Travel Goals

1. Climb to Everest Base Camp.
2. Climb Mt Kilimanjaro.
3. Learn to Scuba Dive.
4. Visit every continent.
5. See the Galapagos Islands.
6. Sail down the Amazon River.
7. Climb Ayer's Rock.
8. Ride the Trans-Siberian.
9. Go into space.
10. Go wild at La Tomintina.
11. See the sunrise from Mt. Fuji.
12. Gaze at Borobudor.
13. Visit the Pyramids
14. Safari in East Africa.
15. Go to the World Cup!
16. See Machu Picchu.
17. Join the Century Club.
18. Visit Antarctica.
19. Do development work.
20. See Petra Jordan.
21. Backpack the Eastern Block.
22. See the Northern Lights.
23. Vegas Baby! Vegas!
24. Greek Island hop.
25. Cycle Tuscany.
26. Visit India.
27. Lounge in the Seychelles.
28. See Morocco.
29. Oktoberfest!
30. Caravan across the Sahara.
31. Visit Tibet.
32. Fly first class.
33. Go to Israel.
34. Carnival!!!!
35. Mardi Gras!
36. Cannes Film Festival.
37. Sundance Film Festival.
38. Eat a sushi meal at NOBU
39. Pacific Island hop.
40. Spend a night in the Ice Hotel.
41. See Glacier National Park.

Learn a Foreign Language

Are you planning to travel around Europe? Why not learn Italian or French before you go to maximize your experience.

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Good Group Travel

June 10, 2008

Erica from Travel Blissful began our blog series on the merits of solo and group travel by discussing her opinion on which was better. Today, the discussion continues with looking at organized travel.

As an independent traveler, people often think that I have a predisposed hatred towards organized tours. It’s no secret that I’m a big supporter of traveling alone. There are a lot of benefits to solo travel and I always try to cultivate the vagabond in everyone. So it may surprise you when I come out in support of organized tours.

My first holiday was on a tour group to Costa Rica through Gap Adventures. They tend to focus on independent style tours. I spent 14 days exploring the country, getting lost in the jungle, and making new friends. Most of the people on the tour were also alone and in their late 20s so we all had something in common. That trip infused me with the travel bug and also introduced me to great people. More importantly, it didn’t try to rush me and gave me some breathing room. For this first timer, it was the perfect introduction to travel.

Most people think of tour groups as filled Bermuda shorts wearing, camera toting, never leave the hotel package tourists. It’s true that many tours are like this. You see them in the double decker bus driving through countries- in a country but never really experiencing it. These plush package tours promise to show you a country without ever having to leave the resort. I hate these tours and the tourists that come with them. They come all the way to a new country but never leave their Marriott. They are only their for the photos and all the benefits of their travel go to big multinational organization. For all their trouble, they could have just stayed home and photo shopped themselves into some pictures. I do not advocate those tours!

However, not all organized tours are like that. There are some organizations that specialize in eco-tourism or independent tours: tourism that not only leaves a small environmental footprint but also supports local businesses and operators. Many of the companies design their tours so you aren’t shuttled around like cattle but are allowed to wander and spend time getting to know each location. Most simply take the hassle out of the booking process. Companies like Gap Adventures and Intrepid Travel are two of the bigger ones that offer “independent, eco tours.” (You’ll find small, local companies where ever you go! Sustainable travel is the new black.)

A tour can be appropriate for a lot of people. They can offer a lot of benefits, especially for new travelers. They can:

Provide comfort.
Reduce Stress.
Give you people to hang out with.
Provide a local expert.
Reduce planning.
Convenience.

Not everyone is comfortable with just picking up and going to an unknown place. Tours can reduce the stress and anxiety that comes with your first trip and make people more willing to travel. Many people are anxious about meeting people and find it hard to just chat people up. Tours give people a chance to get comfortable and make that leap. After that, that second step could be travel alone. For the anxious, tours can be a great way to ease you into the unknown world of travel. Traveling alone requires a lot of skills and some people just aren’t ready to dive head first into that.

An organized tour isn’t the bad word travelers make it out to be. Sometimes, places and journeys require organized trips. You can’t just show up at Mt. Kilimanjaro, the Serengeti, Halong Bay, or the Galapagos Islands. These places are designed to be done in tour groups- doing it on your own is often more expensive, more inconvenient, and sometimes illegal. In fact, most anti-tour travelers take tours without even realizing it. You’ll find them on hill tribe treks in Asia, trips to Fraser Island or Kakadu in Australia, or on the Inca Trail in Peru.

