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Post by tiffany on Dec 30, 2014 13:02:51 GMT
Hi, has anyone done this tour with Trafalgar? If so, did you write a tour tale? I found one from 2002, but it was with Insight not Trafalgar. I’ll give it a read, but would like to find something more recent.
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Post by californian on Dec 31, 2014 20:51:00 GMT
Tiffany, I did this tour in 2007 but did not write a tale. I think you can find more or less the same info in other tales, Bohemian Highlights has a similar itinerary for the most part, and I think there are (or were) a couple of tales of it. You won't see much of Vienna on this tour unless you go a day or two earlier, because it leaves the next morning, and coming back there is not enough time, just dinner and a concert. It's a wonderful tour, still one of my favorites. There are a few very long drives though, especially, Budapest-Krakow and Warsaw-Berlin. I am not keeping up with new admitted Schengen countries, but a that time they were a few time consuming border crossings.
Not sure how much I would remember, but if you any question, either myself or Saki (she loved this tour) might be able to help.
Happy New Year Tiffany.
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Post by tiffany on Jan 3, 2015 19:00:20 GMT
Thanks for the info. My friend seems more interested in this tour than the Greece tour for 2015, so we are considering it. I'm glad you enjoyed it, despite some of the long coach rides. I don't mind that as long as we get sufficient time in each city. It's good to know that there's not a lot of time in Vienna, as both my friend and I love that city and would like to see more of it. We would definitely consider arriving a day early or leaving a day late. She's supposed to let me know in the next week or two what tour she wants to go on. Once she's made a decision, I can start looking at the tour tales for some of the other similar tours.
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Post by californian on Jan 3, 2015 19:24:48 GMT
Tiffany, it does stop at very interesting places, as Poznan, a lunch stop but enough to get a quick meal and walk around the beautiful center. And the most interesting for me was Dresden, another lunch stop,(we had a quick guide) but the city is so historic, I will always regret having not done enough research on these two cities to appreciate them even more. Of course Berlin has so much to offer, same as Krakow. And Prague. And Budapest. And Ljubljana. And Auschwitz. The ride thru Slovakia is very pretty, it was raining that day, which to me it makes even prettier even if we probably missed the mountain views. I would do this tour again if I had the time and money to do it over.
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Post by tiffany on Jan 5, 2015 12:44:53 GMT
I’m glad to hear you liked this tour so much Californian! It must have been a great tour! I’ve been to both Dresden and Berlin before, but would love to go back again. Dresden is a beautiful city, and I would have loved more time on museum island in Berlin. There’s never enough time to see everything when on tour. I’ve been wanting to go on this tour for a few years now, so I don’t mind putting Greece on hold, again, in order to do this tour first. I will make it to Greece someday though!
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denise
Junior Member
Posts: 86
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Post by denise on Jan 11, 2015 4:19:44 GMT
Hi Tiffany I did Trafalgar's Bohemian Highlights tour in Sep/Oct 2011 - this was my first tour with Trafalgar, it was fabulous. I posted a tour review on Trafalgar's community website. I know there were a few other reviews of this tour. I still have my handwritten diary from this tour - I am to happy to post the tour review on this forum if you would like?
I see some of the hotels are still the same e.g. Berlin, Warsaw and Vienna - these were all great hotels in good locations (walking distance from major sites in Berlin and Warsaw, and easy to walk to metro in Vienna).
Our TD - Malcolm (a Kiwi) was very good and I've read other reviews of tours that he's conducted and everyone was very happy with him.
My daughter (22 at the time) travelled with me - this was her first trip to Europe and her first ever conducted tour - she loved it, took heaps of photos and was enraptured by the abundance of statues in all the places we visited.
We only did 2 optionals (as we like time to explore by ourselves) - the salt mines near Krakow and the evening dinner cruise on the Danube in Budapest, both very good.
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Post by tiffany on Jan 12, 2015 13:04:10 GMT
Hi Denise, I’m glad you enjoyed your tour. I looked into Bohemian Highlights as an alternative to the Eastern Europe tour, as it seems that a lot of people really like this tour, however, I don’t want to go back to Frankfurt and I like the fact that the Eastern Europe tour goes into Slovenia and Croatia, so I think I’ll stick with this tour. My friend is still waiting to find out what’s happening with her job before she can commit to coming with me, and should know by mid February. Once she knows for sure, we will pick and book our tour. It would seem that Greece is still in the running, so I’m not sure yet if we will be booking this tour or the Greece tour. If she doesn’t come with me, I will go to Greece on my own, and we can do this tour together next year.
