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When planning to travel, either one would choose to follow a tour group or plan their travel from start to end by themselves. There are many reasons as to why travelers or tourists choose such type of plans.
Joining a Tour Group
There are really a lot of benefits when you join a tour, although it also has its down sides.
Good: Don’t worry about transportation.
Either you stay in a tourist bus or a shuttle bus (for smaller groups). This bus will take you anywhere you will go and it will always be there when you want to get back on. It’s also air conditioned so you won’t have to worry about feeling hot. If you’re in a cold country, like when we went to Korea, our bus also had a heater.
Good: You won’t be late.
Since the itinerary has been planned out by the travel agency, the tour guide will have to follow the schedule through and through, unless there has been a consensus in the group that you want to skip a destination or something.
Bad: Waiting is not always fun.
There will always be a couple or more people who would always be late when getting in the bus when it’s time to leave the current stop. It can be a bit annoying waiting for someone who doesn’t follow the time set by the tour guide.
Bad: You wish you could have gone somewhere.
Another downside of traveling with tours is the itinerary has been planned out for the whole duration of your stay. You will have free time to roam around and explore on your own, that’s a given. However, sometimes those free time won’t be enough for you to actually see other sights you wanted to see.
To avoid missing the places you want to see, consult your travel agent and discuss your itinerary with them. Maybe a quick compromise could be worked out.
Do-It-Yourself Planning
Making your own itinerary has a lot of fun parts to it, but be sure to be patient and expect some setbacks.
Good: You have all the time in the world.
The fun thing about planning a trip yourself is that you can do whatever you want, whenever you want to! You can shop till you drop or spend one whole day at an amusement park with your friends or family. You can drive all day and just enjoy the beautiful view. Anything you want to do, you can.
Good: Be extremely random.
When you travel alone or with your friends, it’s great to be random. Don’t plan everything out. Randomly choose a place to eat, or just jump into a plan you thought you didn’t want to do (like maybe bungee jumping!)
Being spontaneous while traveling can be rewarding because it’s something you didn’t expect you’ll do. And when you don’t expect things, they tend to surprise you with something, be it good or bad. The experience is still worth living through.
Bad: Things not going according to plan.
Unlike traveling on a tour, you won’t be able to know if an attraction or a certain place is closed temporarily unless you check for yourself. Calling up the place is the best way to see if they’re open or not. Or try to ask the hotel you’re staying at for information locals would get first-hand.
Neutral: Getting lost.
Getting lost can be good and bad, depending on your situation.
If you get robbed by someone and you lose your wallet and passport and stuff, that’s really bad. To avoid this, make sure you be careful with your belongings and use a body bag to keep things close. Also keep a note on the different embassies in the country you’re traveling to.
However, when you’re lost, you get to see things you didn’t expect to actually find. These finds might actually enrich your experience traveling and you can eventually share the stories with your friends and other travelers.
These are just some of the good and bad of having travel tours and having self-planned travels.
