Tour Group Tips for My Girlfriend
 

I am sending my girlfriend to Europe on her own for her first trip, any tips on worthwile tour groups for a 28-year-old woman traveling on her own? The idea is to arrange an organized tour for 3 to 4 weeks and meet some travel friends for later self-guided trips. She enjoys most every activity. Thanks.

You're a lucky SOB! How did you manage to talk her into leaving you home alone?

I should have known better than to ask this question! She's cool, I've already been twice for four months, I'm busy working, at least somebody gets to go before the caliphate takes over.

Cristobal, you are going to bombarded with notices that you should encourage your GF to go it on her own. This is a sort of anti-tour site.<BR>Do a search here on tours and you will get some answers. You mean she wants to meet people on the tour to travel with later, or she already knows them? If she knows them already, why tourgroup?n

I've never used them , but Contiki is a tour group for the 18-35 age range.<BR><BR>PS - Yes, she could do it on her own. ;)

I have no problems with organized tours for neophytes or those who want company, but that is just an awfully long time to be on a tour, I don't think they usually last that long. Try www.osolomio.com as they have two age groups and are for singles, they look interesting to me. Maybe a two week tour first would work out? <BR><BR>I was just in Czech Republic and Poland and met a group of really nice and fun Austrians on the train from Vienna to Krakow and they were on a tour and didn't seem embarrassed about the whole thing, and they were not geeks or that young, either, but interesting adults about age 30-50. Their group guide leader was really fascinating, I spent about an hour talking with him on the train -- he was an expat Pole who fled the country after martial law in 1981, went to Cuba but wouldn't go back to Poland and got political asylum in Austria and now had Austrian citizenship (but also Polish, although he was using his Austrian passport). Later I ran into that group in Krakow walking around, it was funny. <BR><BR>Okay, she might want to check out Rick Steves tours also as perhaps good for her age group, or at least not entirely inappropriate. I don't have any experience with the other basic tours around, I did use one I liked when about 30 yrs old but it's not in business any more.

As already mentioned - this is sort of the "anti tour" forum. However tours can be OK when necessary. <BR><BR>BUT you couldn't get me on a 4 week tour for any amount of bribery. The thought of having breakfast in a dreary hotel dining room with the same 45 people every single morning for a month would make me crazy.<BR><BR>I have an alternate suggestion - sort of the best of both worlds.<BR><BR>select three cities - Say Rome, Paris and London, or Madrid, Rome and Vienna - any combination (London and Paris are my two favorites) and book her transportation and first 2 to 4 nights lodging in each city. Then using the local tourist office in each city, she can book 3 to 5 day sightseeing tours inc hotels, coach, some meals etc.<BR><BR>This way she could for example spend 3 or 4 days on her own in Paris and then join a tour group of the Loire valley, or Provence, or Normandy or Brittany.<BR><BR>London for 4 days and then a coach tour of devon/Cornwall, or the Cotswolds, or Kent.<BR><BR>Same for the other cities - a few days in the city and then take a tour from there. <BR><BR>

If she HAS to do a tour, then I would suggest Rick Steves. People seem to have fun on them and are young thinking and a little more free-wheeling than your usual stodgy, lock-step tourists on other groups.<BR>I look at the faces of tourists in large tour groups and they have masks on, frozen blank faces.<BR>

If she's traveling alone, and isn't keen on being alone for the duration of her 3 to 4 weeks, I would highly suggest a Contiki tour. I'm 27, and I recently did a Contiki by myself. There were heaps of people from all over the world, met some great friends who also traveled solo (12 days in Europe w/ the same group of people makes you to tend to bond quicker, but its an amazing experience)...she'll have a blast! I say DO IT! Any ? gimme an email...

I think walking/hiking tours would be very appealing to someone her age BUT--and this is a big "but"-- generally the people who take them are more MY age (50's). However, maybe you can look into various walking tour companies and ask about the typical age range of their clients.

I'll second the thumbs-up for Contiki. I did a Contiki tour in New Zealand when I was 25, and loved it. Very affordable, and after travelling for 2 weeks in Australia on my own, I was ready for some company. Very basic .. shared rooms, often in dorm-like settings, but since I was only 3 years out of college, no big deal. They kept us going non-stop, and it was FUN!<BR><BR>Anne

Cristobal: What Caliph are you worried about taking over?