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The assumption that being in a tour group allows you to skip queues isn't always true. The main London museums are free and you walk in unimpeded. The only queues are for special exhibitions that require a separate charge, which are usually timed so you rarely have to wait more than 10-15 minutes before your alloted slot. The slightly less popular European cities like Vienna or Munich often have minimal queues, if any, for their museums.
But in other popular destinations with queues for the main museums such as the Lourve in Paris, the queues are easily avoidable by getting museum passes or booking your tickets for a designated time in advance. The Paris museum pass is excellent value simply because it allows you to avoid the queue (you flash the pass at the entry points and get in immediately, ahead of both the regular queues and the tour group queues).
It does require some careful advance planning but for me that's all part of the fun of travel. I get a lot of pleasure planning our trips as it's part of the excitement of traveling. As such we've never had trouble finding hotels or good restaurants or knowing where/when to go.
my girlfriend and i did contiki in 2002 and it was AMAZING. 13 countries in 27 days. started in london, to paris, beaujolais, barcelona, nice, cannes, monaco, florence, rome, verona, venice, lucerne, lichtenstein, innsbruck, munich, vienna, amsterdam,
let's see... saw the notre dame and louvre in paris, stayed in a chateau in lyon, partied in a cellar, drank wine at a vineyard, ate tapas on a boat in barcelona, saw guitars and dance and drank sangria and saw the giant water fountain show at night, nude beach in nice, saw where the man in the iron mask was jailed on isle st marguerite, gambled at the grand casino in monaco, stood in center of colosseum in rome, threw pennies into trevi fountain with girlfriend in rome, ate mcdonald's across from pantheon watching gypsy begger children, rode gondolas in venice, saw the pigeons at st mark's, rubbed the brass breast of juliet's statue in verona, bought a watch in switzerland, ate fondue, went to top of jungfrau in a blizzard, white water rafted, walked through cave carved in glacier, saw klimt museum in vienna, bought switchblade, rode bikes around city, drank beer in steins at hofbrauhaus in munich where hitler had rallies, went to madhausen concentration camp, jumped off mountain and paraponted in austria, smoked pot at grasshopper in red light district in amsterdam, saw anne frank's house, saw the bookshelf that hid the secret door, saw van gogh museum, went to sex show in red light district, rode bikes to see windmills, saw wooden shoes in belgium, then back through the tunnel under the english channel to london.
changed who i am.
Wow, I'm going to buy that for my kid one day as a graduation present.
Funny -- all the reasons many are giving for avoiding a DIY trip, e.g. getting lost, figuring out a foreign transportation system, language barrier, etc, are all reasons why travel is interesting/charming for me in the first place. If I didn't feel out of place and didn't stretch my comfort zone, or do/learn something that I wouldn't at home, then I might as well stay home.
Some of my best memories involve some of those things that many people seem keen to avoid. Getting lost in Florence after midnight and stumbling upon a piazza with a singer with a beautiful voice, taking a commuter ferry across the Bosphorus in Istanbul against a setting sun after figuring out the ticketing system with the station agent with a combo of Turkish and English, my then 4-year old son making friends with the 4-year old son of the hotel owner in Lerici (Italy) and getting the run of the kitchen + getting special treats (even though neither could speak the other's language), and more. I've never felt unsafe, and I've been out with visible camera gear around/after midnight in places like Prague, Istanbul, Marseille, Krakow, etc.
However, I have to add that I don't try to see EVERYTHING at the places I visit. I like a mixture of seeing some of the famous sights and randomly exploring areas/neighborhoods (getting lost, as it were). Spending an hour at a street-side cafe in Paris is just as much part of the travel experience for me as spending an hour at the Louvre. Exploring the back alleys of Dubrovnik, Istanbul, or Prague and seeing only regular local people/life and no "famous" sights for an afternoon is fine by me. It works for us, but I can see how it may not be right for those who want to see the "required" sights in a limited amount of time.
And these days, with so many online resources, it is very easy to learn about the place I'm visiting. I can read up on the history and current events. I can learn a few words of the local language (locals are always very happy with just the fact that you even try, no matter how badly you mangle the words). I can learn some of the "secrets" and "must-sees" of the place. I cannot imagine that organized tours/guides have a secret trove of local knowledge that is not available online with a bit of research.
I have never personally traveled to Europe, but my brother and his wife just got back from a 1 month vacation all across Europe. Mostly for money reasons, they decided to wing it alone. They totally used buses and trains as transportation. They had no one making reservations anywhere for them. They would just decided what they were going to do on any given day and do it. When they showed up in a town they had to look for a hotel room that fit within their budget. He said they stayed in some places that were fine and some places that were pretty bad. They saw a lot of petty crime. A women was robbed on a train right in front of them and many other people. I think if it were me going I would get the help of a travel agent or a lot of online searching and make out an itinerary and make reservations at the hotels ahead of time. The first day in the city I think I would take a good tour to get the layout of the city, find out where the places in town that are not safe to go to (and most cities have these places), plus learn some facts about the city itself. From there I would then do what interested me.
