When I decided to backpack through Europe I wasn’t sure how I was going to go about doing it. I knew I was going to fly into London and stay there for a few days. I had no clue how I was going to get between cities beyond spending time in London. Was I going to take a train? Or would I take the bus? So began my research….. I wanted to find something that would be economical for me.
My search ended when I came across the sites for Haggis Adventures and Busabout (that will be another post altogether). I knew I found my way around Europe after reading about how they worked.
Haggis Adventures is a budget tour I booked for my travels through Scotland. It was more than a tour. I don’t even consider it your run of the mill tours because I booked the Highland fling flexi tour through them. What is a flexi tour, you ask? A flexi tour is where you can hop off the bus within the route that the tour is going and pick up the next bus on that route a couple of days later. Or however the timetable is set up for that route.
The flexi tour consisted of the Northern Fling (leaving from Edinburgh, Corpach and Kyleakin), West Coaster (Kyleakin, Portree Fort Augustus) and Southern Fling (Fort Augustus, Inverness, Pitlochry and back to Edinburgh). I loved the flexi tour because I could get off the bus at Corpach if I wanted to and then take the next bus to Kyleakin or Fort Augustus if I wanted. But only if the Northern, West Coaster or Southern Fling were running on the day that I wanted to leave for that particular destination I would have in mind of staying for a few days. They didn’t run every day. The Northern Fling only ran on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The West Coaster ran on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The Southern Fling ran on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
I would recommend Haggis Adventures because taking a flexi tour makes it more flexible for you as a traveler because you can take your time seeing more of the country you are visiting. But taking a flexi tour also gives you the feeling of being on a tour because the guides are knowledgeable about the area and stop at places along the way so you can get more of a feel for the country and see the sights up close before reaching your destination for the night. As for where to stay, Haggis Adventures takes care of that for you. You pay for the bed upon check-in and don’t have to worry about booking accommodation before you leave on the tour.
The Highland Fling has changed from when I took it. Here is a link to this particular tour and the places you will see while on it.
Not sure if Haggis Adventures still has what are called Flexi tours but I recommend checking them out. They have many tours to choose from so you can decide which parts of Scotland you want to see.
What are your thoughts on taking a tour? Have you ever taken a tour? Or considered one but backed out because you didn’t want to feel confined to sticking to everything that a tour might have set aside for each day? You should reconsider on what you think a tour is and look into flexi tours and see if this is something you would like for your travels.
Disclaimer – I was not compensated by Haggis Adventures for this review. This is solely my own opinion/experience using this company to travel through the Highlands of Scotland.
