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Tours For Young Professionals Other Than Contiki

Tours For Young Professionals Other Than Contiki

Old Jan 18th, 2011, 09:28 PM
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Tours For Young Professionals Other Than Contiki

I want to go on a tour of Spain but with people my age 20's and 30's. I went on a Contiki about 5 years ago but...that was 5 years ago. Now I want a more in depth experience while hanging out with people in my age group. Any Suggestions on Operators?
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Old Jan 19th, 2011, 05:24 PM
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I'm 32 and just took Contiki's Italian Espresso tour a month and a half ago! There were indeed younger folks there - but I would say at least half the group was in their late 20's and 30's - including several married couples - and we had a ball! I had the same reservations. . . and lucky for me it worked out. Good luck to you! I've already booked my next Contiki tour - but please post if you find another good tour operator for young professionals because I won't be under 35 forever!
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Old Jan 19th, 2011, 05:40 PM
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I thought Trafalgar Breakaway tours were for 21-38, but it seems like they aren't being offered anymore. I have no personal experience with them, just wanted to suggest it as an alternative to Contiki.

I took a Contiki tour several years ago and there were a lot of people over 30 on the tour, and three married couples (one on their honeymoon even). What do you mean by "more in depth experience"? Do you mean less drinking and partying? I think some Contiki tours are worse than others, b/c my tour had quite a few people who went to bed early, not everybody was a big drinker.

I've taken other tours too, and they generally aren't very "in depth" but the point is to move along from place to place fairly quickly. I didn't see much difference to Contiki except the age of the people. And the noise level on the bus.
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Old Jan 19th, 2011, 05:46 PM
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PS - I found Topdeck tours as another alternative, but I don't see any tours of Spain, they look like "this must be Belgium" style tours.

www.topdeck.travel
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Old Jan 19th, 2011, 07:37 PM
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Thanks for the tip. The top deck website looks good.
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Old Jan 19th, 2011, 08:42 PM
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You could look at Intrepid or Explore -

http://www.intrepidtravel.com/
http://www.exploreworldwide.com/?cc=US&nr=1

I did two tours with Explore in Asia years ago, there were about half singles and half couples, with ages roughly in 30s and 40s. My sister did an Intrepid tour in Italy about 2 years ago and they had a similar group. We'd recommend both companies.

Kay
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Old Jan 19th, 2011, 09:16 PM
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Suggest you try a company like Intrepid Travel, Peregrine, Gap, Gecko, Kamuka or other similar small group tour companies.
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Old Jan 19th, 2011, 10:29 PM
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Peregrine have been bought by Interipid. I've done 2 with Intrepid (then Peregrine)..the best was 2 weeks in Turkey, about 16 people, 4/5 nationalities, some couples, a copule of friends and some singles, age range 25-75! Just a brilliant!
Also look at Exodus...
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Old Jan 20th, 2011, 11:14 PM
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World Expeditions is another company offering small group trips in Spain. Website is: www.worldexpeditions.com.au
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Old May 16th, 2013, 07:51 AM
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Contiki gets a lot of offal on this board but the fact is that its single country tours (other than Greek Island Hopping) tend to have late 20s/30s crowds, not the party-party-party Aussies on their gap year and Americans looking to drink under 21 crowds that the multicountry whirlwinds get.

On my Contiki Italy trip, we had 5 couples and a not hard-partying crowd even with a ton(ne) of Aussies.

On my Contiki Spain (with some Portugal) trip we had about 7 couples, about 20+ folks in the upper end of the age range (including over 35s) who did not go cuckoo with the two Aussie boys who stayed out all night, and a group that gallantly tried to keep up with the two Aussie alkies.

The question really is what do you mean by "in-depth." Various colleges offer guided tours for alums and students that are led by professors or adjunct faculty. Those tend to be REALLY in-depth and about 2-3x the price of a Contiki or similar tour.
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Old May 16th, 2013, 07:55 AM
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Big Russ. This is a 2.5 year old thread. Was topped by an advertiser.
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Old Mar 11th, 2014, 05:40 PM
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Good catch Janis.
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Old Mar 11th, 2014, 05:44 PM
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Oh rats, now I see janis' post is from May 2013 and this thread was topped again by yet another advertiser. (reported)

It was still a good catch janis, sorry I'm 10 months late to point that out.
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