How large of Friendly Planet/SmartTour Tour Groups?
Apr 2nd, 2006, 02:32 PM
#1
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How large of Friendly Planet/SmartTour Tour Groups?
Love the price...but am concerned about the number of people. Is it small group tours or are you piled on a bus with 40 other people. We are interested in both their China and Japan tour options
Apr 2nd, 2006, 05:51 PM
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It`s up to 40 people or so, but we only had 31,and it didn`t seem like a problem. I didn`t feel like we were herded around. You got off the bus and they told you what time to be back. This was the Croatia trip. I am looking at their Japan trip too. If you want a small group, maybe OAT but it is more expensive. Their Japan trip costs quite a lot more.
Apr 2nd, 2006, 06:00 PM
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Hi,
I'm going to China on smarTours May 10th added trip. Both of their May departures sold out so they added this one. I expect it to be crowded. It comes with the territoritury, but their trips usually work out well and you can't beat the price.
Judy
I'm going to China on smarTours May 10th added trip. Both of their May departures sold out so they added this one. I expect it to be crowded. It comes with the territoritury, but their trips usually work out well and you can't beat the price.
Judy
Apr 3rd, 2006, 11:36 AM
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pat-was it crazy checking into and out of the hotels with that many people? those are the kinds of things that make me hesitant...
do you all have to eat together, or do they give you a voucher for the restaurant so you can eat when you'd like?
do you all have to eat together, or do they give you a voucher for the restaurant so you can eat when you'd like?
Apr 3rd, 2006, 02:06 PM
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checking in and out of hotels wasn`t that bad. The tour director took all the keys, then handed them out to us. I didn`t consider it a problem. As for checking out, we just returned the key to the desk individually. On the dinners that were provided, we ate together, but I think people pretty much sat where ever they wanted. If food wasn`t provided, then we went off and ate where we wanted. No, there was no vouchers. People were all friendly, and I am still corresponding with 2 of them.
Apr 3rd, 2006, 04:17 PM
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Is there a certain age group that normally purchases the friendly planet tours, my husband and I are in our late 20's....and on most trips noticed tour bus type groups were quite a bit older. Not to say that would be a bad thing, but I think it would be nice to have a mix of age groups.
Did you see that with Friendly Planet?
Did you see that with Friendly Planet?
Apr 3rd, 2006, 06:47 PM
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People were mainly older. Quite a few in their 40`s and a lot of retiress. We did have two sisters in their 20`s. They spoke with every one and seemed to have a good time, but the majority were definitely not in your age group. Most everyone did the optinal trips, so it was still a large group.
Apr 3rd, 2006, 07:11 PM
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If you are concerned about the size and or age of the tour groups, why not travel independently? Most of us on this board travel independently, and are glad to answer questions so you can do your own planning.
Apr 4th, 2006, 04:35 AM
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Have a look at Intrepid from Australia.I recently took one of their India trips-max 12 people. It was fantastic.
www.intrepidtravel.com
www.intrepidtravel.com
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