Comments on: Good Group Travel

By: NomadicMatt

NomadicMatt — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:09:29 +0000

I’m currently on a group trip in Italy and having a great time.

By: Ian and Wendy Sewell

Ian and Wendy Sewell — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 01:30:32 +0000

Very good points! Even though we’ve traveled all over the world by ourselves, our favorite trip ever was actually a “group” trip.

We went on safari in Botswana. We did have people suggest we self drive. For 2 city people whose idea of how to change a tire is to call AAA (aka CAA, aka AA) the idea of driving in the middle of nowhere, by ourselves, with no roads or cell service and only GPS co-ordinates to guide us would have been insane to put it mildly. Not to mention all the amazing animals we would have missed seeing and all the fabulous things we would never have learned about them. Being in a group of 6 made all the difference, too – and was WELL worth paying more for!

Happy Travels!

By: Nicolas De Corte

Nicolas De Corte — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:44:30 +0000

Hi Matt,
You’re totally right that group travels can be the first step to independent travelling. My first oversea holiday was with a group to Cuba. Afterwards, I decided never to travel with a group again. Okay, if I had done a little more research before signing up, I might have figured out that the group would consist of old people…
From the benifits of group travelling, I only think the “Provide a local expert” is true. When I travel alone, I always tend not to take a guide, even though I know it would be a lot more interesting sometimes, maybe it’s just my pride…
Confort, stress and planning are part of the travelling experience, I think, the situations you thumble into are often the ones you remember the rest of your life.
Finding people to hang uit with was my biggest fear when I started solo travelling, but the travellers community seems to be a very friendly and social one. I can’t think of one evening that I’ve spent alone (unplanned) on travels.
But you’re right, everybody travels the way they like, and you have to try it all before you can even decide what you like most…

By: Bill Windsor

Bill Windsor — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:20:07 +0000

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.

By: NomadicMatt

NomadicMatt — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:47:24 +0000

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

By: Cuckoo

Cuckoo — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:58:48 +0000

And I agree with Demka5. Difference of opinion on what or when to visit is directly proportionate to the size of the group.

By: Cuckoo

Cuckoo — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:54:48 +0000

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.

By: Demka5

Demka5 — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:54:00 +0000

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?

By: Domina

Domina — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:08:00 +0000

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!

By: Pam

Pam — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 01:59:00 +0000

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.