Understanding Escorted Tour Itineraries

Posted on Monday, October 31, 2011

Thinking about taking an escorted tour?  Here is a glossary of some common terms used in our itineraries:

Visit - Your coach will stop and you'll get to visit a specific site.
View - A brief stop and an opportunity to take photos.
See - Your Insight coach will drive by the site so that you can see it.
Sightseeing tour - A local city guide will accompany you on a tour of a city or site.
Orientation tour - Places of interest are pointed out, allowing you to go and explore them on your own.
'Why not see' or 'perhaps enjoy' - These phrases refer to optional excursions not included in the tour package, but are available for an additional fee.
Time to explore and discover - Free time on your own.
A day to relax - No planned activities; time for optional excursions or other independent activities.

Our tour specialists are always available to help you understand what is included on a tour vacation, so that you can plan how much money to budget on your European vacation.

Ireland Tours 2012

Posted on Monday, August 22, 2011

The beautiful landscapes, jovial people, rich history and of course, world famous ales have helped the Emerald Isle to earn its fittingly stellar reputation.  Dublin's thriving nightlife and famed Temple Bar district reveal the source of inspiration for countless writers and poets.  Cork is where 6th century ruins and the magical Blarney Stone reside.  Galway is a medieval fishing city and Gaelic cultural center.  County Kerry's rolling hills are dotted by quaint farmhouses and historic  homes.  Waterford is home to the famous crystal-works and an enchanting harbor. 

Browse Ireland tours for 2012 and 2011

Insight Tours July Last Minute Deals

Posted on Friday, July 01, 2011

Further Brochure Discounts Apply! - Hurry!
This offer expires 15 July 2011

Insight Vacations has a few seats available on selected DEFINITE DEPARTURES and is offering them at reduced prices! Combine these land prices with Insight’s air deals for a great value-for-money holiday package!

Red Hot Specials!
HURRY!  Insight Vacations has a few seats available on select
 last minute departures and is offering them at reduced prices!

Prices are in US$ per person, twin share, land only. Single supplements apply. Deposit required within 7 days of booking or if made within 45 days, full payment is required. Offer applies to new bookings made from 7/1 - 7/15/11 only, is subject to availability and can be withdrawn or amendedatany time without notice.

New High Speed Rail Service

Posted on Tuesday, June 21, 2011

The Flying Scotsman is an express train that runs between London, England and Edinburgh, Scotland, and is currently operated by the East Coast Main Line Company. It has been in almost continuous use since the railway it runs on was built in 1862.

In 1862, the Flying Scotsman was actually named the Special Scotch Express, and it would depart at GNR’s London Kings Cross at 10 am, with a simultaneous departure from North British’s Edinburgh Waverley. The journey originally took a long 10 ½ hours, which included a half-hour stop in York as a lunch break. However, the time was reduced to 8 ½ hours in 1888 due to increasing competition with other railways for the Race to the North. The Race to the North was where trains would actually race to see who could get to the appointed destination first.

From 1900 on, the train took on dramatic modernizations, including heating and dining cars. Now, passengers could take their lunch on the train, so the York stop was reduced to only 15 minutes. However, the travel time of 8 ½ hours stayed the same. In 1924, it was the London and North Eastern Railway that officially renamed the Special Scotch Express the Flying Scotsman, which had already been its unofficial name since the 1870’s.

Private operators of Anglo-Scottish trains that run on the East Coast Main Line have maintained the name of the Flying Scotsman, and the former Great North Eastern Railway even called itself The Route of the Flying Scotsman. When British Rail was privatized, GNER operated the Flying Scotsman from 1996 to November of 2007, and then National Express East Coast took over until November of 2009. It is now operated by East Coast, which is a publicly operated railway company that had been created after National Express East Coast had collapsed. The northbound service once again leaves London King’s Cross at the traditional time of 10 am, and the southbound service departs from Edinburgh at 1 pm.

An InterCity 225 Mallard set mostly operates the now-modern Flying Scotsman, and the travel time only takes 4 hours and 25 minutes going down, and only 4 hours and 41 minutes coming back up. It now makes stops at Peterborough, York, Darlington, and Newcastle.

On May 22nd, 2011, East Coast will begin a new, early morning Flying Scotsman service at 5:40 am, and it will only stop at Newcastle. The train will arrive in Edinburgh at 9:40 am, making the trip a short 4 hours long. The express train is being introduced as part of the largest timetable overhaul within 20 years on the East Coast Main Line, and they are hoping it will lure in business passengers that are traveling for morning meetings away from air travel. East Coast expects the new timetable to bring in more than three million additional seats to the route when it begins this May, with nearly 20 new weekday services.

Northern Ireland Natural Wonder

Posted on Thursday, May 12, 2011

To visit the Giant’s Causeway, remember one direction: North. There, in the County of Antrim, Northern Ireland, at the North Channel convergence of the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea, is one of the planet’s most fascinating natural wonders: an ancient landscape of some 40,000 stair-stepped columns of black basalt leading into the sea.

This UNESCO World Heritage site began to take shape some 60 million years ago, with series of massive volcanic eruptions. The cooling lava formed into distinctive polygonal (mostly hexagonal) columns, which were eventually eroded by retreating sea ice during the Ice Age. Irish legend tells of the giant Finn MacCool using these steps to cross the sea toward his sweetheart’s home on the Hebrides island of Staffa.

A circular walk leads past amphitheaters of stone columns and formations with names like the Honeycomb the Wishing Well, the Giant’s Granny and the King and his Nobles, past Port na Spaniagh, where the Spanish Armada ship Girona foundered, past a wooden staircase to Benbane Head and back along the cliff top. In addition to the geologic intrigue of the site, fauna and flora among the rock formations include seabirds, such as fulmar, petrel, cormorant, shag, redshank guillemot and razorbill, and plant species such as sea spleenwort, hare’s foot trefoil, vernal squill, sea fescue and frog orchid.

The Giant’s Causeway truly is one of the world’s great natural wonders.