The Czech Republic has come a long way. It's probably one of the cheapest places to live in Europe, but offers many amenities that are often in Western Europe. I believe Romania is the poorest country in the EU, but it doesn't really feel that poor.
I agree. Prague is where my spouse and I went for our honeymoon, with a side trip to Austria. It was very very affordable and this was 4 years ago. I never felt unsafe and we walked ALL over the city, night and day plus there were a lot of tourists. The people are generally friendly with the occasional heckler that likes to give you crap because you are American, but that has happened in every European country I have been in. You just ignore it.
Wow, I'm going to buy that for my kid one day as a graduation present.
If you must, why not give your kid a lump sum of money and let them plan their own trip. Let them experience real life in another country. Give them an experience that CHALLENGES them while at the same time entertaining and exposing them to a different way of life? Big tour groups that arranges all of your transportation, provides all of your food, takes you to where they want to take you, tells you what they want to tell you, isn't a graduation present, it's just another version of summer camp.
There are thousands of kids, from dozens of countries wandering around Europe, exploring and discovering different countries, cultures and most importantly themselves, while you kid will be insulated from the experiences of their peers as they are herded like sheep from one venue to the next, thinking that they actually learned something.
I have never personally traveled to Europe, but my brother and his wife just got back from a 1 month vacation all across Europe. Mostly for money reasons, they decided to wing it alone. They totally used buses and trains as transportation. They had no one making reservations anywhere for them. They would just decided what they were going to do on any given day and do it. When they showed up in a town they had to look for a hotel room that fit within their budget. He said they stayed in some places that were fine and some places that were pretty bad. They saw a lot of petty crime. A women was robbed on a train right in front of them and many other people. I think if it were me going I would get the help of a travel agent or a lot of online searching and make out an itinerary and make reservations at the hotels ahead of time. The first day in the city I think I would take a good tour to get the layout of the city, find out where the places in town that are not safe to go to (and most cities have these places), plus learn some facts about the city itself. From there I would then do what interested me.
Lol. You remind me of my first trip to England. It was in pre-internet days, and we did exactly what you suggested. Had a travel agent book hotels at all the major cities we wanted to visit. We were young, and traveling on a budget. Her hotels generally were pushing our budget, especially in London. But off we went. To our dismay, when we arrived, what the travel agent had presented to us as dollars (and it was indicated as such on our itinerary) actually were pounds. So everything was doubled the price we'd been quoted.
Needless to say, we didn't stay at those hotels. We went the route of booking a bed & breakfast upon arrival in each city. And it worked out great. I've almost always done that since then, other than at times knowing I'm going to be in a city for a week or more.
Funny -- all the reasons many are giving for avoiding a DIY trip, e.g. getting lost, figuring out a foreign transportation system, language barrier, etc, are all reasons why travel is interesting/charming for me in the first place. If I didn't feel out of place and didn't stretch my comfort zone, or do/learn something that I wouldn't at home, then I might as well stay home.
Some of my best memories involve some of those things that many people seem keen to avoid. Getting lost in Florence after midnight and stumbling upon a piazza with a singer with a beautiful voice, taking a commuter ferry across the Bosphorus in Istanbul against a setting sun after figuring out the ticketing system with the station agent with a combo of Turkish and English, my then 4-year old son making friends with the 4-year old son of the hotel owner in Lerici (Italy) and getting the run of the kitchen + getting special treats (even though neither could speak the other's language), and more. I've never felt unsafe, and I've been out with visible camera gear around/after midnight in places like Prague, Istanbul, Marseille, Krakow, etc.
However, I have to add that I don't try to see EVERYTHING at the places I visit. I like a mixture of seeing some of the famous sights and randomly exploring areas/neighborhoods (getting lost, as it were). Spending an hour at a street-side cafe in Paris is just as much part of the travel experience for me as spending an hour at the Louvre. Exploring the back alleys of Dubrovnik, Istanbul, or Prague and seeing only regular local people/life and no "famous" sights for an afternoon is fine by me. It works for us, but I can see how it may not be right for those who want to see the "required" sights in a limited amount of time.
And these days, with so many online resources, it is very easy to learn about the place I'm visiting. I can read up on the history and current events. I can learn a few words of the local language (locals are always very happy with just the fact that you even try, no matter how badly you mangle the words). I can learn some of the "secrets" and "must-sees" of the place. I cannot imagine that organized tours/guides have a secret trove of local knowledge that is not available online with a bit of research.
I think you're making the mistake of thinking that every escorted trip is the same as every other escorted trip. They are not. And the things you claim you like about DIY traveling, are all things that I've experienced on escorted trips.
