Travel Tour Companies

[MTR]

Hi All
Looking for feedback on anyone who has used a travel tour company, your experience.

I am thinking of going down this road as we will be planning a trip around Europe. I do have concerns about this though as I am not sure I like the idea of travelling with a group of strangers amongst other things?

I suppose the positive is if the tour company is a good operator it could make life a lot easier, everything is organised ie accommodation, food etc.

Thanks

MTR

 

[Tulamalula]

when I hit 60 I'm going on one of those Scenic Tours 5 star all included snap shot of europe boats down a river somewhere in Europe.

 

[MTR]

when I hit 60 I'm going on one of those Scenic Tours 5 star all included snap shot of europe boats down a river somewhere in Europe.

My mother just completed a tour around Israel/Turkey, she had a great time, everyone on the tour aged around 70-75 yo. It was relatively cheap as well.

There are always deals in the paper which are very well priced.

 

[travelbug]

MTR- who did your mother go with? Not that I want oldies. Just curious.

We did a tour with Tempo tours. They were good. It was a small group tour. Personally I would not go on a big bus tour. I couldn't stand being herded into food venues to eat mass produced food.

Depends how long you intend being away. I would recommend a mixture of self guided and guided tour.

Where are you thinking of going? Some places are easy to negotiate yourself. Others not so much. It is a lot of work, though doing it all yourself.

 

[jingo]

Hi Marisa, We travelled throughout Europe for 3 months last year, covering 10 countries and organized the trip ourselves. It was very rewarding. We used the trains to get around. Some useful sites for booking were: airbnb for accommodation, www.seat61.com for booking trains through Europe - a brilliant site. I also used www.viator.com to book day trips. The only part of the trip we did through a travel tour company was Germany. We used Trafalgar. Trip was good, but we all ended up sick as two passengers (Australians might I add) joined the trip with a really bad virus.... We were most unimpressed. Anyway, I rekon you will get a lot more out of it organizing the trip yourself. Happy to send you further info if you like. I took a while to plan our trip with heaps of reading and research. Kind regards, Jason.

 

[eyespy]

I agree with others that Europe is pretty easy to travel around on your own without a tour. I used 'intrepid 'for turkey as it was bit tougher and was travelling solo so good to have company on tour. Intrepid run small group tours.
I went on a 'con tiki' tour when I was younger but I don't think this will suit you/family. Only other tour group I have heard good reviews about that may suit a family is 'cosmos'.

 

[MTR]

MTR- who did your mother go with? Not that I want oldies. Just curious.

We did a tour with Tempo tours. They were good. It was a small group tour. Personally I would not go on a big bus tour. I couldn't stand being herded into food venues to eat mass produced food.

Depends how long you intend being away. I would recommend a mixture of self guided and guided tour.

Where are you thinking of going? Some places are easy to negotiate yourself. Others not so much. It is a lot of work, though doing it all yourself.

Hi Travelbug
The trip was organised via her Church, it was one of those religious tours and heavily discounted due to high numbers. I don't think it would suit your criteria at all from what you are saying. Not something I would want either.

Cheers
Marisa

 

[MTR]

Hi Marisa, We travelled throughout Europe for 3 months last year, covering 10 countries and organized the trip ourselves. It was very rewarding. We used the trains to get around. Some useful sites for booking were: airbnb for accommodation, www.seat61.com for booking trains through Europe - a brilliant site. I also used www.viator.com to book day trips. The only part of the trip we did through a travel tour company was Germany. We used Trafalgar. Trip was good, but we all ended up sick as two passengers (Australians might I add) joined the trip with a really bad virus.... We were most unimpressed. Anyway, I rekon you will get a lot more out of it organizing the trip yourself. Happy to send you further info if you like. I took a while to plan our trip with heaps of reading and research. Kind regards, Jason.

Hi Jason
Thanks for the tips. Will check them out.

I am leaning towards going your way. Just putting the effort in and trying to be a little more organised, that's hard

Only planning on Italy, Spain and France this year, prefer to do just a couple of countries so we can spend more time in each country, I don't want it to be full on.

I also speak Italian and can manage using this in Spain as very similar. I have lived in Italy so I know plenty of pockets out of the way that I am sure tour groups would not even know about. Also, have all my father's family in Italy so have accommodation and instant tour guides which will help.

Also, what was your favourite spot?? Just curious.

Cheers
Marisa

 

[Nemo30]

We did the European Cavalcade (about 19 days and 9 countries I think) with Trafalgar a few years ago.

Group dynamics were generally good - it was a full coach. Good mix of ages and nationalities (Lots of Aussies and South Africans and the rest from different Asian countries). No one was terribly painful. About half the bus were families (parents in 40's with teenage kids), some younger people in their 20's and a couple in their 60's.

Positives

Loved the tour guide. He was very funny, very organised and really added value to the trip with lots of history and insights along the way.

We had a limited time frame, and definitely saw more than we would have otherwise. We went to places we would never have gone to ourselves.

Everything was taken care of - our luggage, transport etc. We didnt have to line up at tourist spots - straight in, with local tour guides leading the group.

It was a fun group - lots of fun group dinners and activities. My teenage son made lots of friends and enjoyed himself as much as we did.


Negatives

We didnt stay long enough in each place. It was a very quick snapshot.

Limited opportunity to do our own thing

We did the costsaver trip which was cheaper, but meant many of the hotels were way outside the town/city. Limited opportunity to go back and explore yourself, or even go out for dinner.

Overall I was very happy with our tour.

Currently looking at this Albatross tour for Italy
http://www.albatrosstours.com.au/european-summer-tours/italian-grande

I like the look of it because it has longer stops in each location and I can explore the larger cities on my own before and after.

 

[Doomy]

+1 for Trafalgar.

We did a Central Europe tour for 10 days and had a good time, alot of the food is actually pretty damn good.

Tour leader was a South African guy who was excellent.

Good group dynamic as Nemo said, mix of younger and older.

Alot of the better stuff is optional so to get the full experience you need to add around $50 a day.

We had done our own thing previously in UK/Europe, Japan and the States but this was a shorter trip where we tried to squeeze more in so the tour worked well.