Solo travel advice & recommendations

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@Keet who are you doing your group tour with?

I've done two with intro travel and one with travel talk tours. Has anyone done one with intrepid as I really want to do one with them but I think the g adventures one might work better
 
Former_Antelopee said:
@Keet who are you doing your group tour with?

I've done two with intro travel and one with travel talk tours. Has anyone done one with intrepid as I really want to do one with them but I think the g adventures one might work better
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I did a trip to Italy with Intrepid a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. Good mix of ages but everyone got on really well and the tour leader was great. It was my first trip with them but some others in the group had used them before and had other trips planned as well. I’m definitely planning to book something with them again probably for next year. Don’t know much about G Adventure so can’t really say how they’d compare!
 
SaintLeo said:
I did a trip to Italy with Intrepid a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. Good mix of ages but everyone got on really well and the tour leader was great. It was my first trip with them but some others in the group had used them before and had other trips planned as well. I’m definitely planning to book something with them again probably for next year. Don’t know much about G Adventure so can’t really say how they’d compare!
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I was looking at g adventures not long ago and I saw a few bad reviews so was put off a little. Just realised it was actually trutravels not g adventures I was looking at
 
I'm interested in doing a group tour but as an introvert I don't know if I would find it overwhelming. I like solo travel cos I like the freedom to do my own thing so maybe a group tour is not the way to go! Also, is it a lot more expensive than organising yourself?
 
Sprezza said:
I'm interested in doing a group tour but as an introvert I don't know if I would find it overwhelming. I like solo travel cos I like the freedom to do my own thing so maybe a group tour is not the way to go! Also, is it a lot more expensive than organising yourself?
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I'm an introvert and I really enjoyed the group tours. I probably enjoyed them more than going alone although. I've done 3 two I went with a friend and another I went alone. The one I went alone I did pay to have my own room but I don't think I'd do that again. I do like to have a few days either at the start of end though to do my own thing.
I think it is more expensive but it wouldn't put me off doing it again.
You can always take yourself off in the group tour locations as well. For example when I went to Thailand one girl wanted to go see the elephants on her own somewhere she researched rather than where the group went. Although she ended up going somewhere where they let people sit on the elephants so obviously wasn't a good place? Whereas where we went with the group you couldn't do that and surely a company isn't going to take you somewhere they haven't looked into
 
I did mine with G Adventures and could t fault them. There was some in our group that had done several trips with them (one lady I think said 20😳) and they all had good experiences.

One of my friends recommended them as she had done a lot of tours with various companies. Intrpid was another one she suggested using

Former_Antelopee said:
@Keet who are you doing your group tour with?

I've done two with intro travel and one with travel talk tours. Has anyone done one with intrepid as I really want to do one with them but I think the g adventures one might work better
Click to expand...
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Sprezza said:
I'm interested in doing a group tour but as an introvert I don't know if I would find it overwhelming. I like solo travel cos I like the freedom to do my own thing so maybe a group tour is not the way to go! Also, is it a lot more expensive than organising yourself?
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that was one of the things I was nervous about as I didn’t want it to feel like a school trip where everyone goes everywhere together all the time. The tour I did had a good mix of free time. The guide gave examples of activities you could do but there was no obligation for everyone to take part some everyone did some only a few people went. Only breakfasts were provided on our tour so depending on if it was a travel day/activities you could be left to yourself to get lunch. Our guide arranged somewhere to go for an evening meal but I only went every second night or so. Everyone had different budgets and priorities that they wanted to get out of the trip and it never felt like there was any judgement from anyone with regards to the money side of it.
You could maybe get it a bit cheaper if you did all the searches for flights/hotels etc yourself separately but I liked the fact that all that was taken care of by them as well as sorting out delays due to train cancellations which we did have one day. A lot of it was also done by private bus which saved time and hassle
 
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I'm currently staying in a hostel. I've stayed in a few before. But the people in this dorm are annoying me. Last night especially. Me and one girl in here since about 9pm, she was already here before I got in. I soon tried to get to sleep as I'd been up walking all day. I think I had an hour sleep then at just after midnight she decided to go to sleep so got up made some noise eventually turned the lights off and went quiet so it wasn't that bad. But then another person comes in about 2am starts going through their locker and moving their suitcases there friend comes in not long after doing the same and they are chatting, they are whispering but obviously can still hear them. Am I right to be annoyed that at 2am if they want to have a conversation they should leave the room even if they are whispering. Also if I need to do anything at night or early morning I'll do it quickly and quietly. Normally if I know I'll be late or leaving early I'll prepare what I'll need beforehand so I don't have to rummage through anything
 
