8 things to consider before choosing an organised tour

travel
ˈtrav(ə)l/
verb

1. make a journey, typically of some length.
   
   

Like many of you, I have a regular job and a fixed number of days of annual leave that I can take. But if you love traveling as much as I do, you will make it happen.

I have found that when time poor and budget constrained, taking organised tours to see the key highlights of certain parts of the world through tour operators like www.gadventures.co.uk or www.tucantravel.com can be a good option. For those who are more independent, you can always choose tours that have some days when you can do your own thing. 

And if you would rather organise and travel as you please, or even free-style it, my respect goes to you. I am incredibly lazy when it comes to admin and paperwork so when someone tells me they will sort out accommodation and transport across five countries, I am at peace. Although, when I hear stories of people who spontaneously took a few months off and jumped off some random cliffs in isolated beaches, I try to reconsider my laziness. Either way, it's totally up to you.

1. Feeling Anti-social? 
   Depending on how social you want to be on your time off, you may need to consider if you would want to hang out with a group of people of different ages and personalities, more than a few times during the tour. 
2. Age
   I felt this as I moved closer to 30 years of age and further from 20. I struggled to keep up with the partying and drinking that the 18 year olds in my "YOLO" tours in the more recent tours. These tours are usually great fun, but you may need to make a conscious effort to go see the countries you're visiting, rather than nursing a hungover for the whole trip. 
3. Early-bird?
   Sometimes, you will be asked to wake up at ridiculously early times for various reasons (hangover or not), such as watching the sun rise from Angkor Wat, Cambodia or just catching the earlier (cheaper) train because you chose the cheaper tour. If you prefer a lie-in on your holidays, you may wish to reconsider. Alternatively you can practice sleeping on buses, boats, trains, the floor to make up your hours of sleep, if you had a late night. 
4. Who are you traveling with?
   If you're traveling alone, I would recommend these tours as you'll probably make friends, won't get bored on your own and there are usually more solo travellers in the group, who are in the same position as you. As for those traveling with an other half, I have met both friendly and unfriendly couples on some tours. If you are the latter, it's probably best you book a holiday on your own. 
   There are tours that are family-friendly, but it's worth looking into the daily itinerary to see if it works for children, elderly members, and so on. 
5. Location
   Obviously if you are going somewhere like Honduras, in Central America that is considered slightly dangerous, and/or if you don't speak the local language, having a tour and a tour leader to help you navigate around safely, can be a good way to see a place you didn't think you could. Also, if you're planning to go somewhere like South East Asia, which is very tourist-friendly and cheap, it may make more sense to go on your own. 
6. Diet
   Vegans, Vegetarians and those with other specific dietary needs may wish to check with the tour operators on how flexible the meal options are. 
7. What's included
   It's quite important to see what activities, meals, transportation and accommodation are included in the price you pay the tour operators. There have been times when I have had to fork out quite a bit of extra cash in every other place we went, in order to get the "full experience" of that location. When you're there, it's usually a good idea to just go for it, or else you may suffer from serious FOMO. 
8. Reviews
   I know many people fill out reviews when they are emotional or angry about a negative experience, but I would like to believe that many also give positive feedback when well-deserved. It's worth double checking the reviews for some of the hotels and tours on TripAdvisor or other similar sites. If you're bored, you can read some of my (good and bad) reviews here.
   
   Having said all this, I have been to six organised tours in the last four years, through three different tour operators, and apart from one (that shall remain unnamed), every one of them were very much worth it, memorable and fun. ​
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