Would enjoy hearing from anyone who has toured England with Globus.

What are stops for lunch like? If a town is listed as a destination point (i.e. "Stroll in Oxford") how much time did you have to stroll? Should I get my hopes up that I can actually get to the Ashmolean Museum?

How are included dinners organized (time)? I'm wondering about going out in the evenings after. Like getting to the Bizarre Bath Walk by 8pm?

Any advice/stories appreciated!

Lunchstops are usually at autogrills on the highway. You stand in line and buy your own.

I have toured England with Globus and none of our stops were at the autogrills. Instead they tended to be in small towns where we stopped to see a cathedral or statute or ? On My Scenic Delights tour when we traveled from Switzerland to Italy we did stop at some autogrills for lunch. My friend and I would eat a large breakfast and instead of going into a restaurant for lunch we would just pick up some snacks at a grocery store and sightsee while most of our tourmates ate in the restaurant.The buffet breakfasts are hugh and I never need a large lunch after such a big breakfast. I would far rather sit on a park bench then sit in a restaurant. I know I'll get in trouble for this but many people just took an extra piece of fruit from the morning buffet and had that for lunch. Be discreet though.

When the dinner is included you usually will not get to your hotel until 6:30 or 7PM and dinner will be about 1 hour later. If you figure you will leave the hotel about 7 or 7;30 and you are having several stops you are just not going to have much free time. As they say"it's a tour,not a restful vacation. You will see alot in a short period of time. As far a stroll about it will probably be about 2 hours. I looked at your tour and the only time I see you will have much free time is in London.Globus is great and very good at what they do. You are going to have a wonderful time and want to go back again and again. I took my first tour with Globus to Great Britian in 2003 and have gone back to Europe every year since then. DH and I travel independently much of the time now. I have been to London 4 times and love it.
Last summer we did a rivercruise from Budapest to Amsterdam and it was wonderful. Really very relaxing. In May of this year we are going to Italy for 13 days.I was in Italy in 2005 but DH was not with me and I want very much to show him Venice,it's magical!

I don’t plan to eat lunch either. If it’s an “Autogrilleâ€

I was on the Highlights of Britian & Ireland tour in 2003 and it was a very
busy 16 days. We had many early mornings and late nights.I learned from that tour to try to take tours that have several 2 or 3 night stops. I was only 8 weeks out from breast cancer surgery and was not as strong as I thought I was at the time. I guess I never gave it a thought as it was my first time to Europe and my first group tour. The next tour I took was the Scenic Delights tour and that was perfect. DH and I travel independently and with tours.The advantage of the tours is you get to see alot in a short period of time and to determine the places you want to return to on your own.
Your tour is probably slower paced then the British tour I took and hopefully you won't have many really early mornig departures.
Our Salisbury stop was a tour of the cathedral and a lunch stop combined. My friend and I spent the time having a brief picnic sitting on the grass at the cathedral and walking around the town.The people who went to the suggested restaurant for lunch had no time at all to walk around the town.
Globus is really good about driving on the side roads rather than the super highways so you really get to see alot of the countryside and small villages.The only time they take the highways is when they have to travel a long way in one day.

In order to allow for more free time on the tour, I would suggest minimizing the number of optionals that you select. You will also save some money to spend in the additional free time.

[quote="Khiori"]Would enjoy hearing from anyone who has toured England with Globus.

What are stops for lunch like? If a town is listed as a destination point (i. .e. "Stroll in Oxford") how much time did you have to stroll? Should I get my hopes up that I can actually get to the Ashmolean Museum?

How are included dinners organized (time)? I'm wondering about going out in the evenings after. Like getting to the Bizarre Bath Walk by 8pm?

Any advice/stories appreciated! [/quote]

Hi Khiori! I traveled with Globus to England last summer. I believe our tour was called "The Best of the West County" & it covered the whole southern coast to Land's End & back. It absolutely could not have been better.

As far as lunch stops, we never stopped at "autogrills." We would stop in small towns & have a couple of hours to spend there. As another responder said, we would never go to restaurants to eat. We'd either eat small snacks we brought (the morning breakfasts are so filling, you really don't need more) or we'd go in neighborhood grocery stories/butcher shops & buy a snack. My favorite thing to do was to find a little store like that & ask for the local cheese - almost every English village makes their own cheeses, & they are all incredible, if you're a cheese-lover. So for a pound or two, you get to taste the local cuisine & get a lunch that will keep you full until dinner.

Our stop in Oxford was also about two hours. The great thing about Oxford is that it is a totally walkable town, & very easy to navigate. The bad thing is that there are so many beautiful buildings & sights that two hours can't possibly encompass everything. My brother & I also had a priority stop (in our case, the Botanic Garden), so we jumped off the bus, ran into a nearby bookstore, asked for directions to the gardens, & were there in less than 15 minutes. We even had time to grab a panini at a little restaurant on our way back to the bus.

Overall, I wholly recommend touring England with Globus. It was an amazing experience. I hope you have a great trip!

Included Dinners.. .. .. .. .. .. ..You will meet the tour director in the hotel lobby at 7:00 PM or later. You will then go to the hotel restaurant, walk as a group to a nearby restaurant or board the coach to go to aa local restaurant. After dinner you are free to do what you want.

mywayto blue, that's my lunch plans exactly. You might say I'm a bit of a cheese-person.. ..cheese research is my job! LOL!

Thanks for all the enthusiastic replies. I'm really getting excited. Only 5 weeks away now.

max, group dinners at the hotel are soemthing I can miss. :p

The internet is great for finding extra venues in the places we will stop. ("Group Options" aren't my thing either). . For instance I just realized we'll be in Brighton during the Fringe Festival. There's a free performance of Arquiem at Brighton College that night. Should be fun.

I think I'm really going to enjoy this tour.