As a retired single traveler I used to longingly review package tours of the British Isles offered by various travel companies, looking for trips that would take me to places I longed to visit — gardens of southern England, especially by the sea, along with Stonehenge, St. Michael’s Mount — maybe Jane Austen’s Bath, and what about the Cotswolds?
And I would find that although a trip package might include one or two of those sites, it was invariably not the focus, but was tucked into an itinerary built around cities and locales in England that I had visited and loved on prior trips.
I would sit and study maps and websites and try to think of how to put a trip together, although I wasn’t sure where to start — focus on lodging or travel reservations first? Or maybe start with timed tickets for admission to ancient Roman sites in Bath, and build from there? But then I found Prepco and Barry Devo.
With emails and phone conversations about ideas and plans, he worked out a two-week “trip of a lifetime” that took me to my primary interest, gardens and landscapes of Cornwall, with seaside lodging and salt air. Flying me into and out of London, with travel by train and car service, he built a custom itinerary that took me to an inn in the Cotswolds west of the city, then south to Bath, Stonehenge, and Kent. He understood the transportation options, distances and travel time required and put it together like a beautifully crafted puzzle, without the time pressure I’ve encountered on packaged bus trips.
I came home relaxed and renewed, without the package tour exhaustion, and most importantly, with memories of wonderful landscapes and gardens, historic sites and salt air, and cuckoo song near ancient churches. If you have questions about this trip, ask Barry to have me phone you.
DEBORAH M, PENNSYLVANIA
