Having a tour guide at the destination

Do you think it is worth having a tour guide at the destination?

deleted_140446
Post Count: 1

Msg: #1 10 weeks ago, October 23rd 2009

Hello everyone,
I recently went to London and a friend who lives there showed me the city. As she knows what I like, the experience was great! So I was thinking to get someone to do a "tour guide" on my next adventure.
Do you think it is worth having a tour guide at the destination?

Mell

Mell
Post Count: 15193

Msg: #2 10 weeks ago, October 23rd 2009

Hello Marta

I generally dont like guided tours. I prefer to be free and wander around at my own pace.

Maybe you could try couchsurfing to see if there is somebody who would show you around their town or city. You might even be able to stay with them in their home too.

Mel

[Edited: 12:39 - Mell ]

liliram

liliram
Post Count: 401

Msg: #3 6 weeks ago, November 18th 2009

Before any trip, I normally read up on the places to see, things to experience and food to eat ;-) But I still find it worthwhile to get a local guide as a good one will dish out all that info you loaded up in a different perspective. The guide also serves to answer all the questions in my mind , which interaction is not available from reading a book. But the guide need not be there for you the whole time ---- maybe just for a day, as some kind of intro. Then, you can be on your own time to enjoy.

dexternicholson

Dexter Nicholson
Post Count: 49

Msg: #4 6 weeks ago, November 20th 2009

If the place that I will be visiting is a place where there are people I know, old friends or classmates or relatives, I always try to contact them and then hang out with them. I mean its not about the free accommodation and food that some offer but its the company. I do love to be on foreign country but sometimes I like to be with people that I know..

Wanderly Wagon

Wanderly Wagon
Post Count: 73

Msg: #5 5 weeks ago, November 24th 2009

A guide can make or break your trip. An excellent one can make a tour or journey an experience of a life time. A bad one can make it a misery.

swissmaple

World Citizen, aka Mél
Post Count: 66

Msg: #6 5 weeks ago, November 28th 2009

Perhaps I'm biased because I used to work for a tour company, but I would say, yes, it's worth having a tour guide.

I have one friend who hops on one of those tourist buses the first day she's in a city so she can get an overview and get the fun trivia you learn from the guide, and then spends the next few days wandering on her own and going back to see the places that really interested her from the tour.

I have seen plenty of places without a tour guide, but part of the reason I travel is to learn, so I like to have a guide even if it's just for an hour around one tourist attraction. Then I can ask them for a recommendation for the next spot to visit on my own!

Mell

Mell
Post Count: 15193

Msg: #7 25 days ago, December 8th 2009

I usually do not have a guide. The only time I would consider having one, is if there is a subject I am particularly interested in. For example, I would like to go on at least one of those tours in Vietnam that are given by war veterans, where they tell people about the war, and show them where things happened.

Mel

Mell

Mell
Post Count: 15193

Msg: #8 25 days ago, December 8th 2009

A guide can make or break your trip. An excellent one can make a tour or journey an experience of a life time. A bad one can make it a misery.

This is certainly something I take into account. I would never hire a guide for an entire trip. One never knows what the guide would be like. I would not want to spend my trip pandering to some temperamental guide who has no customer care skills. Guides for me would only be for an hour or two always. I generally try to avoid travel agents too, and buy on the internet for the same reason.

[Edited: 15:28 - Mell ]

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