Tours for Travel Newbs

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Tours for Travel Newbs

Postby SilverMaple » Sat Jul 04, 2015 8:50 pm

I haven't been out of the province for a couple of years now, and dealing with winters as cold as the devil's nether regions along with seeing no scenery but wheat as far as the eye can see is giving me a bit of cabin fever. Okay, maybe "if I don't go somewhere with oceans and palm trees, I'm probably going to snap and buy a motorhome and live in California for a few months before I get caught and sent back to Canada" is more accurate.

Fortunately, I have a bunch of money saved up for just this sort of thing. The only problem is I have no one to go with, and I've only traveled as far as the U.S. by myself before. My cousins have gone on Contiki tours to Europe before and came back raving about them - you get to see all the highlights, and the cost is low since you share a room with another person, but the only downside is that it's a structured schedule.

This is the one that sounds the most appealing to me. Does anyone else have any experience solo traveling? Would you recommend this kind of tour, or would you do it another way?
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Re: Tours for Travel Newbs

Postby DamianaRaven » Sat Jul 04, 2015 9:39 pm

I don't know about all that, but any TCS member in the DFW area can hit me up for at least one free meal. I also have a fold-out bed in my living room but boarders are accepted on a case-by-case basis, and always for free. I'll share a meal with anyone though, and Justin is one hell of a cook!
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Re: Tours for Travel Newbs

Postby Bert » Sat Jul 04, 2015 9:55 pm

I haven't actually gone on a tour like that, but I probably would if I didn't have solo travel experience. I was fortunate enough to go to Europe with a friend who had traveled extensively before . After a while we decided to split ways, but by then I had more or less figured it out and was able to manage on my own. At this point I would just go on my own in the future. Even so, I can see the benefit of a tour, as it takes the hassle of planning and whatnot so you can just enjoy the trip. And doing this sort of thing for the first time is nerve-wracking enough. So I suppose I would recommend a tour for you.

My other travel advice is to make sure you have the ability to just relax every couple of days and do nothing. 16 days might not sound like much but it can get overwhelming when you are in a new place and every day is full of "activities". I know I didn't make it a week in Spain before I was looking for a beach to plop down on and do nothing all day. Given that a lot of this trip involves beaches, that shouldn't be a problem for you. Hope it works out and if you go, send pictures!
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Re: Tours for Travel Newbs

Postby cmsellers » Sun Jul 05, 2015 2:50 am

If you want to go to Turkey, I can write you an itinerary around your timeframe and budget, recommend hotels in certain cities, tell you have to find an affordable hotel in other cities, warn you about scams and make you a list of the only Turkish phrases you'll need to learn.

Hell, if I had money saved and time, I'd offer to chaperone you. I took my family around the western part of the country and it was great fun. I really wish I could get a job as a tour guide in Turkey, but sadly (though understandably) they only hire Turks. Hell, if I were independently wealthy, I'd probably just hang out in places where tourists are in Turkey and offer to subsidize their trips if they let me drag them all over the country. I frigging love Turkey. The food is awesome, the people are friendly (though in the most touristy areas they will try to scam you), it's a wonderful place to go if you're into ancient cities and old ruins, and the whole country is wicked cheap compared to the US. Also, parts of Turkey do have beaches and palm trees.

Any rate, I'm assuming I probably won't persuade you to let me write you a personalized itinerary of Turkey, but I'd still recommend traveling alone. Admittedly, I've only been on a package tour thrice (all in my young teens, two were actually package day trips), but that's enough.

Package tours need to accommodate people of diverse interests. This is most obvious to me in terms of the fact that most tourists apparently really like shopping. (The tours I was on were cheap ones, but our neighbors have a son who works for a company that does high-end ones, and they make the same assumption.) Traveling alone lets you travel at your own pace, see the things that you want to see, and visit attractions that aren't as touristy but just as interesting, and visit touristy attractions during non-touristy times.

The people I've met who rave about package tours tend to be social butterflies. They can't just read a book or enjoy the scenery when traveling between destinations, and feel the need to talk. Package tours guarantee that you'll always have people who speak your language and have at least one interest (travel) in common. I don't get the impression that you're particularly social, but if that's what you want, package tours are the way to go.

People who like package tours also tend to like order and schedules. I don't know enough about you to know if that's you, but I know that my mother (who's not a social butterfly but is obsessed with order) loves package tours because they mean she doesn't have to plan all the details of her trip in advance.

