Before booking the tour, it is worth finding out from the tour guide that might accompany the touris

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My in-laws have been on Thomas Cook escorted tours from India. The tour is accompanied by an Indian cook and an Indian guide. I think that most tour operators in India take care of catering Indian food during the tour.
My in-laws have been on Thomas Cook escorted tours from India. travel to australia The tour is accompanied by an Indian cook and an Indian guide. I think that most tour operators in India take care of catering Indian food during the tour.
They were happy with the logistics. I don't recall them saying that the trip was hectic. The tours seem to be popular. If it were not to the satisfaction of the tourists, they wouldn't probably be in business. They seem to get their business by word of mouth references.
After considerable research, we (5 families) have booked for a 2 week europe tour this may thru' thomas cook, which seemed to be better (more transparent pricing etc) compared to SOTC and cox and kings,keeping fingers crossed to see how it goes. Will share the experience after the tour.
After considerable research, we (5 families) have booked for a 2 week europe tour this may thru' thomas cook, which seemed to be better (more transparent pricing etc) compared to SOTC and cox and kings,keeping fingers crossed to see how it goes. Will share the experience travel to australia after the tour.
My parents are taking Thomas Cook's Grand Bargain 14 Nights/15 Days tour to Europe travel to australia this summer (Aug). My aunt and uncle had taken the same trip through Thomas cook last year and based upon their review, we booked the trip for our parents. The rate is 1.94L/person, all inclusive.
These tours are hectic with long hours in the bus. There's very little downtime in between. I remember running into several of these groups in different places in Switzerland. The elders were clearly exhausted and had a hard time keeping up with the group.
Note that the tourist sites are not all easily accessible. One has to walk uphill or a steep slope to reach some monuments, museums, palaces, churches etc. One should be able to sit 3 - 4 hrs at a stretch (most buses have a toilet on board, though) and walk at first to reach the tourist site from the parking lot and then inside (e.g. the church, museum).
As for food, I remember hearing from tourists that the tour company provided them with electric rice cookers and the travellers managed travel to australia to find some vegetables locally to prepare their lunch, dinner. Rice and readymade parathas are provided by some tourist companies. A typical European breakfast offers travel to australia a wide choice of veg and non-veg items, if not Indian. Over the years the tourist companies travel to australia seem to have understood the special food needs of the average Indian tourist, and cater(!) to them on these tours.
Before booking the tour, it is worth finding out from the tour guide that might accompany the tourists about the longest one is expected to walk and the length of the bus rides. A complete itinerary would be good to have, too. If you post it here from their website, European members from this forum can give specific details that might be of interest to the elderly travellers. My 2 cents.
Note that the tourist sites are not all easily accessible. One has to walk uphill or a steep slope to reach some monuments, museums, palaces, travel to australia churches etc. One should be able to sit 3 - 4 hrs at a stretch (most buses have a toilet on board, though) and walk at first to reach the tourist site from the parking lot and then inside (e.g. the church, museum).
As for food, I remember travel to australia hearing from tourists travel to australia that the tour company provided them with electric rice cookers and the travellers managed to find some vegetables locally to prepare their lunch, dinner. Rice and readymade parathas are provided by some tourist companies. A typical European breakfast offers a wide choice travel to australia of veg and non-veg items, if not Indian. Over the years the tourist companies seem to have understood the special food needs of the average Indian tourist, and cater(!) to them on these tours.
Before booking the tour, it is worth finding out from the tour guide that might accompany the tourists about the longest one is expected to walk and the length of the bus rides. A complete itinerary would be good to have, too. If you post it here from their website, European members from this forum can give specific details that might be of interest to the elderly travellers. My 2 cents.
travel to australia My aunt's firsthand experience from Thomas Cook - whenever there is too steep or too much to walk, they were given the option to just rest at a spot and the tour group would pick them up after they finish sightseeing travel to australia that particular place.
Food - Most of the lunch and dinner were buffets from Indian restaurants. Only B'fast is continental style provided by the hotel. While stationed in Europe, we took several driving trips to most of the western european countries and we were able to find Indian restaurants in every single place. In fact when we visited (do-it-your-own) travel to australia Jungfrau in Swiss, the restuarant Bollywood refused to give us seating saying their seatings are booked for group tourists only.
We have done the Thomas Cook tour and loved it. Great food. Great service. Did not feel it to be hectic at all - plenty of senior citizens. Nice desi picnic shtyle atmosphere with kids playing with each other and antakshari and singing on the bus etc...all in all a no brainer way to tour Europe. I mean..waking up to garam chai and khaman dhokla as you take in the sights of Jungfrau ..doesnt get better than that now..
We are taking the 13 days tour, and came to 1.6l.no discounts are offered travel to australia except the one running when u book. When we booked in nov. there was a discount of 26K is what they said. We travel together both in India and overseas, and since being about 20 people we should easily be the majority in that coach. travel to australia We were told if we were to be 25 we would have a coach (bus) for our own group.
A travel consultant myself, I can recommend Thomas Cook and if you are on a strict budget Cox and Kings are good value for money - If anyone is interested in escorted group tours or customised travel to australia tours, can PM me for contact details. I am thankful to R2I forum and glad to inform that many of my repeat customers for travel travel to australia have been from this forum. Thanks
A family that we know is considering travel to australia taking a tour to Europe via Thomas Cook -- they have a 15-month old infant, and are wondering if these conducted tours will be very hectic. Anyone have any insights?
A family that we know is considering taking a tour to Europe via Thomas Cook -- they have a 15-month travel to australia old infant, and are wondering if these conducted tours will be very hectic. travel to australia Anyone have any insights?
Have they taken a long flight in a confined space with the infant wailing all the way through. Multiply that by a factor of 10. You spend a major part of the tour in a bus and every night in a different hotel. No time for afternoon nap. No stop for diaper changes. travel to australia If that's their idea for a holiday, sure go ahead.. Note, the others in the tour won't be happy.
@minf - Thomas Cook's itinerary tries to include most of the tourist spots. Felt it was well thought out. In some of our customised tours, Cox and Kings did not have the places even as optional cost. TC had them in their regular list of tourist spots. The hotels offered by TC were also best value for money esp. for Europe. All my clients did not have any problem with their hotel choices. But Cox and Kings are great for other places esp group tours where client is in a tight budget. Some of my clients who went to eastern europe last year have come back to me for Western Europe packages and their feedback was their trip last year was very convenient.
@smariner - personally I think they should wait for some more time for the trip. Feel it will be too hectic for the infant and if the kid gets cranky and cries they will be disturbing other fellow passengers as well.
My parents are booking Thomas Cook's European travel to australia Grandeur (17 Nights/18 Days), travel to australia they are going with 3 other families they know. I personally felt their itinerary is very exhaustive for senior citizens and more time is spent in going between places. When I researched, I found Kesari's tours are well planned. More days, less places ... gives you enough travel to australia time to relish the beauty of the places. That's my personal preference as I love spending time in photographing the places than checking off bucket list.