As I said upthread, the secret of it is to stick to budget tours. And budget tours that depart out of a European city, rather than originating in the U.S. That way, you're not travelling with all Americans. And especially, not all Americans from your local area. Budget tours are that way for a reason. Not as much is included. Most tours are optional. The hotels are small ones, generally on the outskirts, or in unfashionable areas. A typical schedule would be that upon arriving in a new city, an included "city tour" is given. With a local guide. Maybe stopping at a site or two, but mostly not. After that ... you're on your own. You can pay for another tour, this time visiting sites, or you can go out on your own. Times we were in the larger cities, dinners were not included. So we had ample opportunity to explore the city, use public transportation, sit at streetside cafes.
Secret trove of local knowledge? Sure, you can probably find all that out before you go. But as your train zips by some small town in France, will you remember some random fact about it ... or even be aware you're passing it? I recall having run in to our guide once in a bar in Italy, and him giving us a lesson on how to order/pay/tip, etc., so we didn't look like tourists.
The people I was on the tour with? I recall fondly the hours sitting in a small Austrian bar drinking and chatting with some Australian boys, and learning all the differences in our cultures. The Yugoslavians (not on our tour) we had a great evening with in Vienna, though neither of us spoke the others' language. Or the Indian mother and daughter we made good friends with on a tour. Or running into a tour guide we'd had five years earlier, in a hotel in Paris. And he remembered us, knew our names, (asked after other relatives who had traveled with us).
And sure, I have similar memories from DIY trips to Europe. In my experience, both have ample opportunity for the things you seem to think are possible only on a DIY vacation.
I think you're making the mistake of thinking that every escorted trip is the same as every other escorted trip. They are not. And the things you claim you like about DIY traveling, are all things that I've experienced on escorted trips.
As I said upthread, the secret of it is to stick to budget tours. And budget tours that depart out of a European city, rather than originating in the U.S. That way, you're not travelling with all Americans. And especially, not all Americans from your local area. Budget tours are that way for a reason. Not as much is included. Most tours are optional. The hotels are small ones, generally on the outskirts, or in unfashionable areas. A typical schedule would be that upon arriving in a new city, an included "city tour" is given. With a local guide. Maybe stopping at a site or two, but mostly not. After that ... you're on your own. You can pay for another tour, this time visiting sites, or you can go out on your own. Times we were in the larger cities, dinners were not included. So we had ample opportunity to explore the city, use public transportation, sit at streetside cafes.
Secret trove of local knowledge? Sure, you can probably find all that out before you go. But as your train zips by some small town in France, will you remember some random fact about it ... or even be aware you're passing it? I recall having run in to our guide once in a bar in Italy, and him giving us a lesson on how to order/pay/tip, etc., so we didn't look like tourists.
The people I was on the tour with? I recall fondly the hours sitting in a small Austrian bar drinking and chatting with some Australian boys, and learning all the differences in our cultures. The Yugoslavians (not on our tour) we had a great evening with in Vienna, though neither of us spoke the others' language. Or the Indian mother and daughter we made good friends with on a tour. Or running into a tour guide we'd had five years earlier, in a hotel in Paris. And he remembered us, knew our names, (asked after other relatives who had traveled with us).
And sure, I have similar memories from DIY trips to Europe. In my experience, both have ample opportunity for the things you seem to think are possible only on a DIY vacation.
One of the things I like about this tour group company is that it seems like there's a nice balance between free time and guided tours. Not so much in the 16 day one, but the 11 day London/Rome/Paris trip's itinerary gives you a free day on Day 2, sightseeing w/an option to see Windsor Castle (is that worth seeing FYI?) on Day 3, Day 4 is St. Paul's Cathedral/Westminster Abbey excursion + London Eye and Pub Dinner excursion (are those also worth it btw?). Otherwise we're free to do things on our own.
Paris - we take the train to Paris, and then rest of the day is free. The next day, the sightseeing tour in the morning with an optional excursion at Versailles Palace & Garden. The third day is the The Louvre & Tuileries Garden (which is optional) and an optional Dinner + River Cruise at night.
Rome - the first day is free after arriving, the 2nd day is free w/an optional excursion to Vatican City, which we will do, and then the third day is the Colosseum.
So it at least gives us the option to do things on our own and still use the company. IDK, I think this is our best bet. If we go back again, we're probably going to do something on our own, but as a first trip to Europe, I'm probably more comfortable doing something like this, and it doesn't seem as hectic as the other one.
My favorite European memory is taking a train to the village of Cerda, Sicily to eat at an artichoke-themed restaurant. The staff told me on the phone (in Italian) that it was "the next right after the train station". My Italian is rusty at best. We arrived and found that it was the "next right" alright, a 7 km walk up the highway with no sidewalks. The train station was in the middle of nowhere. Luckily, another passenger gave us a ride in his car, and we feasted on marinated artichokes with olives and cheese, artichoke salad, pan fried artichokes, deep fried artichokes, artichoke risotto, cannoli, and a huge pot of red wine. Then we took the last bus of the day back to civilization.
You won't get that with a guided tour.
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