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Tours vs. Travelling Alone


Optic

Do you prefer tours or travelling alone?  

3 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you prefer tours or travelling alone?

    • Tours
      1
    • Travelling Alone
      2


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Hey all! I thought I would bring up the first discussion topic as Ciara won't be travelling until a few months. However she will be writing up some topics on food which I hope to see very soon! ;)

 

So the discussion topic is: do you prefer to travel in a tour group with others on a pre-planned itinerary or travel alone with your own itinerary?

 

After travelling alone in Europe throughout September and having been on several family holidays on pre-booked tours I prefer to travel outside tour groups. The main reason is so I can go at my own pace. The best example I can think of is in London, I spent half the day at the Imperial War Museum in Greenwich because I found the exhibits there absolutely amazing and in-depth covering just about every war period!

 

If I was on a tour I would probably only have been given maybe an hour at the most to browse the museum. Other reasons I prefer to travel alone is trying to get to places by walking or taking public transport is an amazing feeling when compared to the safety of a tour bus. And if you get lost usually the locals are willing to help. Also a great opportunity to speak the native language with a few phrases.

 

Advantages of tours I can think of over travelling alone is cost and a more relaxing feeling. You can plan less and just sit back and relax letting the tour group take care of travel and your meals.

 

What are your thoughts? :D

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Traveling in a tour is a big no no. Not only do these tour guides help to prepare everything up for you, they also dictate as to your itinerary and ultimately, your whole trip. Furthermore, they tend to cost more because you pay for the salaries of these tour guides as well when you pay for your trip.

 

I say go by yourself. Do a bit of homework online before going. And by "homework" I am referring to knowledge like the schedules and fees of public transportation, some idea as to the price of goods, foods or other services, etc. You'll save a lot of money.

 

Last but not least, Oreki Houtarou from Hyouka noted that it would be more dignified to travel alone.

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I would prefer not to travel in group-tours but it would depend on what kind of tour actually. For example a one-day boat trip around the island where they stop a few times to swim or anything else well I do really enjoy those! Have done it a couple of times and I made some new friends I hung out with the rest of the holiday! =) With museums...that's a no for me, not a big fan of them so during a tour it would take way too long for me and when something doesn't really interest me I have very less patience haha.

 

Other than that, I rather travel with people I know like my friends or family because completely alone is something I don't see myself doing. I am very attached to my friends and family so I would bring at least someone with me to make memories with! ^.^

 

PS: Add "Otherwise" to the poll? xD

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I am very flexible when it comes to traveling. I will do almost anything.

 

Right now my main reason for traveling is to meet friends (I'm lucky that they are everywhere in the world) so leaning toward traveling alone with my friends would do the touring for me!

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Do a bit of homework online before going. And by "homework" I am referring to knowledge like the schedules and fees of public transportation, some idea as to the price of goods, foods or other services, etc. You'll save a lot of money.

Now I wish I did this more before arriving in Lithuania! All the signs were in Lithuanian and Russian, my hotel was in a suburban area and I spent a fair bit of money on buying Trolleybus tickets directly from the driver until I finally purchased an unlimited 10 day electronic ticket...

 

Very good idea to research especially if English is not well spoken in your destination country!

 

 

Other than that, I rather travel with people I know like my friends or family because completely alone is something I don't see myself doing. I am very attached to my friends and family so I would bring at least someone with me to make memories with! ^.^

I've been travelling completely alone throughout this Europe trip and at times you can feel lonely, especially during meal times. At the same time though you can really go at your own pace. You make a great point about making memories with a travel partner, easier and more fun to take photos. ;)

 

 

Right now my main reason for traveling is to meet friends (I'm lucky that they are everywhere in the world) so leaning toward traveling alone with my friends would do the touring for me!

Exactly the reason I chose for this Europe trip. To meet my best friend who decided to move to London, meet NightDancer and meet a penpal. :D

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I was trying to organise a graduation trip for my Chinese friend to Queensland. Of course this didn't work out. Mainly because she was insistant that we use the Chinese travel agents in Australia. She really wanted me to go on a tour where it was only spoken in Chinese ... of course I cannot speak Chinese so this trip would not have worked out if we went on a tour. In my opinion, people like my friend want to be on a tour because they find it safer and they get to see the major attractions. I would rather travel everything on my own way with my friends that way we have time to do everything we want to do :) at the moment I have no experience of travelling cause travel plans have never seemed to work out for me. But hopefully next year I can finally travel with uni being completed and me FINALLY having some friends that are almost finished saving up money for trips (hopefully)

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I never did travel further than 1000km from my location, the furthest I went was the the Southern tip of Thailand before it turned into a ****hole. The country which I frequently travel to is Malaysia, since half of my family is there. Family members and relatives make the best tour guides and can spare you a room to crash! To today, traveling there is going back to my second home.

 

However that is going to change tho, because I am going to Hong Kong this Dec with a few friends. Gonna buy lotsa loot there...!

Although the ideal location I want to travel still remains as Japan~

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  • 2 years later...
Hm, I don't particularly care one way or another, although it highly depends on who I'll be traveling with.

I agree. Some would be too much of a drag to travel with. =__=

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