Had a great week on tour ! For me this was my 1st ever trip with the tour operator and was way out of my comfort zone, however the little part of me that was anxious prior to meeting up with everyone onboard went away very quickly as Justin and all the fam was so welcoming and easy to talk to that everything just flowed from then onwards. As someone who usually likes to just chill and not do any site seeing this tour has a good mix of both and also the freedom to choose what you want to do it the downtime. For example the beach day and water sports and then a small hike in parga, there is something for everyone and even then no one is forced to do anything they dont want to. After the week that I have had I feel like a different person and wouldnt hesitate to book onto another tour elsewhere now and get stuck back in !
The tour was including most highlighted places in 3 capitals of ancient civilizations. I was dreaming about Athens, Istanbul and Cairo. It is a perfect trip. Hotels, guides, food, atmosphere were than my expectation.
An interesting tour combining long days in the bus, short visits to many interesting cities and towns, 2 star accommodation and a couple of destinations that were not worth the extended time in the bus - namely Tirana and Mostar, especially as we then backtracked from Mostar to the accommodation, a real waste of a day for 1.5 hours to walk over the bridge and through the markets with people shoulder to shoulder. Driving along the Adriatic coast to overnight in Split with then a shorter drive to Plivitice Lakes the next day would have been far preferrable. Again overnight in Thessloniki? another unattractiive dirty city. Could we not have stayed at Karmen Vourla and enjoyed some time along the seaside for one afternoon and one morning before departing for Athens. Glad I've seen it and overall enjoyed the tour but I have to ask what I got for my $1270 single supplement. Maybe a change of route would also reduce the number of border crossings therefore more time to spend at destinations and save lost time.