A Vacation with Tour Groups or with Friends

You can be on vacation in the same country, but you'll have completely different experiences with tour groups versus just traveling with friends.

Tour Groups: 
When you hear this word, you immediately think of large buses where once the doors open, the tourists pour out. In NYC, you have to watch out for these buses or you'll get run over.

However, tour groups aren't always like this. You can find tour groups of any size or theme to fit what you want. When Mom and I were on vacation in Ireland, we were in a tour group of about 30 people. We chose this option because we wanted to explore the island, but Mom didn't want to drive on the left-hand side of the road (I was grateful for that decision!). We could've gotten around by buses, but we also didn't know much about Ireland, whereas when we went to France we already had ideas of what we wanted to see. We also wanted a smaller tour group to make some meaningful relationships.

Pro's:

• You'll never get lost
• You'll see the popular touristy sites
• You get to cut ahead of lines at museums or sites
• You don't have to do any planning = no stress
• You'll make some fun friendships with the people in your group 
• You're not alone - you will be surrounded by others who know your culture or language (this can be comforting)

Con's:

• You are not in charge of your time - you don't get to choose if you want to stay longer at a site
• You only see glimpses of the country - you don't get to dive deep in a certain town or activity 
• The people on the group can be annoying
• You usually only go to touristy sites - you don't get to see those special or unique sites that you could see by yourself

Traveling with Friends or Family: 

I've traveled with friends where one of them was an expert of the country, and this was awesome because they took us to the local spots that we wouldn't have found by ourselves. This is my personal preference while traveling. However, I've also done vacations where none of us knew anything about the country. This can lead to some really funny stories. 

Pro's: 

• You'll see or experience things you wouldn't see with tour groups
• You'll see and experience more of the real culture - you'll eat at real, local spots 
• You're in charge of what you want to see/do (this can be very liberating and also stressful)

Con's: 

• This can be stressful and may lead to more tension with your travel buddies 
• You will get lost (I find this to be fun but some people wouldn't agree with this)
• You might not get all the history or knowledge of a site that a tour group leader would provide

***You can get the best of both worlds by traveling with family and friends, and doing day trips with tour groups to certain sites/locations. Mom and I did a one day tour group to Giverny. Our guide showed us the important sites and told us the history, and at the end of the day we were on our own again.