Thank you for the video! One part of your video I was anticipating was the “packing tip.” I’m doing the England, Ireland, Scotland tour in December, and I imagine it’s going to be cold. I’m not sure how one would pack light. When did you go and what did you THINK you would need, but then learned afterward what you really DIDN’T need?
Thanks for watching! Our best tip for packing light, especially when traveling in winter is by wearing your heaviest clothing on the plane so if you're bringing a bulky sweater or thick cardigan, wear that on your travel day. We'd also recommend looking at water resistant shoes or boots, or taking shoe wraps as it could be rainy, snowy, and slushy and cold, wet feet are the worst. And on these trips, you'll most likely rewear something. We took shirts we could at least get two days out of and packed wrinkle release spray. When you're on the bus on these tours, it'll be heated and warm! And most of our tour in Edinburgh was by bus. We had expected an extra few free nights where we figured we'd get dressed up and go out, but ended up doing some of the add-on excursions with our tour director that took that time out of our itinerary. We loved the excursions, but that means we did waste some packing space with fancier clothing we didn't end up wearing. December will be such a magical time to visit those places! Hope you have a wonderful time on your tour!
Not actually sure as we've never done laundry on any of our Go Ahead tours! The tour guide would probably be able to recommend a local laundromat, or the hotels may offer cleaning, but we've never never had to inquire. If we need to wash something on our trip, we'll use travel-size detergent, wash our stuff in the sink or tub and then line dry our clothes on the shower rod.
The only extra charges are activities you do on your own free time, the optional excursions (prices are listed), or some of the guides will coordinate excursions outside of Go Ahead's itinerary that will cost extra. Anything that's listed in the itinerary is included in the cost :)
Definitely! We think all of our Go Ahead Tours had families with teenagers or young adult children with their parents. Just make sure to bring some entertainment for him for the cross-country bus rides or trains!😄 We love how they take care of all the details, like hotels, transportation, and many dinners, but you also get some free time with your family or travel companions to set off on your own. We've also felt very safe in all the neighborhoods that Go Ahead picks for the hotel stays and had no problem getting back to the hotels on our own or finding nearby dining options. Most of the tour directors are local to a place you're visiting and can give you some great recommendations of places to check out and what would be fun for both you and your son.
Been looking for some travel tip videos related to either Go Ahead or Ultimate Break; this is definitely helpful, thanks. I wanted to ask, do they have pretty good information on payment arrangements (like, paying in full vs. figuring out a payment plan for the trip, etc.?) What did you guys end up doing for your trips you've booked w/' them? I'm looking into their tours as well and I'm trying to figure out which way is better suited for me to go payment wise, though I figured I'd ask you guys first before deciding for myself - having second opinions always helps in case I doubt going one way and end up going the other.
The last two trips we've done with Go Ahead we enrolled in the automatic payment plan. We put $198 down to reserve our spots and then had an automatic deduction from our bank account each month that Go Ahead calculates. Basically, your trip has to be paid for by a certain date (about a month before you depart). Or, you can create your own payment plan but have the trip paid in full by a certain date. The nice thing about the automatic payment plan was the cancellation window was a bit bigger, I think you got an extra month to cancel with no cancellation fee applied and it was fully refundable.
You are with the group the majority of the time. But, you can definitely opt to do your own thing and just tell the tour director that you're flying solo that day so they're not looking for you or waiting for you to start that day's activities. There have been many travelers in our groups that have been to a certain city before so they skipped the guided tour portion of the day and went off and did their own thing. There is free time in the itineraries, but we've found that the shorter trips tend to have less free time and longer trips offer more time for you to do your own thing. We just got back from a trip to Japan with Go Ahead and felt the free time was a lot shorter than some of the European ones we've done. But for us that worked as we hadn't made our own plans.
Thank you, this is extremely helpful! I just booked a trip to Greece today, on their solo tours. I can't wait 🤗
A trip to Greece sounds amazing! Hope you have a wonderful time, and we're so glad this was helpful!
This was so helpful!!!! Thank you for making this video!
Thank you. I've been looking at their tours.
We just got back from our third trip with them (this time to Japan), and had a great time!
