Will you feel rushed or will you feel bored on your next trip? How often can you stay behind for a day off? What happens if you cannot do all of the walking? When you join a group tour, you are also agreeing to a pace which might not be of your choosing.
Here are a few ways to figure out if the trip is too fast or too leisurely for you. First of all ask the operator: we at The Women’s Travel Group want you to know all details up front and we encourage questions. Second more meals means less rush; less included meals means possibly more of a rush. Feeding a group takes more time than serving individuals. Third: if there are a lot of flights, the trip is more fast paced since you are covering ground. If bus rides are short, the trip is slower. Fourth: if the very first day is a big one from early AM through a group dinner, this trip is a full one.
How to know if you can leave the group from time to time. Guides should be able to tell you, and most will ask if you are not joining us, please tell someone. Many solos will therefore depend on others in the group to notify the guide. Never feel that missing a day means you are less of a traveler. Taking a night off and munching on a granola bar and some dried fruit from your stash, might alleviate that rush feeling. Many professionals do take a dinner off and eat snacks in their pj’s. Finally ask others in the group if they want to share a taxi rather than walk a long distance with the others. A good guide will oblige and secure you a cab and there has never been a group without a few others who want to ride
If you want to try out a group tour for the first time to see if your stamina matches the average of other others: do a one city tour like our Cote D’Azur France trip or Paris for Christmas.
Ask for what you need and want, it is after all your money and time to travel. Happy 2015 from The Women’s Travel Group
