Do It Yourself or Tour
 

My husband, myself and a friend plan to visit Hungary, Poland and the Czek Republic this summer. We have been advised it is not a good idea to "do it ourselves". Drive and plan it ourself - that we should go with a tour. Any thoughts from anyone would be appreciated. Also, since I am not too good on the computer - If I could get the e-mails rather than the postings - it would be appreicated. My e-mail address is [email protected]. Thanks

I do not see any major concerns for a solo deal, unless there are special citizenships issues, medical conditions, driving limitations, map-reading impaired, handicaps of some kind, etc... <BR> <BR>To be honest, a Do-It Yourself approacch is the essence of this forum, so you may be asking an extremely biased sample population.

I cannot speak for poland, but last fall we did a self drive/tour of Prague and Budapest. half the fun is in the planning. And as stated in the above reply, most of the people on this site do lots of research (internet and library) and lots of work with maps etc. Be prepared it is a lot of work, but I think all of us who do it, really enjoy it!!!

Most of the veteran contributors to this forum have in the past stated a preference for doing it yourself. <BR>My reaction is that if you feel more comfortable with a tour, and the tour seems compatible with your needs and objectives, take the tour. My objection to long tours is that you are on someone else's time table. On the other hand, the anxiety of being in a strange land is relieved by going with a tour. <BR> <BR>Let me give you an example. My father was a world traveler. He went many, many places before his health failed. But when it came to Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary, he went with a tour the first time. <BR>He never felt the need for one in Western Europe. I usually plan my own, but I am not sure what I will do about visiting Russia. There I would take a tour if the right one comes along. BUT the tour has to meet my terms.

Roseanne, <BR> <BR>I am certainly glad I had a chance to talk to you by telephone today following your reply to my e-mail. Since you are not confident about finding your way back here to ths thread, I will copy the postings to you this far and send them to you by e-mail. <BR> <BR>For anyone else reading this thread, I will re-post under a better heading tomorrow, so it might be better to have no further postings to this thread. I discussed with Roseanne the possibility of making the tour she proposes open to others, totally non-commercial, totally non-profit to any of the participants. <BR> <BR>The dates proposed are late July to early August, spanning about 14 days. The tentative plan would be to fly from the East Coast (perhaps Toronto) to Vienna, renting car(s) from there and split the 14 days between Czech Republic (CK? Prague, Jihlava?) Krakow (and/or other Southern Poland), some of Slovakia and central or western Hungary (Gyor, Budapest?) with an ultimate return to Vienna. In my experience, a group fare would permit a differet return date (and possibly even a different return city) if any travelers were interested in an extension or a reduced length trip. <BR> <BR>The trip will be somewhat low budget, and I welcome any and all to write to me for more details. I expect to make this a public exercise in planning a group trip, including negotiating a group fare and seeking the advice of all Fodorites on the itinerary. <BR> <BR>The target number of travelers is 10-12, and the starting "nucleus" is 4 to possibly 7 right off the bat (haven't decided if I will bring 1 or more with me); Roseanne has 3 or 4 already. <BR> <BR>I hope to be making an invitation to TravelPals - - www.travelpals.org (I think) - - a worthwhile, totally volunteer organization in the NYC/NJ/CT area, for any who have not heard of it. <BR> <BR>I hope there are others who might be interested in joining in on this adventure. <BR> <BR>Best wishes, <BR> <BR>Rex <BR> <BR>P.S. Ben Haines - - you know Hungary, right? Interested?

To the top <BR> <BR>see "Quick whirlwind getaway to Eastern europe in early May?"