Thanks, Bob! I'm not quite so well-travelled as you are but I'm working on it. Nothing would deter me from travelling - I'm off next week with JY and I have my next 4 tours booked up to next March. My pre-tour nerves are old friends now.

:thumbup:

That's brilliant - good for you! I hope to keep travelling as long as health and finances allow - which may not be for too many more years, you never know! So I'm maximising my holiday experiences while I can. Safe travelling and have fun!

Cheers,

Bob

:thumbup:

I'm so nervous at the start of a tour. I have to totally focus on leaving the house, getting to the airport and checking in. I couldn't cope with an extra layer to this discipline! I, too, live a bus-ride away from LHR and would only book an hotel at LGW if it was an early flight.

Even then I would be far too anxious to socialise at this point. Once I've checked-in then I can start to relax a bit.

I have done many tours over the years but I still get nervous! Is anyone else like this?

:blush:

Hi I've done 10 JY tours and have visited over 40 countries and I still get nervous at the beginning of a tour! I don't really relax until I'm in the air or fully relax until I've collected my suitcase at the end of the flight! We're all different but the important thing is that our little anxieties don't get in the way of going on holiday or having a great time!

Cheers,

Bob

Even then I would be far too anxious to socialise at this point. Once I've checked-in then I can start to relax a bit.

I have done many tours over the years but I still get nervous! Is anyone else like this?

:blush:

Rae

I have done that and agree it is first class idea, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Hi Jaya

It is optional, you don't have to do it if you don't want to, and about 25% of travellers don't - myself included for the last holiday I had with them.

Sylvia

For first timers, having an overnight stay or just travelling to the airport and having to face all the hustle and bustle can leave you feeling quite lost and is something we all have to face and I'm not sure what the ideal answer would be. What another 'rival company' does may work for them, and to get everyone to stay at the same hotel is quite an achievement, how did they do that !? There was no mention of how much it all cost, that would be interesting to know, but what JY used to do obviously didn't work for them.

To my knowledge JY are not in the practice of recommending hotels so it is difficult to point people in the right direction unless they have contact through the community and a great many people do not use the website so they will still be completely on their own.

Another suggestion might be for JY to have a meeting point at a certain time at the airport which is clearly marked on the paperwork so people can check in together for moral support if they want to, not forgetting there is usually a JY rep there to help anyway, although this wouldn't help the problem of staying the night in a hotel.

Avocet

This was an excellent start to the trip and also exchanging emails helped to build up the excitement of going on the holiday. It is good to talk to your friends about an upcoming holiday. But it is not the same as discussing it with people who are actually going.

I think the idea of a “halfway point” arranged or encouraged by JY is very good. I don’t think it is necessary to involve the tour manager. I defiantly think it would encourage some nervous first time bookers.