"So, as you probably gathered from my updates, we had the best possible time and loved every minute of our trip. After years of independent travel I think that I’ve been totally spoilt by having everything organised for me....I could certainly get used to it.

Everything went like clockwork and there were no major hassles anywhere. The accommodation was uniformly good, with a couple of exceptional places in Copenhagen and Tallinn.

The only tiny suggestion that we discussed at the time, and I’m not convinced that we’re right, especially for younger travellers, is that we wondered if, in the cities where we were supplied with a 24 hour pass, we may have been enabled to see more things in a shorter time frame if we’d had tickets to the hop-on hop-off busses instead. We had trouble fitting in everything that we wanted to do! The 48 hour passes we’re great - no problem there. Just a thought.

The other aspect of the experience which was of far better quality than we expected was the organisation in Russia and Tallinn. The guides and drivers were all exceptional, the itinerary impressive, and the whole experience was outstanding. The guides were incredibly knowledgeable and went over and above to ensure we knew the layout of train stations etc for transit days and the drivers insisted on seeing us to the correct platforms and were always waiting for us at the carriage door on our arrival. They really couldn’t do enough for us. Ironic in view of the recent government warning to delay non essential travel to Russia! If you have the e mail for your contact there I’d really like to be able to write directly to them to complement them and identify our guides and drivers by name.

So, thanks Ivy, for everything that you did and had in place for us. We’re already recommended 50 Degrees North and you to everyone we know and we’re aware of at least two more couples who are planning to follow up.

Thanks again for the experience of a lifetime - it was just fabulous!
Cheers,
Cathie and Nigel.”