Moreover, not all tours feature bad tour guides. My guide in Costa Rica got out of our way to let us do what we wanted. My Aboriginal guide in Kakadu national park helped make for an amazing experience. He knew a lot about the land. My tour guide in Thailand was my own personal biologist. Yet I’ve had bad guides too- the guide Belize needed to silence himself, the guide in Ko Samui needed to be pushed off the boat, and the guide in Vietnam was one of the rudest humans I’ve met in my life. However, many of the tours you want to go on- local, friendly, informative- hire guides who enhance your travel experience. (Cool Travel Guide recently became a believer!)

Tours can be a helpful way for people to ease into the vagabond lifestyle. If you’re a first time traveler and nervous about heading out on your own, considering starting off with an organized tour. You may get the bug and anything that gets people out of their homes and on the road in a constructive way, is something I support.

Here’s some good companies and resources on sustainable travel:

Gap Adventures
Context Travel
Viator
Intrepid Travel
Go Green, Travel Green
Defining Eco Tourism
Eco-India
Eco Kenya
Official Site of the Ecotourism Society

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Posted by NomadicMatt | Filed Under Travel Advice

Comments

12 Responses to “Good Group Travel”

Erica on June 10th, 2008 10:48 am

You make some great points here! Will check out the links on sustainable travel.
Lola on June 10th, 2008 10:50 am

Can vouch for GAP Adventures. Recently did the Inca trail with them and definitely don’t get the sense of being carted around like cattle.
Travoholic on June 10th, 2008 1:19 pm

Hey Matt, great writeup!

I’ve long been anti-tour but have come around in recent years. They’re still not really for me, but I see the benefits and wouldn’t totally rule them out.

I agree with all your points and would say that if you’re short on time and seeing the sites is your priorty, they’re fantastic. You’ll see much more in two weeks in Costa Rica on a tour than you will riding around on a bus, wandering around looking for your hostel. But what you miss out on with tours is the fun stuff that happens on the bus and on your aimless wanders.

It’s a tradeoff between having things run smoothly versus seeing what life throws at you and each person has a level that suits them.
Nomadic Matt on June 11th, 2008 1:39 am

Thanks everyone for the great comment!

@Travelholic: You are right! There is a trade off. For some people it is a good trade off.
Pam on June 11th, 2008 1:59 am

I won’t do group travel again, but not because I didn’t like the organization - we traveled with GAP in Vietnam and Cambodia, and really, it was great, our guides were great, it was all great. I didn’t like the pace, I’m a glacially slow traveler, easily distracted, and while this trip was hardly a cattle run, even GAPs leisurely pace was too intense for me. I HIGHLY recommend them, though, the groups are small, they strive for local, the pace really isn’t unreasonable for most humans, and our guide was a superhero.

But when you’re the kind of person who can take all day just to walk around the block, so busy are you just looking at stuff, group travel is not for you. That’d be me.
Domina on June 11th, 2008 8:08 pm

I completely agree with you on tour groups. it all depends on what you are willing to do and with whom. I just met some amazing poeple on this Inca trail trek and it opened my travel network. I now have more places and people I can see!
Demka5 on June 12th, 2008 7:54 pm

Matt- Great post - very nice resources! I have done the Costa Rica trip myself - solo. Have you heard of JD WaterSports? There were plenty of options to do a group travel - but everyone has their own ideas of how and what they want - this breaks the trip. People start to go different ways - in Costa Rica especially, a friend of mine was on a group trip - had to quit half way through - too much difference of opinion on what is important/interesting to see.

With JD - they made bookings for me which I wanted, and I actually arranged for the trips myself around the country. I did spend 2 weeks there - had my own car, saw lots of stuff. What were some of you favorite places there? Tabacon? Arenal? Tarcoles river?
Cuckoo on June 13th, 2008 6:54 am

Some great points got discussed here. It never occurred to me that so much can be thought on aspects of traveling.
Thanks for sharing.

One eco-friendly place in India that I have recently visited & wrote about is this.
Cuckoo on June 13th, 2008 6:58 am

And I agree with Demka5. Difference of opinion on what or when to visit is directly proportionate to the size of the group.
NomadicMatt on June 13th, 2008 2:47 pm

Thanks everyone for the great comments and discussion. Group size is very important. I find the larger the group, the worst things get. It becomes unbearable to travel with some many divergent opinions. I tend to not do tours with more than 12 people, or little excursions (ie trip to fraser island or jungle trek) with more than 8
Solo Travel : Nomadic Matt’s Travel Site on June 18th, 2008 8:53 pm

[...] Blissful Travel started it off with discussing her preference. Last week, we talked about the benefits of group travel. Today, we’ll bring it to a close with why I like solo [...]
Bill Windsor on November 20th, 2008 12:20 am

I prefer traveling on our own but then participating in some tours with others once we reach our various destinations. The best resource for tours and activities once you reach a destination is Alcatraz Media — http://www.reserve123.com.