I took this tour in early August, it was my second expat tour and I would definitely use this company again mainly due to the great prices, good itineraries and variety of countries covered. I enjoyed the tour but the interpersonal part dampened it a little. To begin with mostly retired people, families, couples and friends made up most of the group; same with the last. I am under 35 and travelled alone so I shared a room with another solo female traveller a few years younger. We were roommates during the entire trip and I felt she was a bit inconsiderate. While the tour leader spoke about seat rotation and being considerate of others on the bus nothing was said to the solo travellers who were virtually sharing rooms with strangers. My roommate would grab the key before me, enter the room first and choose the side with the window/balcony and/or more space, it wasn't until the last leg of the trip that I told her we should take turns choosing our side. Although she agreed, it dampened our relationship. Overall though she acted like she was in the room alone for instance, on our free day in Bulgaria she stayed in the hotel while I went on the optional excursion, on my return I noticed a 'do not disturb' sign on the door. According to my roommate she doesn't trust hotel cleaners so she didn't want them to clean the room, and our bathroom was left dirty and without toilet paper. When I told my roommate about this she said I should use facial tissues...apparently, for all our free days the room was not cleaned. Another thing she did was use the hairdryer in the night when I wanted to sleep to dry her clothes, there were other little things that were a bit inconsiderate too but one of the worse happened in the morning when the tour ended in Athens. She finished breakfast before me, went to our room to get her stuff and left the door to the room wide opened. All of my belongings were inside unsecured. The tour leader was curt, unhelpful and and a bit standoffish.
It isn't just about the cycling. It's about a varied and friendly group, intelligent and humorous leaders, great grub and some history. The cycling was pretty straightforward; the hills were gradual and plenty of breaks so it never became tedious. The hire bikes were OK; they didn't match up to our own bikes, but what do you expect for 70 I particularly liked the fact that we cycled door to door each day. This makes it feel more like a journey rather than decanting into buses etc for part of the journey.
It was my first travelling alone overseas and I absolutely loved it! Every day was organized and the sightseeing tours were great! Very good hotels and in safe neighborhood. Really good breakfasts. Discovery Nomads recommended very good restaurants and I was truly enjoying myself and I think I should do this more often. Overall, unforgettable vacation!