Happy Thursday all - I hope you are all having a chance to enjoy some of the glorious weather we are experiencing this week.

Here at JYHQ, we're always thinking about holidays (well, it's what we do) and I'm sure you're all aware that in addition to over 60 destinations, Just You offers six different holiday types... from our active range, for those of you that want to be on foot during your holiday, to our Escape range, for those that want to take things a little slower. We also have our Classic Tours, Short Breaks, River Cruises and Festive holidays - what we'd like to know is which ones have you tried out? Do you have a favourite type of holiday or do you like to mix it up depending how busy you have been in the build up to your holiday? Maybe there is a holiday type such as river cruising that you have not tried yet and would like some more information to help you make the decision. Why not share your thoughts with us below?

Kindest regards,

Julia

Hi Julia

I did some short breaks at the start of my JY travelling and they were really good as tasters or if you want to see a specific area or event e.g Istanbul, Northern Lights in Iceland but my favourite trips are the ones which see as much of a destination as possible with chill out time at the end.  My criticism of some of these are that the chill out time often isn't enough when the previous days are really packed with travel and experiences.  On the Kerala trip it was stated as the last two days and yes it was but realistically we had one day as we arrived late and left early.  For Burma the chill out time was an add on which not everyone including me can afford either in time or cost.

I am thinking of doing the South Africa Sun and Safari trip next year and that seems to have a good balance with the last days offering a choice of beach time or more experiences as optional excursions if you still have enough energy!

Julie

The tours I have been on which have been many over the years, have always been the more full on type of tour, I like to get up and go and see and do things, keep going till I hit the bed. I am not interested in being in a bar for the evening. I think the most bar socialising I ever have done was on the Poland tour. The only relaxing few days I have had was on the Kenya safari tour when,  I did the add on at the 2nd hotel to relax, I had travelled that far so thought the expense was worth it. So for full on tours I would be more than happy to have the option of more add ons it makes sense when your paying a lot of money and travelling great distances...

Personally on the full on tours my ideal would be to leave at a acceptable early time on day 1 say 9am flight, and for the tour to last a proper 10-14 days, i.e. Not leave at a stupid time on day one say a night flight as that's day one totally gone,  and the last day which if you land at LHR/LGW at say 6.30am can't really be classified as say a day.

So a full 10 or 14 days, as some tours I have been on when your traveling huge distances boil down to in truth 2 days less.

Cindy

Hello Julia,

I am waiting for my 11th trip with Just You. All different with long and short holidays. First was 17 days to Jordan, Sinai and Egypt in 2010, last was walking the Yorkshire Dales with Min back in September. My birthday is 31st December and would love to take a Christmas/ New Year trip, my daughters will not allow it unless they come too!! Should have been in New Zealand for my 60th, number 2 daughter was pregnant and due 12th January :rolleyes: Hence the reason why I am going to New Zealand in October with Just You.

Cruise next week on Queen Victoria to Amsterdam and Bruges. Not done a river one, River Douro looks good.

Where to next year - a big question mark. I fancy the American one with Atlanta, Memphis and New Orleans, my sister wants to go to Portugal or Italy, all depends on how much holiday I have left 😛 

Jan

With my 20th just you trip fast approaching I have experienced most of the range of holiday types on offer and I've enjoyed all of them; I do tend to opt for the long haul optons as I want to see and experience as much of the world as possible and I figure that there will come a time when I really don't want to spend 13 hours on a plane so I am leaving the short haul destinations until I'm well into retirement. I'm pleased to see that for this years festive holidays there are some more long haul options and I'm drawn to Burma for Christmas 2017, although from the itinerary it doesn't appear to be anything different from the standard Burma tour; having done Christmas in Vietnam a few years ago I was hoping there would be something extra on the Christmas tour as it is significantly more expensive. As has been mentioned in other threads, prices are increasing and many of us are loyal just you customers having taken many trips with you and feel frustrated that there is no recognition of our loyalty, has just you given any more thought to loyalty discounts which is a feature offered by some of your competitors?

The tours I'm most interested in at present are long haul tours (ie outside of Europe). I'm trying to do at least 2 long haul destinations a year, hopefully more, before age catches up with me and makes them too arduous. I know there are 80+ year olds on many long haul trips and they do keep up with the rest (mostly) but not sure I'd want to try.

