I personally don't think that you'll get any recompense for delays due to the adverse weather.

Mark

I'm personally not a fan of coach tours but my parents are - they've been on a number of them and what you describe is par for the course. Early starts and latish check-ins are the norm - it's the only way to ensure that the distances are covered whilst still gving people time to actually look around the places the tour visits. My parents always advise that anybody planning a coach tour should get a good map of the country being visited and to check-out the daily travel distances for yourself against the tour itinerary. That way you can roughly work out how much time you'll be spending on the coach and how much time you'll actually have to look around. Long distances and busy itineraries are a sure fire indication of long days. Now they are in their late 70s they limit themselves to either no more than 100 miles per day or only a week long trip at a time. They've decided they no longer have the stamina to 'do' the US in three weeks or Russia AND the Baltic states in two as they have done in the past! I always knew that I never had that sort of stamina in the first place :-)

And as some unfortunates on your trip discovered - a busy intinerary and long distances also impose a tight discipline about needing to be ready to leave on time. Given the choice between a couple of angry people who get left behind and have to make their own way to next stop and a whole coach load of people who get angry and frustrated at being kept waiting by a few (often the same few!) who are late every morning, it's a no-brainer for the reps. Give them a couple warnings and then leave them to face up to the consequences of their actions is what will keep the majority of their customers happy. So that's what they do.

I think you've discovered what I discovered years ago - coach holidays aren't for you because you don't like early mornings, late arrivals, a rigid schedule, being at the mercy of the mercy of the weather and on top of all that for me, the prospect of being trapped with a group of people that I really don't like that much and would never have chosen to go on holiday with if I'd only known a bit more about them in advance.

I do appreciate that you had a miserable experience - I would have found it miserable too - but I don't think that you've much hope of compensation. Just because you didn't like the holiday and didn't enjoy yourself is in itself not a good reason for receiving any compensation if the TO did not otherwise fail in their duty to you. From the sound of it they took you to exactly where they said they would, did provide all the hotels, meals and sightseeing trips as advertised. Unless you can prove that the TO did not comply with the terms of their contract with you, I think you just have to put this down to experience and don't do another package coach tour. It sounds like they're not your thing either.

SM