Inspired Tours it is NOT!
Having recently come back from a tour to Norway, that was originally advertised as a 4x4 Land Rover off road guided tour, I felt compelled to give my feedback, so others who have either already booked or maybe thinking of booking, can be fully prepared for what's ahead.
Firstly we became a little concerned that 2 weeks before the tour, we had still not received our confirmed reference details for the channel tunnel crossing. When asked, we were told they would be sent to us via email that weekend. We actually didn't receive them until 2 days before we were due to go, as the bookings had not been made.
We also had to point out to Adam, that the original itinerary that we had been given raised several concerns, as hotels that had supposedly been booked, would not be able to accommodate Land rover parking, as they were either in height restricted carparks or within low emission zones, that would not allow us into the city, or for those that could, it would cost a fortune, or there just wasn't a carpark and we would be expected to find street parking somewhere, bearing in mind the potential theft issues with LR, we were not happy to do this.
This was taken on board and he did change them, however surely an experienced tour guide would have thought of this previously?
We were told there would be 20 vehicles and it was sold out. On meeting everyone on the day, there were only 7 all together. Not an issue, but again this raised more concerns.
Then after our initial meeting, we were given that nights destination and told 'see you there' you make your own way. Very odd, given it was sold as a guided tour. It then became very clear, that this was how he ran his tours. Everyday we would be told that days destination and off he went leaving everyone to find their own way.
So you could argue, that some people might like to travel alone and stop off along the way, however why would they pay someone to organise their tour.
As the days went on, more and more untruths came about, with campsites that were on the itinerary, not even being open or excepting groups, so last minute arrangements were a regular pattern.
When we finally persuaded him to give us a route, it was literally an AI version of google maps from A to B with some names of towns you would pass through. Basically we were going on a motorway tour, with what appeared to be no knowledge of site seeing locations or even a gravel track, let alone off roads. For one, we found out it is actually illegal to drive off road in Norway, without the land owners permission, which ofcourse we did not have.
Everyday he left the group to find their own way and we would only see him on arrival at the hotel or the campsite.
Thankfully as a group we all decided that his lack of ability to run a tour wasn't going to ruin our holiday, so we would get together everyday and work out our own routes, that took us to beautiful locations throughout Norway and along the route. If we hadn't done this, we would have seen tarmac for 15 days only. He also had not advised anyone to have CB radios, so trying to keep a convoy of vehicles together is hard work with them, let alone without. But we managed by using a WhatsApp group to keep each other informed throughout the day.
After a few days he realised what we were doing and followed us at the back of the group for a while and then he would just go, not telling anyone.
He took videos and photos that we had shared on the WhatsApp group and using AI to change faces and remove vehicles, then shared these on social media. He lied saying that it was -9⁰ when the coldest we had was -6⁰ throughout the night and he also said in one video, that there was 6 or 7 vehicles in front and 6 behind. Well i don't know what he was looking at, as there was only 7 of us all together.
We the group ran this tour. We guided ourselves everyday to the most stunning places and worked out the best routes ourselves. We basically paid him to book a hotel or campsite, that quite frankly we could have done ourselves had we known.
Now I'm sure this might appeal to some people, however this tour was not as described and was was falsely advertised. He has since put up new tour dates for next year, however this does not state guided tour, or off road, as ours had been. So as long as you know, what your getting yourselves into, then that's fine, i wish someone had warned us.
The group in fact left the tour guide and went our own way towards the end, as he totally messed up booking campsites etc which caused more stress than anyone needs whilst on holiday.
I certainly would not go on any tour from Inspired Tours and would encourage anyone looking into one, to do your homework first.
