RSD Travel
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Good value for money
We have travelled with RSD twice: a 15 day tour of Morocco returning last week, & Crete in Nov. 2018. We were very happy with both holidays, & after reading some of the reviews posted I want to share some observations for people reading these sites to decide whether to travel with RSD. Look at the price and what you are getting for the money! In the first week we travelled over 600 miles around Morocco visiting Fez, Meknes, Rabat, Volubilis, Casablanca and Marrakesh. We had an excellent driver, guide and support crew. The tour was planned to factor in comfort stops, and select some key aspects of the different places which showed the variety of Morocco. We saw souks, villages, palaces, gates, walls, mausoleums, mosques, mountain ranges, changing country side, and the Atlantic coast. Trees and plants were beginning to bloom. The sun shone. Storks were even obligingly nesting in minarets and telecommunications posts for us. We drank mint tea in a family riad, and walked through a variety of shop-sellers and gardens. That alone would have cost much more with other companies than the £900 that we paid RSD for two, and that included dinners in the first week. Not our first visit to Morocco, this went to many cities we had not yet visited. To see places in greater detail, you need to spend more time in them. A tour must select, and if you like the place and want to see more, you can come back for a short city break, your confidence already boosted by what you have learnt on this tour. The last days in Marrakesh included an orientation of the city: there were seven more days afterwards in which people could get on that shuttle bus, go back in to the centre, & explore a variety of the superb palaces, museums & souks that makes this such a brilliant place. The hotels were more than adequate for each night: sheets clean and food OK. In the second week, although the hotel was not what we would have chosen for ourselves, it was presented as 'a gift' and as such, I say 'thank you very much'. An extra week in the sun instead of rainy & cold UK was very much appreciated, and we combined days of reading on the generous supply of sunbeds in beautifully manicured gardens, with trips into the city to revisit what we knew we wanted to see. Although the visits to co-operatives for carpets, leather, jewellery & argan oil may seem intrusive to some passengers, I appreciate that such arrangements are probably a significant factor in keeping the cost down. With a house already full of beautiful carpets from Turkey, Morocco, and India we have never experienced a problem in saying this and moving to the coffee shop at the end. I understand that the salesmen are pressured by their management to sell, but they do accept 'no' if you mean it. And for those people who like something and buy it, you have a quality item to take home and love wearing or walking on with the additional pleasure of memories of the country that it came from. Manage your expectations, readers. If you choose to go on a group tour you accept that you have less control over the when/ where / what you see. RSD send details of extras you can buy into for the full experience, and if you want the simpler life of just wandering along to buffet meals in the evenings, if you enjoy lunches as well, the various packages make this happen. We didn't have these extras in the second week, but the people on our tour who did said that the food was very good. Tipping is a way of life in many countries- certainly in Morocco where one learns to hoard single dirhams for the loo. Finally I would like to reflect on the significance of the guide. A good one can enhance your enjoyment of the trip and understanding of the country immeasurably; at the very least they should make everyone feel safe and ensure the tour runs smoothly. We were very lucky in Morocco. RSD if you are reading this, make sure that you value Suat, Abdul, Hassan, and Mustapha : they are first class.