Escorted Tours

“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.”

Gustave Flaubert

An escorted tour is a tour with a guide.  There are many different kinds of escorted tours.  They vary a great deal.  Usually if you say you are going on an escorted tour, or on a tour with a tour company, everyone thinks about the "big bus" experience, the "If its Tuesday it must be Belgium" type of tour.  Those are certainly available, by every tour company out there.  But there are many other choices out there to choose from.

Trafalgar Tours Bus, Driver and Tour Guide

I have taken a few escorted tours over the years.  In 2010 we took a Trafalgar Tour.  Trafalgar is one of the largest tour companies, and they have been around for many years.  They are a good company, and if the big bus tour is your thing, then I would say they are a very good company for you to book with.  Our tour started in Vienna, Austria, traveled through Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, a corner of Bosnia and ended in Budapest, Hungary.  There were about 50 people on board, all very nice people who we got to know to some degree during the trip.  Some we liked better than others, that always happens.  It is a way to make friends, and you do tend to pair up with others who you find you have something in common with.

Special Dinner at Farmhouse in Croatia
George and myself with others on our tour

The advantages of an escorted tour are - price (usually overall it's cheaper because they book in block, and they cover so many of the little expenses), you have someone guiding you and showing you all the sights that they consider to be worth seeing, and they tell you about what you are seeing.

The disadvantages, at least as far as I am concerned (you may not consider these disadvantages) are - most meals are included (which means you will be eating at the hotels alot, and not eating where the locals eat, or what they eat), you are herded into a town in a large group and given a city tour, and maybe a half hour on your own if you are lucky, which doesn't give you much time to see anything on your own, there is no spontaniety, no getting off the beaten path.  And you are stuck with the same group the entire trip, which can get old.  Even though you are suppose to leave a place at a certain time, you are always waiting for someone, so you sit on the bus frustrated that you could still be out seeing things.  And they tell you what time to get up in the morning, usually early.  If you are in a country such as Spain, where the locals don't eat dinner until 10 p.m., then you miss all the night life, which is part of the experience. If you have to be up at 6 a.m to have breakfast and catch your bus, you will probably not stay up and experience the night life.

A tour Group being led up the steps to the ruins of
Lindos in Greece

There are options even for those who want an escorted tour.  You don't have to do the "big bus" type of tour.  You can opt for a smaller tour, maybe less than 10 with guides and usually a van or small bus to take you places.  These are a little less structured usually and you have more flexibility.  The guide is usually willing to listen to you if you say you want to do something different (as long as the others in the group agree), or to spend a little more time at a place.  You have less people that you are always waiting for.  However, if the group is small, you may find less people that you have something in common with, but you can always wander off on your own.

The other option is to do a free-style type of tour.  You are on your own, just you and whoever you are traveling with, but you still book through a tour company.  They arrange everything, places to stay, city tours if you want them, entrance to whatever sights you want to see, and land transportation (whether it is a van and driver or maybe the train).  You have a guide that meets you and takes you to your hotel, the guide is available if you need them, but you are on your own to see what you want to see, and spend as much time as you want at each place.  If you opt for the driver to take you places, then that is usually your guide.  You usually do meals on your own in the local restaurants, but the guide can advise you on good places to eat - they are usually local so know where to go.  It is more like traveling on your own, but you have the security of having someone available to help you.

Africa - On Safari

We are heading off to Africa soon, and we have booked through General Tours.  General does tours all over the world.  They do escorted tours and they will also design a trip just for you, with your own driver.  They are a great company and have also been around for a long time.  We are doing a pre-tour package to Victoria Falls, where we will be basically on our own, with a guide who will pick us up and take us to our camp, and we have a tour of the falls.  We will be there for 3 days, and anything else we want to do while there, we will have to book on our own. 

Africa - On Safari

Then we do a 12 day safari through Kenya and Tanzania.  We will be staying in lodges and luxury tents.  All our meals will be provided and our transportation from park to park.  We are guaranteed that there will be no more than 16 people in our safari group.  I think that is a nice amount.  We will be in jeeps a lot, so we will be in even smaller groups then.

At the end of the trip we added on 2 nights on the island of Zanzibar (the spice island), to just relax and enjoy the beach.  We will be on our own there also, with a guide to pick us up when we arrive and take us back to the airport when we leave.

When you are doing a place like Africa, there is no "big bus" experiences, but there are companies that do put quite a few more people in a group.  And if you are staying in hotels in the parks, then you will not get to the good animal viewing places until later in the day, when it is crowded.  By staying in tents, we will be close to those areas all the time, and hopefully will get to see some good views of the animals.

Quite a few companies are now recognizing that more and more travelers prefer being more independent when they travel and are now setting up more independent type trips, but still being there for the traveler. Even Trafalgar now has what they call "At Leisure" tours.  You are still with a group, but a smaller group, you spend more nights in one place with more leisure time to explore on your own.  You are not rushed from place to place.

George and I on our own in Greece

And more and more companies are now custom-designing trips for the traveler who wants to go on their own but still have someone available to show them the sights and be there for them.  So if you don't want the "big bus" experience, but are not sure you are ready to head off on your own, consider one of the custom designed trips. 

If you are feeling a little more adventuresome and want to head out on your own, to distant places, my next posting will be about independent travel and how to get around.