The e-mail that sent to my travel agent:
The optional excursions that were cancelled included:
1) Muckross House & Gardens-Killarney KIL0004
2) Belfast Pub Tour BEL0002
3) A Stirling Evening-Glasgow GLA0003
Stirling was important to us so as I mentioned we opted out of the Glasgow city tour and went by train to Stirling and did the Stirling Bridge, Wallace Memorial Monument, and Stirling Castle.
When we arrived at Culloden we literally only had 40 minutes. Certainly not near enough to even do the battlefield or the museum, so we only did 3/4 of the battlefield. This was an important historical time for Scotland and an advertised part of the tour so it was disappointing that so little time was allotted.
The visit that I was not happy about was the Highland Farm Visit-Scottish Highlands SCO0001. I felt that the farmer was abusive to the border collies as well as the sheep. We were the 4th tour that evening. You could see the fear in the sheep's eyes, and some of the dogs were hand shy. While we were waiting on the tour bus we witnessed his young son who was about 4-5 years old hitting a young pup. Wonder where he learned that from? So I was more upset with myself for contributing financially to their abusive conduct. I have seen border collies at herding trials, and know for a fact that you don't have to be heavy handed if you are doing it right. This was neither amusing nor educational. (There was a veterinarian from Listowel on the tour and when she asked me what I thought, she agreed with my assessment.) I would have rather this be taken off the optional excursion list and the time spent at Culloden!
Which brings me to the issue of how time was spent throughout the trip, there was certainly a timeline, which I get, but even at the Titanic Museum in Belfast we got rushed through. Another 15 minutes (would have liked 30) would have been helpful. I know we had to catch a ferry, but we sat at the ferry dock for more than an hour waiting! Shopping, eating and bathroom breaks seemed to dictate the trip.
A few other odds and sods-for those of us less experienced travellers, knowing about the room key card and slot for electricity would have been helpful as well as how to work the showers! Every hotel was different and more than once I had to call the front desk to get instructions about the showers after trying for 30 minutes to try and figure it out. Same for how to turn the TV on (I kid you not!)
For the most part the gluten sensitivity was reasonably dealt with, some better than others, even at the smaller establishments like Isle of Skye. I think it is becoming more prevalent. The worst hotel was Breaffy House. The food was mediocre along with the service, and the room was dirty (hand prints on the walls) with mold in the bathroom grout etc. This is the same place where I had a floodlight outside the ground floor window shining till 2 am.
What I see as the positives of doing this type of tour is you know where you are going to be at the end of each day, with a bed to sleep, and a breakfast come morning. I am not sure about driving, on the other side of the road etc, esp when I am right handed and don't really drive standard. The roads are narrow winding etc. The motion sickness was an issue for me, regardless of where I was on the bus, which was unexpected, so I was grateful for the full box of Gravol that I had brought. (I was not the only one struggling with this) Same for the ferry. On another note, while this is outside of Trafalgar's control, I was not happy that the trip started with a passenger sick and on antibiotics (Coughing etc, then her mother became ill and so on). As I expected it went through the bus, and one of the passengers was ill enough that she in fact had to seek medical care in Edinburgh.
Just an FYI, while I was able to print off our boarding passes from home going there (A/C and Aer Lingus) I was not able to do the same for the British Airways/ Air Canada return. The concierge even tried and called Air Canada, which was useless. Anyways, I think the issue is that BA is not a Star Alliance where as Aer Lingus is. I was able to print off the A/C portion of the trip at the Marriott and then when we got to the airport the BA counter gave me BA and A/C boarding passes and checked the luggage through to Toronto.
So while I don't think I would do this again (certainly would avoid Heathrow at all costs) I am glad we did it because we did see a lot, and now I know. Kind of telling however when the best day was when we left the group and took off on our own.
