Hi there Travelers,
This Autumn, we had Music tours with Chuck Brodsky, Jonathan Byrd and Tom Kimmel, in that order. We met such lovely people and had beautiful experiences while sharing Scotland with them. A heartfelt thank you to those who traveled with us, shared their stories and made memories with new friends.
New Tour Route
In between two of the recent tours, I spent a day in the Borders, with one of our fabulous coach drivers, Glenn ("Glenn, double N," as he is affectionately known). We were scouting out a new route that would roughly take in the Scottish Borders for three nights, both beautiful and filled with abbeys, castles, and rich history, then onto Fife and Stirlingshire for the next three nights, to experience charming coastal villages and the historical sites that birthed Scottish heroes. We'll travel on to the seaside town of Oban (or closeby) for the next three nights, with an island jaunt (or two!) thrown in, before heading back for a final night in Edinburgh. Add world class music to all of it and you have our newest alternate Music Tour route, available in 2025. We can hardly wait!
Important FAQ: When to purchase flights for 2024?
I usually purchase anywhere from 2-4 months in advance. There are exceptions, but usually they are more expensive both farther out and closer in. However, I got a great deal two weeks before one of this year's tours. BUT here's some important info: If your tour is sold out, you are good to go and can purchase anytime. If your tour for 2024 is not sold out, please do not purchase tickets until you are certain the tour has enough participants to make it go. There are a couple of tours for next year that are in danger of being postponed to 2025 to give a bit more time.
Call to Action...I mean if you want, no pressure or anything...
There are three tours I'm spotlighting here.
One is my new 2024 Women's Tour, scheduled for May 29 - June 7, 2024. It's filling quickly and, though I have a block of rooms held at our hotels, I'll need to finalize with them asap so I'll need to cut this off soon. Check it out and share it with your sisters/moms/aunts/nieces/friends: https://www.tracelesstours.com/specialty-tours
The second is the "Hometown Tour." I have one double room that has opened up. The catch is that this is a tour for those who either work or live in Marshall, NC, or are an immediate family member of someone who is already going. If that's you or someone you know, here's the info: https://www.tracelesstours.com/specialty-tours
The third is the Chuck Brodsky Tour for April 3-13th, 2024. It is unheard of that Chuck still has spaces on a tour that is next year. This is a man who has sold several tours out in the first 24 hours and this one has been very close to filled several times but there have been participants that switched to other tours or other years, and we still have two double rooms left. Grab them while you can. Note that this is our premier tour route, where all our friends like Fiona Ritchie and Ross Ainslie regularly show up. We have honed this one. It's fine-tuned and near perfect. If I was only going to sign up for one music tour, this would be it. I hope I made that clear enough :). Here's the link: https://www.tracelesstours.com/music-tours
Frequently Asked
I've pulled another FAQ from our website for your convenience: "I signed up for such and such tour, when does it actually begin?" Note: we are in the process of adding these notes to each itinerary page, but meanwhile....
"We understand this can seem confusing. On most tours, we begin with a meet and greet at 5:00PM on the first day (ex: for an April 3-13th tour, that would be on the evening of April 3rd). Many participants fly in that morning. However, you may want to come a day or two early to acclimate and visit some places on your own. The last day of the tour, as stated on the website, is the morning you depart or travel farther on your own (which would be April 13th on the above-mentioned). I include the day of departure in the tour description dates since breakfast is included in your tour price that day, then you are off on your own! Note: There are rare exceptions to the 5PM meet and greet on the first day, such as the island tour, which begins with a coach pick up on the morning of the 1st day. In this case, the night before would be lodging on your own, but of course, we will have a suggestion and make this as easy as possible."
Until next time,
Happy Travels!
Raven