Do a tour or go backpacking first?
I will be taking either the European Inspiration or European Explorer Tour next April/May and am trying to decide if I should do the tour first or backpack solo for a month or so beforehand. I was going to do the tour first to get familiarized with Europe and get comfortable since it's my first time traveling alone. Then I thought it may be best to travel solo first and then do the tour so that I don't feel completely alone after having spent weeks with a tour group and then traveling on my own. Any suggestions?
Hey, I hope this helps.
On my last tour, there were people that continued touring after their tour ended. It was a real bonus having made friends on the tour, as some of them had the same idea. There also seems to be a little more magic when you can share your experiences with other people. Also, there were several pickpockets and muggers in Europe (not to make anyone paranoid!). If you get a little wasted – you don’t have to worry about that side of things, as your new-found friends would watch out for you.
The tours themselves are brief visits at the most popular sights, before being whisked away again. If you decided that you didn’t have enough time to experience them – then you can always go back after the tour and see it properly.
Why don’t you start a thread for possible travel buddies? But I’m sure whichever way you go about it, you will still have a lot of fun.
Take care