Insight Tours

Hi,

I am planning on taking my mother on a coach tour of Europe. She wants to see Germany the most. We are looking at Insight Premium Tours. They are a bit high in the price range. Can anyone tell me if they are worth the difference from the %26quot;supersaver%26quot; tours. Any advice about coach tours we be appreciated.

Sima :o)

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I noticed that on the Paris forum that your mother has a hard time walking. My mother visited Germany when she was 80 with heart problems and we drove her around to various sights. She could not manage the tour through the Residence Palace in Wuerzburg, the tour through Neuschwanstein Castle, the steps for the musical in Fuessen, or the tour of Herrenchiemsee Palace. Fortunately, for the latter two my German wife managed to get us front row seats for the musical instead of the balconey, and also a private tour of Herrenchiemsee which we all profited from. I%26#39;m sure you aren%26#39;t likely to get similar assistance. Therefore, I can%26#39;t really see you taking a bus trip as a group visiting places at a hurried pace. Another thing, most castles sit in high places which you have to walk up to, making them unsuitable to visit for a person having walking problems.

If you want to visit Germany, pick just one city to visit. There is enough to see anywhere in Germany and within 100 km (60 miles) of that place to last you weeks. That way you can visit places at a slow pace which you mother can cope with and you can adjust what you do to how well she copes. I think an even better thing to do is drive around by car in a rural area (e.g. Black Forest, Bodensee-Lake Constance) and visit places where you can park nearby, and there is no difficulty getting the luggage from the car to the hotel. In most of %26quot;non-American tourist Germany%26quot; there are also excellent things to see and do with few German tourists and almost no foreign ones so there is no need to stand in long lines or wait for seats in a restaurant. Rural Germany is very enjoyable with plenty of places to visit and good food in small towns and villages. Traveling by train and public transportation can often also involve long walks and can be tiring and stressful, you will probably have to be able to handle all of the luggage yourself if you are thinking of doing that..

There are a number of cities in Germany that have direct flights from the US including Frankfurt, Munich, Cologne, and Stuttgart. I would do some research and fly to a city or its surroundings that would interest you.

Another thing, on my mother%26#39;s return flight my sister had arranged for her to have wheel chair assistance at both Frankfurt and Chicago. Since then, she has always been so greatful that she had made these arrangements as she then could cope with the traveling. My mother loved her visit, the highlight for her trying to communicate with my mother-in-law who speaks no English and she no German.

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Thank you so much for your information. I think I will take your advice. We will already be in Amsterdam and would like to go on into Germany and also see Paris. I think I will check on transportation to a German city for several days and then onto Paris. I guess at her age I can%26#39;t take her to all of the places she would like to see.

Thank you so much!

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