WHY Never Join A Tour

Okay, in the last 7 years of travel, which spans to over 15 different countries, 5 continents, I am proud to say I have never signed up or been a part of a full on organized tour for one particular reason. My definition of a tour includes a tour guide, a bus and 20-40 other people traveling together and seeing what only tourist are meant to see.

The reason I bring this up is because my family recently came and visited me here in Australia as part of a tour group. Due to the sheer volume of all of them (9 in total), I can understand the reasoning for the tour. What did annoy me however was the way in which the tour company's treat their customers probably not taking into consideration that this may be the only time out of 365 days in which some people can have an opportunity to say they are "not going to work" today.

I ended up joining a portion of my family's tour to spend some quality time with them. What I learned only reinforced my reason's for never wanting to join a guided tour.

I saw it in their eyes as soon as they all landed. Pure exhaustion. After being moved around like a herd of cows and being milked for every dollar they have, there are but a few brief moments in which they can enjoy what they are actually seeing. For instance, our tour in Sydney consisted of a cruise on the Sydney Harbour that featured a seafood buffet. What we got was a boat ride on the harbour, no explanations as to the history, sites or sounds and a simple goodbye when it was all said and done. And let me explain that seafood buffet does not mean FISH STICKS made by McCain and baby octupus in vegetables. But let's continue along with the story.

The next stop was the Oz tower which is basically an observation tower taller than the highest buildings in the city. From the top, you can get a 360 degree bird's eye view which I've been told is spectacular. Unfortunately because the tour was on a tight schedule, we were ONLY able to go to the bottom of the tower (which doesn't even surpasse 10 stories) and watch a video about what the top looks like. THAT'S RIGHT FOLKS, they weren't even allowed to take the elevator to the top even though they were right there (talk about a tease).

But that's okay, because alot of people wanted to go and see the infamous Bondi Beach. Upon their arrival not only were they given a whole 15 minutes to see it (even prisoners get a longer visiting time), they were also told that they weren't allowed to take pictures even though it was a public beach probably because the TOUR GUIDE IS AN IDIOT! (sorry, little pent up frustration... it's out of my system now)

As you can see, we took the picture anyways...

In the end, it was great to see the family though I felt bad they had to see one of the most beautiful cities in the world in the way they did.

The lesson of the day is "don't try and do everything in one trip and spend more time exploring a particular area because remember, you are on vacation!"

- the lone asian