much fun finally meeting everyone on the ship.

Whilst there has been quite a deal of both online and offline discussion on encouraging greater participation of possible future/present/past Insight travellers on this Bulletin Board (see, for example, Developing our online community and other topics in the Development of Insight's Online Community forum), the comparison of the Insight BB with the Cruise Critic board is rather irrelevant, given that there are 40 or less passengers on a typical Insight tour in contrast with up to 2,466 passengers on a Norwegian Jade cruise.

Besides which, I am not convinced that meeting passengers on this BB that you will be travelling with on a specific tour is a significant benefit. I have travelled 8 times with Insight and my wife 10 times and we have only met fellow passengers prior to a tour twice. A couple of times on tour I have had fellow passengers tell me that they knew who I was having visited the BB but hadn't bothered to introduce themselves prior to the tour.

Far more important, in my view, is providing a resource for potential and intending travellers to learn about Insight Vacations, coach touring generally and about specific Insight tours. To this end, you will find on this Bulletin Board:

• over 210 detailed tour journals (see: Where Are All the Tales?)
  
• approximately 8,000 photos (see: Where are ALL the Photos & Videos?)
  
• a wealth of travel advice, tips, checklists and weblinks (see: A Collection of Links to Archived BB Travel Advice, Tips, Tour Weblinks & Checklists)
  
• guidance on budgetting for daily expenditure during tours (see: INSIGHT's Guide to Budgeting for Tours)
  
• the opportunity to meet and raise questions with some Tour Directors prior to a tour (see: the Tour Director Introduction forum and the Tour Director Hotlines and Q&A Sessions forum)
  
• Information on day to day activities at Insight with John Boulding, Insight Travel Group's President/CEO (see: Online Blog), and,
  
• news of what's happening at Insight Vacations (see: Announcements by Insight Vacations)

A very successful and unique tour for Bulletin Board members was held last year and many BB members have participated in the planning of another BB tour for next year, on which the Insight Group President/CEO will be travelling.

Approximately 8,500 people (equivalent to approximately 3.2 cruise boatloads) have registered to use this Bulletin Board but it seems that a large majority of them are perfectly happy to browse for information, without necessarily posting messages. Many other unregistered people also browse.

Amongst this group of registered members there is a substantial group of past Insight travellers who regularly visit the BB and assist future travellers with answers to their questions.

phil

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

Very true Phil - have found all the information very helpful in planning my trip.