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Post by Oz-T on Jan 13, 2015 5:43:26 GMT
Tiffany, Bohemian Highlights is probably your best guide for the Eastern Europe tours. I recall there being a Trafalgar travel tale for Highlights of Eastern Europe, but that's all disappeared now. I know that Bohemian Highlights differs from HoEE but it should at least serve as a guide.
For Bohemian Highlights, Owen was able to salvage a travel tale from LKD and Chech provided a link to hers offsite. Just check the travel tales section. My own travel tale for BH wasn't copied here as I already have a copy that I need to get around to re-posting on this forum.
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Post by tiffany on Jan 13, 2015 12:56:48 GMT
Thanks Oz. I did find a tour tale for an Eastern Europe tour with Insight that I plan on reading when I have a little bit more time. I know it’s not exactly the same, but it’s close enough.
The Bohemian Highlights tour looks like good tour, and everyone seems to have good things to say about it, but I don’t want to go back to Frankfurt, and would rather go to the cities that the Eastern Europe tour goes to. I’ll still look into the Bohemian Highlights tour tale when I have some time.
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Post by Oz-T on Jan 13, 2015 21:14:58 GMT
Yes, Frankfurt isn't really a rivetting tourist city, being mainly a commercial centre. I was pleased to have seen it, but a return visit isn't a priority. However, I would mention that Bohemian Highlights did not make a major attraction of Frankfurt - the coach merely finished the tour there. After parking, the group was left to wander about the old town area for an hour before assembling at a restaurant for a farewell dinner. Anybody wishing to see a lot of Frankfurt would have been disappointed (which they weren't). Frankfurt does have an advantage of being a major aviation hub, so flying home from there would be convenient (we took the train to Paris). My references to Bohemian Highlights weren't about persuading you to do that tour; the BH travel tales are actually a good way of learning about many of the places you would see on Highlights of Eastern Europe.
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Post by tiffany on Jan 14, 2015 12:38:50 GMT
Good to know Oz. I’ll look into reading the tour tales for Bohemian Highlights shortly. Work has been crazy for me right now, and I’m staying at my uncles while work is being done on my place, so I haven’t had much free time for reading. I may just print them out so I can read them on the subway.
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Post by bet on Jan 18, 2015 9:37:11 GMT
Hi Tiffany, this looks a good tour, bonus too that it has 2 night stops all the way except for the start & end. I haven't been to Slovenia or Crotia yet, but I want to one day as they are up and coming destinations and Lake Bled looks really nice.. Prague is beautiful but very touristy now and I liked Warsaw even though I didn't read many good reviews about it before I left and Auschwitz is a must in my opinion.
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Post by tiffany on Jan 19, 2015 12:47:36 GMT
Hi Bet, I’ve been wanting to go on this tour for a few years now, so I told my friend I would put Greece on hold for this tour if she’s available to come with me. She’s waiting to find out if she’s being transferred at work before committing, and she should know this week. She did tell me that she’s still interested in Greece though, so we may be going on that tour after all! I really don’t care as long as I do one of them! I’m hoping to put my deposit down soon!
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Post by bet on Jan 20, 2015 12:02:53 GMT
Tiffany, both tours look good so you can't go wrong. Im looking forward to hearing about either of them when you get back... I'm looking at doing Greece and maybe Turkey as well next year
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Post by tiffany on Jan 20, 2015 12:36:58 GMT
Hi Bet, I went to Turkey a few years ago, and loved it. I went on Trafalgar’s Best of Turkey tour, and it was one of my favourite tours.
If I go on the Easter Europe tour this year, I’ll probably go to Greece next year. I will make it to Greece some day!
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Post by bet on Jan 23, 2015 10:26:22 GMT
Hi Tiffany - Turkey looks amazing and everyone I know that has been there loves it, so it's been on my list for a while. I hope to get to Croatia, Slovenia and Greece one day too. I think the Greece tour in particular will be good to do with a friend. A work colleague did the 7 night Aegean cruise with Trafalgar 2 years ago and she loved it and her photos looked great, although I'm considering the Island Hopper tour as you spend more time on the islands although you don't see as many of them and maybe with Globus. Planning is half the fun
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Post by tiffany on Jan 23, 2015 12:55:58 GMT
I’ve heard that Insight’s tour of Turkey is also really good. It’s more expensive than Trafalgar’s tour, but it’s a day longer. I know you didn’t have the best experience with Insight on your Switzerland tour, but don’t rule them out. I’ve been on two Insight tours and they were both great.