@@BacktothePassport Good to know 👍
Thank you for the video! One part of your video I was anticipating was the “packing tip.” I’m doing the England, Ireland, Scotland tour in December, and I imagine it’s going to be cold. I’m not sure how one would pack light. When did you go and what did you THINK you would need, but then learned afterward what you really DIDN’T need?
Thanks for watching! Our best tip for packing light, especially when traveling in winter is by wearing your heaviest clothing on the plane so if you're bringing a bulky sweater or thick cardigan, wear that on your travel day. We'd also recommend looking at water resistant shoes or boots, or taking shoe wraps as it could be rainy, snowy, and slushy and cold, wet feet are the worst. And on these trips, you'll most likely rewear something. We took shirts we could at least get two days out of and packed wrinkle release spray.
When you're on the bus on these tours, it'll be heated and warm! And most of our tour in Edinburgh was by bus.
We had expected an extra few free nights where we figured we'd get dressed up and go out, but ended up doing some of the add-on excursions with our tour director that took that time out of our itinerary. We loved the excursions, but that means we did waste some packing space with fancier clothing we didn't end up wearing.
December will be such a magical time to visit those places! Hope you have a wonderful time on your tour!
@@BacktothePassportThank you for such a detailed response. This was very helpful!
on some of the longer tours, how are laundry facilities?
Not actually sure as we've never done laundry on any of our Go Ahead tours! The tour guide would probably be able to recommend a local laundromat, or the hotels may offer cleaning, but we've never never had to inquire. If we need to wash something on our trip, we'll use travel-size detergent, wash our stuff in the sink or tub and then line dry our clothes on the shower rod.
Were there any extra charges that weren't covered by the pre-paid plan? Like did the castles or whatever cost extra?
The only extra charges are activities you do on your own free time, the optional excursions (prices are listed), or some of the guides will coordinate excursions outside of Go Ahead's itinerary that will cost extra. Anything that's listed in the itinerary is included in the cost :)
I’m looking for a trip to go with my teenage son would this be a good trip? I know we might be young, but I feel safe in a group.
Definitely! We think all of our Go Ahead Tours had families with teenagers or young adult children with their parents. Just make sure to bring some entertainment for him for the cross-country bus rides or trains!😄
We love how they take care of all the details, like hotels, transportation, and many dinners, but you also get some free time with your family or travel companions to set off on your own. We've also felt very safe in all the neighborhoods that Go Ahead picks for the hotel stays and had no problem getting back to the hotels on our own or finding nearby dining options.
Most of the tour directors are local to a place you're visiting and can give you some great recommendations of places to check out and what would be fun for both you and your son.
Been looking for some travel tip videos related to either Go Ahead or Ultimate Break; this is definitely helpful, thanks.
I wanted to ask, do they have pretty good information on payment arrangements (like, paying in full vs. figuring out a payment plan for the trip, etc.?) What did you guys end up doing for your trips you've booked w/' them? I'm looking into their tours as well and I'm trying to figure out which way is better suited for me to go payment wise, though I figured I'd ask you guys first before deciding for myself - having second opinions always helps in case I doubt going one way and end up going the other.
The last two trips we've done with Go Ahead we enrolled in the automatic payment plan. We put $198 down to reserve our spots and then had an automatic deduction from our bank account each month that Go Ahead calculates. Basically, your trip has to be paid for by a certain date (about a month before you depart). Or, you can create your own payment plan but have the trip paid in full by a certain date. The nice thing about the automatic payment plan was the cancellation window was a bit bigger, I think you got an extra month to cancel with no cancellation fee applied and it was fully refundable.
Did you spend much time with the group or did you two mostly go off and do your own thing?
You are with the group the majority of the time. But, you can definitely opt to do your own thing and just tell the tour director that you're flying solo that day so they're not looking for you or waiting for you to start that day's activities. There have been many travelers in our groups that have been to a certain city before so they skipped the guided tour portion of the day and went off and did their own thing. There is free time in the itineraries, but we've found that the shorter trips tend to have less free time and longer trips offer more time for you to do your own thing. We just got back from a trip to Japan with Go Ahead and felt the free time was a lot shorter than some of the European ones we've done. But for us that worked as we hadn't made our own plans.