Really would like to see more thought go into more add-ons on the long haul trips. As mentioned above, some of the longer trips, while advertised as eg 14 days are really only 12 days of holiday. As you're often flying back from a major airport (eg in the States say NY, LA, LV, Boston, Chicago or a city in Asia etc), why don't you offer a 3 day add-on for a City. For myself, not so interested in beach add-ons but others would be keen. Or maybe a mini-tour of a specific region.

I do plan a few shorter holidays, and plan those in when I have sorted out the long hauls for that year. Would try river cruising, was recently on a holiday in Iceland and this was something that was overwhelmingly recommended by other travellers. Never done any sort of cruise before. Have been very interested in Hurtigruten (especially since you started the Antarctica trips) - on their e-mail list and very interested in their Norway fjords trip and more recently they are advertising a trip up the New England coast which looks fab. Would be interested if you would partner more with them, so we knew we had other single travellers on their trips.

Katy

I agree with Cindy. Make long haul tours a full fourteen nights in hotels. Many long hauls are quoted as twelve days, but allowing for the usual two nights in flight, and a very early morning arrival back in the UK, that makes a bare ten days on tour. Japan is a classic example. I would love to do this tour, but arriving on day three, and leaving on day eleven at a cost of 5K rules firmly rules this one out for me. I've already been to Hong Kong, so would certainly not consider paying another £1000 to spend two days there on the add-on.

Hi Julia,

I've done a variety of JY tours over the years, lasting from five days to three weeks.  The holidays that interest me are the Classic Tours, which are full-on and visit all the highlights and some lesser known gems in the given destination.  I would only consider an Escape tour if there were excursions (either included or optional) for every day of the holiday (if there was one free day, that'd be ok, provided there was something to do within easy reach of the hotel) - I don't want to go abroad and have nothing to do, as I am not a beach person!

I'm not really interested in City breaks but have done two short trips - Iceland and the Danube Wine trip - and greatly enjoyed them.  I have no interest in walking/active tours and I cannot go away at Christmastime.  I would consider a river cruise (I like the look of the Douro one) or indeed an ocean cruise, depending on the itinerary.  

Keep up the good work, the choice available at present is almost overwhelming!

All the best,

Bob

Like many others, the idea is to get as many long-hauls in as possible before the appetite for long flights is

completely lost! However, I have been tempted by another company who sometimes offer pre-holiday extensions. By my thinking, after all the inevitable stress & rush to get organised for a holiday,travelling & so on, it would be nice to have a little down time before the actual tour, which is what you want to enjoy, starts. Staying more at the end of a holiday just seems like an anticlimax, especially when most of the group may not do the add-on. However, my main plea would be for you to find a way in which the customer is given the option of arriving at the overseas destination on their own, with a suitable reduction for the flight. I believe you have many ex-pats or English speakers scattered around the world who would welcome the chance not to, in effect, fly back over themselves or have to add all the expense of getting to the UK first. Some time back I asked JY about the Pompeii, Amalfi coast trip, a short skip across the water from Athens, my home. The answer was I could chose to make my own way to & from the hotel, with no chance of meeting up at Naples airport to use the transfer, & I would get no price reduction whatsoever (Moderator? Has this policy changed?). In contrast, another singles company were more than happy for me to make my way to Sri Lanka & insisted on arranging all the transfers at competitve prices, even though I'd been prepared to do this myself. On JY trips I have met ex-pats living in Cyprus & Spain who, like me, have been forced to add all the extra expense & time to get to the UK onto their holiday costs. Perhaps, the drop in the value of the pound & market forces will eventually make more companies realize the potential customers they are losing.....unless, of course, the massive profit margin is on the flights? Lastly, as a widow, as many Festive breaks as possible, not always focussed on the fact that it is Christmas....some of us would like to escape some old memories!!!

Sheila

Hi Julia,

I spend my life organising other people, so in a holiday, I look for someone to organise me. That means that I don't want or need too much free time so I usually pick full on tours. Usually these types of tours mean you get to see as much of a country as possible and I find that they nearly all have some down time (albeit on the coach) to sit back and relax and watch the world go by.

In the past I have dismissed any holidays that state they give you "free days", but that said, when others talk about a holiday or write a review it gives you a better idea of what to expect and I've now done a few of the lesser full on tours and thoroughly enjoyed them.