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Post by bet on Jan 29, 2015 11:15:32 GMT
I have looked at Insight's Turkey tour, I'm not fussed on Insight as you would know, and didn't find they offered much more for the price paid. I wouldn't rule them or any others out, as it depends on itinerary and price. I'm having enough trouble making my mind up for this years travels so I'm sure it will be no different when I do eventually get to Turkey and Greece
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Post by gary2002 on Mar 23, 2015 21:11:07 GMT
In early 2012, I looked at all of the tours in Trafalgar's Europe brochure and this one sounded most interesting -- I'd previously been to Italy twice and to Spain -- but I wondered how good a tour into formerly Communist states of Eastern and Central Europe would be. Boy, was I wrong, it was wonderful!!!
In October 2012. In March 2012, I booked the tour, the flights and two pre-nights (not at the Trafalgar hotel) in Vienna. Since I was arriving two days early and leaving very early on the last day, I also booked and paid for two transfers between the Vienna airport and the hotels. In early August, I was notified that my first flight had been cancelled so I contacted American Airlines. They apologized saying my flight was still on schedule. Then, later in August, Trafalgar notified me that they had cancelled the tour but they said there were still a few seats on the same tour a week earlier and Trafalgar paid the airline's change-fees. But, I still had to change my vacation and re-book the flights, the two pre-nights at the Vienna hotel and the two transfers in Vienna. (What a hassle!)
When I returned from that tour, I regretted not knowing what other places -- not in the "included" tour nor in the "optionals" -- I should've seen during my "free-time" in each city.
In October 2014, I repeated the same tour. In January 2014, I booked the tour, the flights and two pre-nights (not at the Trafalgar hotel) in Vienna. Since I was arriving two days early and leaving very early on the last day, I also booked and paid for two transfers between the Vienna airport and the hotels. This time, my flights and the tour were NOT cancelled.
In March 2014, I bought the DK "Eyewitness Travel Guide: Eastern and Central Europe" to study but it was too general; it didn't provide many details about what to see in each city. But, using the experiences from the October 2012 tour, some additional research plus city-maps I picked up at each hotel that the tour stayed at, I saw many of the other not-to-be-missed places in each city.
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Post by tiffany on Mar 24, 2015 11:50:07 GMT
Hi Gary, I’m glad you enjoyed this tour. My friend and I are going on this tour in Oct of 2016 with a couple I met from Australia. I also bought the Eyewitness Travel Guide for Eastern and Central Europe which I will read before going, and I will look up any other info I need on line. It’s good to know that you enjoyed this tour, and this part of Europe so much that you went back a second time.
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Post by tiffany on Jun 17, 2015 12:10:34 GMT
Trafalgar has released its 2016 dates for this tour, and my friends and I are going to book it when I get back from Greece in October. Luckily, the preview prices are about the same as they are this year. Let’s hope they stay that way and doesn’t go up.
My friend and I decided not to go on a cruise next winter, and instead to go to London for 4 or 5 days before starting this tour. We are also going to add a day or two in Vienna before the tour starts, so we’ll be gone a little over 3 weeks. I’m looking forward to it and it hasn’t even been booked yet!
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Post by plane2catch on Jun 21, 2015 9:54:59 GMT
Tiffany, I took this trip back in 2010. I took EOEE in part because I had been to some of these same city locations way back in 1980 when the old Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia were in existence. I remember the difficulty of the board crossings in thus days and even observing the coach driver bribing the custom official with a few bottles of liquor to make the transfers go quickly without a four or five hour wait at the border. I really enjoyed my return visit to Budapest. Also, I booked my own private half day tour to Lake Plitvice National park as its a UNESCO site and wasn't an available optional the year I went. I absolutely loved the Salt Mines in Krakow Poland. The other thing I remember that it was a long day on the bus between Krakow and Berlin. Checked out the old Checkpoint Charlie and worked the streets of the old East Germany which I had done thirty years earlier and so much had changed. There was actually life and activity in those old streets that seemed so sterile back in 1980. We had a great time and I am sure you will love the trip. In the past before I retired I was disciplined and always booked and paid my trip in full a year in advance to get the additional 10 percent off. I see TT has changed their discount structure a little now with specific dates to be prepaid for the discount instead of the old 4 to 6 months, 7 to 12 months and at the actual 12 month threshold. At least I think those were their old breakdown. Hope to see some pictures of your travel when you have returned.
