difference between escorted and guided tours
 

what is the difference if any between an escorted tour and a guided tour? if my mom and I are planning our first trip to England is it the best bet to go with one of the tour companies (globus, trafalgar, etc)? any suggestions would be appreciated

thank you

I think that the definitions are loose, and nearly used interchangeably.

There is a strong bias on this forum against tours, and in favor of independent travel. Is your mother able to carry (or pull) her own luggage (perhaps with the limitation that she ought not take more than a rollaboard, weighing 30 pounds max when loaded, plus perhaps... a small overnight "tote" of say... 8 pounds, suitable for slinging onto her shoulder with a strap?)

For a mother who could not answer yes to this... perhaps a tour would be best, unless you would take an interest in traveling by car (with you, and/or she as the driver). You could negotiate virtually all of London by cab(s) or hired driver(s) and use porter(s) a-plenty... and likewise, Edinburgh - - thus, even <i>with</i> infirmities, independent travel might still be the preferred choice.

Five (or six) days London (perhaps with a day trip to Windsor, just as one example), followed by three (or four) days, (based) in Edinburgh would make for a thoroughly fine first trip to Great Britain, I would think.

Best wishes,

Rex Bickers
Floyds Knobs, Indiana

Hi l,

As Rex notes, a tour could be what you want.

Give us some info about yourselves, how long a visit, and what you would like to do, see.

((I))

&quot;escorted&quot; means the tour director is always with you 24 hrs a day, staying in the same hotel, eating the same meals if included, always on the bus with you - always there for you.

&quot;guided&quot; sorry, no clue!

I googled &quot;guided tour&quot; and it looks like these are specialized tours, like for disabled people, or scientific tours, like entimology tour.

My understanding is that an escorted tour is lead by a single person who travels the entire tour with the group.

Guided tours are more likely to be of the 2/3 city variety, including travel between cities and a half day city tour. You have a different person in each city who picks you up at the airport/train, takes you on the 1/2 days tour, makes arrangements for optional tours as you choose and can provide advice, but is available for a limited time. Otherwise you're on your own.

Hi
Yes my mom is very able to carry her own luggage etc. we were thinking of doing the tour because it sounds as thought they pretty much take care of everything airfare, lodging, transfers to and from airport at least what i have read on the globus and trafalgar tours. The tours even allow 2 days of free time to do our own touring which to me kind of seems like free money for the tour company. we would like to spend time in london and see the major sites maybe do the hop on hop off double decker bus (looks like fun)...in doing some research and speaking to friends, we would also like to see bath, stonehenge, the cotswolds (which I think is a region actually not a place), stratford upon avon, cambridge, and oxford. If there was a way to rent a bicycle for a couple hours to go through the countryside that would be awesome. the only concern with the tour is that I would rather not be rushed from one site to another with no time to take it all in and also we would like to get some value out of it since we are paying a lot. we would like to have a unique experience. also not really a big deal, but we would to travel with a younger crowd and preferably not one that is super large, we will make our own fun whatever we decide. we keep going back and forth on this. I think we are going to make a decision this weekend since we are thinking of going 4/22-4/29/06. I realize we will not be able to see everything in such a short amount of time, but we want it to be memorable anyhow since it will be my mom's first trip to europe and my first trip to the UK. It would be great if someone has been on the specific tour we are looking at..it is called London and Country and it is being run by globus and trafalgar..actually here is the link to the sites...let me know if you think it is worth it. thanks so much for your help. http://www.affordabletours.com/search/it/?t=LA#

Tour companies tend to rush you, requiring you to put your luggage out at night or early in the mornings (like a cruise ship) and giving you guided tours in large groups. Do a bit of research on staying much of the time in one location and hooking up with small private tour companies for day trips. They will pick you up and drive you to the locations and arrange for a small private tour--making headphones and flags passe. This may be more expensive, but gives you more flexibility and less hassle. Whichever way you go, you will have fun .

the tour we picked through insight (easy pace london and countryside) actually is going to be based on out of london and then there will be day trips to the country (bath, stonehenge, dover, etc)..it looks as though we will not have to pack our bags at any time until of course we have to leave. also this tour is actually smaller then the normal tours (it will have about 25 people) and the travel site affordabletours.com confirmed this morning that there is no chance that the tour would be cancelled as since it is a guided tour vs escorted it is not as stringent of a tour. They can I am really looking forward to this trip. I wish we going sooner then april. :)

We went a hosted tour once. It had a hostess who traveled with the group and stayed in the same hotel. But in each city we were all on our own unless we wanted to pay for optional in-city tours or daytrip excursions.