Okay, where do I begin?
HOSPITALITY
Touring is a hospitality business. A guide is expected to be the host for his guests, but Rob had ZERO sense of hospitality. When we stopped, he was the first one out of the van. He'd go to the sites, leaving us behind. Or he'd want to be the first in his hotel room, and he wanted the best room. He had no "other" awareness. I am not even sure he knew everyone's name. He certainly didn't use them. He put on his headphones so that he didn't have to engage with us.
GUIDING
This is a tour. Rob Wildwood is supposed to be the guide. He wrote a book on sacred places of Britain. He only shared two stories about the many sites we went to.
I expected Rob Wildwood to help with choosing appropriate restaurants. His idea of that was to ask the locals. I could have done that.
DRIVING
Rob Wildwood was also our driver. Three out of five passenger were car sick because of his driving and he took no notice of that. When asked to drive more slowly over the speed bumps, he said he was unfamiliar with the vehicle and that in his vehicle, he could drive right over them with no problem. He blamed being unfamiliar with manual transmission.
I know that the last day of the tour, I was slammed into the seat in front of me at least three times because of abrupt breaking. Clearly he's following too closely. When you say something, he stops for a while and then goes back to what he was doing.
INEFFICIENT & WASTEFUL
I expected the guide to know where he was going since he's the expert on sacred places of Britain. He didn't. He explained that he was just going in the order that i put them down on the paper. (I said on day 1, I wanted to see X, Y, and Z). So every night, after a long day of touring, I was plotting sites on a map so that I could give to him to tell him where to go.
The first day, he offered to take us to a place that was "on the way." I said okay. He didn't explain that this would mean that we couldn't go to the places that I actually wanted to hit. One closed at 5. It was very close to the places we stopped. Had he just gone to the one with the closing time first, we could have seen both. Instead we arrived as it was closing.
The first day, our group was ready to go at 9. We had to wait for him to pack up his room so that we could leave. We ultimately ended up leaving at 10.
The second day, departure time was 9. At 9 he was reading maps for 15 minutes. He said it was because he didn't know where he was going. I gave him the itinerary months before, but he didn't research anything before the tour started. That's when I started writing out the itinerary AGAIN the night before in order of the sites.
COST
Rob Wildwood was by far the most expensive "tour guide" I've had in the UK. I hired him anyway because he wrote the book on it. I figured we were in for something special and it would be worth it. Wrong.
His website says, "Rob has a wide knowledge of the history, folklore, fauna, flora and spirits of this land, so will be able to fill your journey with all kinds of interesting facts and information. As well as relating the history and folklore of each site Rob can also take you on a journey to the Otherworld using his shamanic drum ("the shaman's horse") where you may get profound visions, messages from the faerie folk, or even interactions with the magical spirits of each place." If he has such information, he never shared it. When I asked about what he was getting from the sites, he said, "Oh, I didn't even tune in. I just took pictures." The only one who used the drum was him. He never even offered.
In addition to his fee, I had to pay all expenses plus take the responsibility for any tickets or accidents. (The fee I've paid in the past INCLUDED expenses, so this was far more expensive). The van had a ding on each side and he never said a word. Nothing is his responsibility. It was always, "You never said that" or "Oh, it's the road."
I have been doing tours for twenty years. I have never had guests tell me that they wanted to leave mid-tour. Two did on this tour. One actually did leave and said that she would never tour with me again. So not only did I pay through the nose for really poor service, it cost me the trust of a loyal customer.
I attempted to speak with Rob Wildwood during the tour about the situation, but he's not present and doesn't hear what is said ("You never said that."). He was also defensive, so it wasn't a pleasant tour at all. I have loved the UK for the last ten years. This was so unpleasant that I don't want to return at all.
But, do let me give credit where credit is due. We got a flat in the van. Rob handled that like a champ. He took control- probably because it was in his best interest to do so. He didn't want to be stuck on the side of the road either. Still, I didn't have to do anything about that, so I want to be fair and give credit for that. read more