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Post by californian on Jun 21, 2015 22:01:57 GMT
Plane2catch, if you are a Costco member you can book Trafalgar with them and save 10% just for doing so, plus the other discounts, and 5% for air. I have done this many times, I comes to almost 25% with the added benefit of getting 2% from Amex. Well worth a membership.
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Post by plane2catch on Jun 22, 2015 0:08:36 GMT
Plane2catch, if you are a Costco member you can book Trafalgar with them and save 10% just for doing so, plus the other discounts, and 5% for air. I have done this many times, I comes to almost 25% with the added benefit of getting 2% from Amex. Well worth a membership. Yes, California that is exactly how I have booked the majority of my Trafalgar trips in the past. Sam's club use to do the same for it's members with Insight tours but I see that then no longer are offering this. I still think that Trafalgar has changed some of the percentage prepayment discounts other than than the I year, or 12 month, paid in full 10% discount. I just purchased TTs Patagonia Adventure as it looks like they have changed much of the recent routing of that trip. Don't think I much as far as the pre-payment discount as I am scheduled to leave at the end of November.
Before I retired with limited vacation days I would preplan my trips the full 12 months in advance to get the maximum discount. Now that I am retired, depending on my budgeting I may be taking more trips on shorter notice. I've been travelling since going to Spain with my Spanish class back in 1977. That is when I first got hooked. I can see my endurance slowing some compared to when I was 18 and could run on 5 hours of sleep while touring. I pretty much need a goodnight sleep on the trips on most days now. I tried so hard to get those 15 plus hour non stop flights done in my younger days. Thought I would go crazy on a 17 1/2 hour non-stop from Dubai to Dallas last February. And that was after arriving from India and purchasing a day room in Dubai for a few hours of sleep. I probably shouldn't be such a cheapskate and upgrade to Business Class. Oh how I would love to be able to fly Business Class at this point but each time I get enough frequent flier point for an up graded ticket I have already fallen for some other second trip itinerary that I find interesting and save the points to eventually turn them into a free coach international trip. This up coming trip to South America is the first time I have paid extra to get bulkhead seating. And the longest flight segment is only nine hours luckily.
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Post by californian on Jun 22, 2015 3:35:52 GMT
I know what you mean, plane2catch, I am in my 70's and the long flights are what kill me, and like you, it seems I never acquire enough miles. Most of the times I give them to my grand kids and also I had exchanged miles for hotels; a few times, and thanks to my daughter I have traveled first and business class, but it seems such a waste really, a few hours of comfort are nice, but I do try to pay a little extra for more leg room. I envy all the traveling you have accomplished. Enjoy the next and the next...
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Post by tiffany on Jun 22, 2015 11:51:41 GMT
Plane2catch, if you are a Costco member you can book Trafalgar with them and save 10% just for doing so, plus the other discounts, and 5% for air. I have done this many times, I comes to almost 25% with the added benefit of getting 2% from Amex. Well worth a membership. Unfortunately, Costco only offers the additional 10% discount to its US customers. I looked into Costco travel here in Canada a few years ago, after you first mentioned the discounts you get from them, and they don’t apply to us. It’s too bad, as I would become a Costco member if they did, and book my tours through them.
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Post by tiffany on Jun 22, 2015 11:54:10 GMT
Tiffany, I took this trip back in 2010. I took EOEE in part because I had been to some of these same city locations way back in 1980 when the old Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia were in existence. I remember the difficulty of the board crossings in thus days and even observing the coach driver bribing the custom official with a few bottles of liquor to make the transfers go quickly without a four or five hour wait at the border. I really enjoyed my return visit to Budapest. Also, I booked my own private half day tour to Lake Plitvice National park as its a UNESCO site and wasn't an available optional the year I went. I absolutely loved the Salt Mines in Krakow Poland. The other thing I remember that it was a long day on the bus between Krakow and Berlin. Checked out the old Checkpoint Charlie and worked the streets of the old East Germany which I had done thirty years earlier and so much had changed. There was actually life and activity in those old streets that seemed so sterile back in 1980. We had a great time and I am sure you will love the trip. In the past before I retired I was disciplined and always booked and paid my trip in full a year in advance to get the additional 10 percent off. I see TT has changed their discount structure a little now with specific dates to be prepaid for the discount instead of the old 4 to 6 months, 7 to 12 months and at the actual 12 month threshold. At least I think those were their old breakdown. Hope to see some pictures of your travel when you have returned. This is a tour I’ve wanted to go on for a while, and I’m glad I’m finally going to book it, even though it’s over a year away. I’m looking forward to Greece in the fall, but I’m really looking forward to this tour. I loved Vienna and Berlin, and I’m looking forward to visiting Prague, Budapest, and all of the other group cities visited on this tour.