I like going to a place and finding a hotel when I get there. I also like to go to a place and ask locals if there are places that would interest me; in Turkey it was usually "where are the ruins?" or "where's the museum?" on the assumption that nearly every Turkish town has ruins and at least one museum. I like to ask locals where to eat, or just stop in at places that look good. All of this would be anathema to my mother, and if you, like her, are fond of advance planning, package tours may relieve some stress. (Though if you go to Turkey, I'm absolutely serious about drawing you an itinerary, and I can even make it a schedule for you. Turkey is awesome, package tours miss some of the best parts, and I can tell you which ones.)

Personally I hate having to be places at a certain time, hate having people talk at me while I'm trying to take new places in, and love the feel of discovery as I go to unknown places without any serious expectations as to what I'll find (beyond that it's always possible to find an affordable hotel, you should never drink the tap water, and you can always find someone with fluent English in a pinch by looking hopelessly lost). I personally like to let things happen and experiences unfold as they may, while package tours are generally, well... packaged.
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Re: Tours for Travel Newbs

Postby SilverMaple » Sun Jul 05, 2015 5:44 am

Thanks for the responses! I guess I should clarify that I'm not looking for ideas as to where to go, as I've had my heart set on Australia for years now (I don't want any jokes about how everything with a pulse in Australia is trying to kill you; I live in the Prairies, and the elements themselves are your enemy here. At least it's actually theoretically possible to escape the animals. Oh God, get me out of this frozen hellhole please.).

I'm not very social at all, but I feel like if I was on my own in another place without a scheduled itinerary, I'd be way too worried about getting lost and also too scared to go up to locals and ask them where good restaurants, beaches, etc. are. I still get some free time with this sort of trip, and also don't have to pay full price for hotel rooms. Since I'm pretty new to traveling, sticking to touristy areas is fine with me so I can get a feel for things. So yeah, I'm thinking the tour may be the best idea.

And I guess with this sort of thing, since you're in a big group, there's the possibility of making some friends (but then again I thought that would happen in university, and that didn't really end up working), which is always good.
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Re: Tours for Travel Newbs

Postby cmsellers » Sun Jul 05, 2015 6:06 am

I'd like to visit Australia, but the cost of living is rather high, and I don't think that even with a working holiday visa I could find a job. Australia seems like a great place to travel alone in some respects, since they speak English and stuff is going to be extensively reviewed on TripAdvisor.

However considering that a lot of what you'd want to see in the country is rural, a package tour might make some sense, either for the whole trip, or for smaller sub-trips. Much of it is likely to be difficult to access, unless Oz lets people under 25 rent cars. And some parts of the country require you to visit on a package tour. I know that the Tiwi Islands and Arnhem Land are off limits to outsiders except as part of package tours run by the local Aboriginal land councils

If you're not social, I don't think you're likely to make permanent friends on a tour. I say this as someone who is also not social and has failed to make friends in situations where you're expected to. I also say this because the people who go on package tours seem to be mostly retirees and families. I don't know if there's specific package tours specifically for young, unmarried people, and I don't know if that could be expected to yield lasting friendships.

If I had the money to visit Australia, I wouldn't do a package tour, but I've already mentioned that I like doing things on my own time, and finding things myself, and hate having people talk my ear off. Of course Australians speak English, but I actually don't mind locals coming up to me and chatting, since I'm not going to be spending all day with them. I feel like if I'm going to be spending days or weeks with people, I want to know as little about them as possible, so I don't grow to hate them.

Also, if I had the money to go to Australia, I'd probably go to Chile, which is closer, cheaper, and has a lot of wildlife which is similar to Australia owing to its Gondwanan origins. Also, the people speak Spanish, so I can pretend not to understand them when I want to avoid interaction.
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Re: Tours for Travel Newbs

Postby Bert » Sun Jul 05, 2015 6:34 am

I found among the people I met in hostels that the combination of being around people who didn't know me plus the knowledge that I would never see them again let me be more open and comfortable than I normally am.
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Re: Tours for Travel Newbs

Postby Jack Road » Mon Jul 06, 2015 10:29 am

If I ever stayed at a hostel, I would not be able to help myself from hanging a sign listing the various prices I'm willing to offer for various organs.
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Re: Tours for Travel Newbs

Postby JamishT » Mon Jul 06, 2015 7:23 pm

If I ever stayed at a hostel, I would ask the people in charge if they are angry at people most of the time. "No, why?" "Oh, just checking if this is a hostile hostel is all." "GET OUT."
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