To Tour or Not to Tour?

By Christina Morgan

My first trip outside of the United States left me with a definite case of travel tour-phobia. It was 1998, and I along with group of Spanish students and teachers signed up for a nine-day tour of Sunny Spain with the EF tours company. I had always wanted to see the world and at sixteen I begged and scrimped up the $1600 for the all-inclusive tour.

Looking back on it, Whirlwind Tours would have been a better name for the company. Our tour guide, Fernando, herded us around the country like cows. The only things missing to make me really feel like I was in a green pasture was a bell around my neck and a cattle prod in Fernando’s hands.

We seemingly went to about two places a day with stops in Madrid, Toledo, Córdoba, Seville, Granada, Tangiers (Morocco) Costa del Sol, (my very first time on a beach was cut down to a few hours, boo) Málaga, and finally Barcelona. Barcelona was my favorite city because we were actually given a free day so I had time to soak in what I saw. Other than that my clearest memory is looking out at the multitude of sunflowers on the way from Toledo to Andalusia.

When I told the Spaniards I’d meet in the future of my trip they’d shockingly say: “Wow, you’ve been to more places in Spain than I’ve been!” Well maybe, I’d reply but what good is it if the only thing I remember about the country is that there are a lot of sunflowers in between Madrid and Seville during summer?

EF Tours made me vow that I would never make use of an organized tour again and my tour phobia remained with me so much that in my future travels I never even made use of guidebooks.

I returned to Spain in September 2004 to teach English and during my time in Europe I managed to visit Amsterdam, Paris, London and lastly Lisbon. In the first three cities, I sinisterly laughed to myself at the groups of tourists riding around on double-decker tour buses and being herded around as part of an organized group. Hah!, what a waste of time, I thought.

Before my trip to Lisbon, however, I decided to give tours another chance. Lisbon is known for its winding, narrow streets and given my knack for getting lost and my desire to get some official history on the place, I looked up tour possibilities online. I settled on a half-day guided tour which proclaimed to include a walking tour, English speaking guide and a wine-tasting.

I eagerly awaited my tour after a grueling train ride down from Spain. However, I was unpleasantly surprised that find that I was to be riding on one of those red double-decker tourist buses, our guide spoke English alright, but also explained everything in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese–and did so very slowly.

I hated being on someone else’s time when we got off the bus to examine sites such as the Belem Tower. We didn’t do much walking on the walking tour, and the wine-tasting was basically a tourist trap to try and get people to buy overpriced souvenirs. A couple of times we stopped to enter museums and churches, but once I was so bored and tired that I just fell asleep on the upper deck and roasted away in the sun. When the tour ended, I found myself instantly energized and set out to explore the rest of Portugal unattached.

So the question remains to tour or not to tour? I myself prefer to people watch and wander around on my own time, but I honestly think your personality plays a big role in if you’ll like or dislike organized travel tours.

Here are some tips to think about before taking a tour:

Examnine the Offer Closely:
I made the mistake of not examining the Lisbon offer very closely. Calling and getting specific details about what you’ll be doing is the best way to know if you want to spend your money on the tour.

If the tour includes visits to museum that you already want to visit, maybe it might be for you, because you’ll get to bypass lines and entrance fees. If it includes something like a wine-tasting, get a real person on the phone and ask what it really involves.

Specialized Tours Might Just be the Thing:
Information on the places general tours visit can easily be found on the Internet these days. So why not look into a highly specialized tour such as Jimi Hendrix’s London or Jim Morrison’s Paris?

Try a mini-tour:
I took a mini-tour of a palace in Segovia, Spain. It was fine, because it was cheap and you were only locked into being herded around the palace while the guide explained each room.

Check for Flexibility:
For example, some tour buses let you hop on hop off all day. Something like this might be a good option if you like a little structure in your trip.

I might consider tours again one day if I ever travel with children or when I am quite old, but the best experiences I’ve ever had out on the road have been when I went into a place where I was the only tourist. To me, the drawbacks of independent travel are minimal when compared to the joys of going it alone, but it’s up to you to decide for yourself.