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Post by plane2catch on Jun 23, 2015 3:15:23 GMT
Plane2catch, if you are a Costco member you can book Trafalgar with them and save 10% just for doing so, plus the other discounts, and 5% for air. I have done this many times, I comes to almost 25% with the added benefit of getting 2% from Amex. Well worth a membership. Unfortunately, Costco only offers the additional 10% discount to its US customers. I looked into Costco travel here in Canada a few years ago, after you first mentioned the discounts you get from them, and they don’t apply to us. It’s too bad, as I would become a Costco member if they did, and book my tours through them. Tiffany that just is plan unfair. I use to use a travel agent and get the 10 percent 12 month prepay and the 5 percent prior trip discount but when I discovered the additional 10% Costco was offering I switched to booking my own trips. I know my TA was quite upset and was going to try to get Trafalgar to match the added 10% that Costco was offering. I don't know how successful she was with her battle with Trafalgar but I never returned. I probably had booked four trips with her in the past it was hard to break the loyalty which had developed but when your travelling as a solo you are already hit up with that added fee in Egypt, South America and cruises of the Greek Isles so I try to save whenever possible. I find it interesting that Insight has stopped their extra 10 percent when booking through Sams Club Travel and when TT first used Costco it was only for their European trips and not other locations. Tiffany nothing can be said other than it just isn't fair to the Canadians that they aren't offered the same discounts. I don't know who is at fault TT or Costco? Gotten lucky twice with TTs Last Minute Deals. So if possible scan them occasionally.
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Post by tiffany on Jun 23, 2015 16:08:28 GMT
Unfortunately, Costco only offers the additional 10% discount to its US customers. I looked into Costco travel here in Canada a few years ago, after you first mentioned the discounts you get from them, and they don’t apply to us. It’s too bad, as I would become a Costco member if they did, and book my tours through them. Tiffany that just is plan unfair. I use to use a travel agent and get the 10 percent 12 month prepay and the 5 percent prior trip discount but when I discovered the additional 10% Costco was offering I switched to booking my own trips. I know my TA was quite upset and was going to try to get Trafalgar to match the added 10% that Costco was offering. I don't know how successful she was with her battle with Trafalgar but I never returned. I probably had booked four trips with her in the past it was hard to break the loyalty which had developed but when your travelling as a solo you are already hit up with that added fee in Egypt, South America and cruises of the Greek Isles so I try to save whenever possible. I find it interesting that Insight has stopped their extra 10 percent when booking through Sams Club Travel and when TT first used Costco it was only for their European trips and not other locations. Tiffany nothing can be said other than it just isn't fair to the Canadians that they aren't offered the same discounts. I don't know who is at fault TT or Costco? Gotten lucky twice with TTs Last Minute Deals. So if possible scan them occasionally. It does seem unfair to me, and I’m not really sure why Costco is able to offer it’s US customers an additional 10% off, but not it’s CA customers. I didn’t ask when I looked into it. I just called and was told that they don’t offer the additional discount in Canada. My friend likes to book through Sears as she can pay in full on her Sears card and get the 10% early payment discount (along with the 5% return customer discount), and then make monthly payments interest free for 6 months. I might look into doing the same thing, although I like my travel agent and feel bad about booking elsewhere. She’s also been able to get me some deals with Trafalgar in the past, but not as good as the Costco deal.
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Post by californian on Jun 23, 2015 21:21:25 GMT
Not sure why Costco only has this deal with US clients, and only with Trafalgar and maybe some cruises, but not Insight. Many changes are coming next year, thou, Costco is cutting its ties with Amex, (or de other way around? and I have the feeling it might bring also changes to this policy.
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