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RSS FeedAre guided or solo tours better when traveling?
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| Solo | 65% | 241 votes | Total: 368 votes | |
| Guided | 35% | 127 votes |
Solo
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Add to FavoritesPity the poor hordes of group travelers trying to appear inconspicuous as they trudge en masse, badges firmly affixed, guide leading, as they are marched or bused from site to site with nary a chance of blending into the local scene. And are they free to do as they choose or as their preplanned itinerary demands? We all know the answer. If the tenth cathedral looks much like the first, and the latest monument to an unknown war hero bores, consider the merits of solo travel. I speak for experience!
Several years ago my husband and I took a one day group tour from Hong Kong to Mainland China. It was a travesty and a total waste of a day. It was also a pity since there was much to see and all we saw was a money gouging array of tourist traps. We were escorted to a purported museum which was in fact a huge gift shop. Every single item in the "museum" was for sale. We were stranded there for two hours. We spent over two hours at a touristy lunch with the only Chinese seen being the waitstaff. And so the day went with the utter frustration of knowing we could have done infinitely better by ourselves.
We had a similar experience in Croatia where we were taken on a boat trip which turned out to be a beer drinking frenzy of tour guides acting out as if they were in a drunken stupor and us being held captive at a picnic site for most of a precious day. I don't need to travel to Croatia to picnic with drunks.
Contrast that to our lifetime of independent where we have had magical experiences, dined with locals and been able to discover the real lifestyles of our host countries. We have been to many places abroad and in North America where we live. There is just no question that a well planned solo trip is lots more fun than an escorted tour. But, yes, it's not for the lazy or timid. You must be willing to research your destination including hotels, restaurants and the kinds of places you will enjoy visiting. For us it means lots and lots of walking. But how else would you find the toilet paper sculpture in Madrid and the tango dancers in the streets of Buenos Aires? We walk until the feet can no longer do their job and then we relax in a crowded (always look for crowded!) eating spot or cafe and people watch. People watching is the most fascinating part of travel and so unobtainable on a group tour.
We also enjoy shopping so that we can have permanent momentos of our journeys. We have a houseful of treasures from flea market finds (flea markets are just fabulous ways to mix into the local scene) to objets de arte. These items are reminders of our travels and we cherish them all. An escorted shopping trip is so totally without merit. Everyone knows that the tour guides will take you to the places where they get commission, places patronized only by other tourists. Is this really how you want to shop?
Then there's the timing. Filling up a tour bus can take some time, especially if there's someone who's constantly lagging. And do you really want to get up when you're told and rest on the schedule demanded by the tour? Why not do your own thing? Early riser? Fine. Later? Fine as well.
Compatability is also an issue on a tour. Perhaps you just won't be in sync with your fellow tourists. That can be a joykiller!
Go as you please but know that a sophisticated traveler does not go on a group tour!
Learn more about this author, Rosanne Skopp.
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Guided
I am a tour guide in the Pacific Northwest. I have been doing this for 14 years, but I have been a traveler all of my life. Traveling is a subject I have some passion for. Because guiding tours is my profession, and I feel what I do is providing a genuine service to the public, I would have to say that there is definately a need for guided tours.
If you are planning a trip, and you have never been there before, it only makes sense that you get a guide who has been there and knows about your destination. Your guide will make special effort that you see everything there is to see. It is simply folly to stumble through your destination, only to find out later that you missed something really cool.
Not to say that you can't have fun just exploring and happening upon things simply by adventure. It's just that, you are bound to see more if there is someone with you who knows more.
For instance, I have guided tours to the Oregon Coast over 100 times in the last 14 years. I can take you to the very best restaurants where you will get the very best food and the very best service. I can tell you about some bad experiences too, and save you the heartache of learning for yourself an expensive lesson. I know who has the best clam chowder, and it isn't Mo's like the billboards say. I know where the best salt water taffy is. I know the tide tables and where to view a starfish up close. I can tell you the difference between a friend and an anemone.
If you go to the Oregon Coast on your own, you might have a fantastic time, but you may stumble into some of the pitfalls I could have steered you away from.
The key is to find a guide you is friendly and fun. Someone who you have a good sense about. They have to enjoy what they are doing, or they have no business guiding tours.
My Mother always told me to find something I like to do, and then find a way to get paid for doing it. That is why most tour guides do what they do. They get paid to have fun. I love taking someone into their first time of an experience. I get to experience their excitement right along with them, and it renews the memory of the first time I did it myself. I see the wonderment of it all through their eyes, and it becomes new to me again through there experience. In sharing their excitement and enthusiasm, we all get an enhanced experience.
By all means, if no guide is available, do explore. But if you can get someone to show you around, you will have a more enriching experience.
If you go to Disneyland without having someone who's been there with you, I think you will be so lost, miss so much of the adventure, possibly get taken advantage of, and you won't benefit from the experience of a pro.
As my Disney friend Buzz Light Year would say, " To infinity and beyond ." Get the travel bug and go. If I take you to Disneyland, you will go on a weekday, while the kids are in school. I will show you how to ride the most rides in the least time, while avoiding the longest lines.
If I take you to Shore Acres Park, I will take you at high tide, after a storm, nearest the cycle of a full moon. This is the formula for seeing waves that crash against the cliff wall splashing hundreds of feet in the air.
If you go on an overnight trip that involves motel/hotel stays. I will carry your luggage to your car. I will bring fresh towels to your poolside. I will bring ice to your room. I will bring newspapers to your door in the morning, along with fresh baked pastries for your coffee.
There are a lot of "Benny's" to taking a guided tour. Why would anyone suffer themselves to do it the hard way?
Learn more about this author, Michael Mccormick.
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