Former_Antelopee said:
I'm currently staying in a hostel. I've stayed in a few before. But the people in this dorm are annoying me. Last night especially. Me and one girl in here since about 9pm, she was already here before I got in. I soon tried to get to sleep as I'd been up walking all day. I think I had an hour sleep then at just after midnight she decided to go to sleep so got up made some noise eventually turned the lights off and went quiet so it wasn't that bad. But then another person comes in about 2am starts going through their locker and moving their suitcases there friend comes in not long after doing the same and they are chatting, they are whispering but obviously can still hear them. Am I right to be annoyed that at 2am if they want to have a conversation they should leave the room even if they are whispering. Also if I need to do anything at night or early morning I'll do it quickly and quietly. Normally if I know I'll be late or leaving early I'll prepare what I'll need beforehand so I don't have to rummage through anything
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I think it's just something you have to deal with as part of travelling on a budget. Personally I don't stay in dorms because I can snore and I'd be mortified if I knew I was keeping anyone awake.
 
SpindleWhorl said:
I think it's just something you have to deal with as part of travelling on a budget. Personally I don't stay in dorms because I can snore and I'd be mortified if I knew I was keeping anyone awake.
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I understand it won't be quiet all the time but I think you should still be respectful and not being having a conversation at 2/3am 🤷‍♀️
 
emm said:
I think it's different as it's a holiday though, not like people are getting up for work the next day
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When I've googled it people say between certain towns should be quiet and lights off times. I don't see why being a holiday makes a difference it's still the middle of the night so you should expect people to be sleeping so should be quiet. Also I've known people who have stayed in a hostel whilst working. Never had the issue when staying in other hostels and the other hostels were more party hostels than this one. Noise outside the room I don't care about
 
Former_Antelopee said:
When I've googled it people say between certain towns should be quiet and lights off times. I don't see why being a holiday makes a difference it's still the middle of the night so you should expect people to be sleeping so should be quiet. Also I've known people who have stayed in a hostel whilst working. Never had the issue when staying in other hostels and the other hostels were more party hostels than this one. Noise outside the room I don't care about
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I don’t think anybody disagrees that it’s annoying but what can you do if you sleep in a dorm.
I agree with what somebody else said, this is part and parcel of sharing a room. Even with people you know
 
Regardless of the hostel noise at night it hasn't put me off staying in them.
I have really enjoyed Barcelona and think I'm starting to prefer city breaks over beachy breaks. Although I'd definitely prefer a bit of both. After walking 30k steps the last 3 days I'd love a pool day right now. Any recommendations for a city break where hotels will likely have an outdoor pool or the metro is good enough to be able to get into the city from a bit further out although I prefer to be as close as possible to the centre.
Or another option is somewhere I can spend a few days in the city centre then get a train out to a beachy area. I'm thinking maybe Portugal? I said that was somewhere I was looking into. I definitely want to do Porto at some point anyway. Any other countries you'd recommend for this type of thing?
 
Former_Antelopee said:
Regardless of the hostel noise at night it hasn't put me off staying in them.
I have really enjoyed Barcelona and think I'm starting to prefer city breaks over beachy breaks. Although I'd definitely prefer a bit of both. After walking 30k steps the last 3 days I'd love a pool day right now. Any recommendations for a city break where hotels will likely have an outdoor pool or the metro is good enough to be able to get into the city from a bit further out although I prefer to be as close as possible to the centre.
Or another option is somewhere I can spend a few days in the city centre then get a train out to a beachy area. I'm thinking maybe Portugal? I said that was somewhere I was looking into. I definitely want to do Porto at some point anyway. Any other countries you'd recommend for this type of thing?
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I thought Barcelona had a beach, or am I imaging that someone told me that? 🤔
Just checked - it does have one:
 
Rome definitely has some rooftop pools in not horribly expensive hotels. The metro is pretty good and easy to get around. You’d just need to check the pool is still open this time of year.
 
Chocolategoggler said:
I thought Barcelona had a beach, or am I imaging that someone told me that? 🤔
Just checked - it does have one:
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It does I should've added it's not really been beachy weather since I've been here. It's been warm but cloudy. My plan was to go to the beach one day but that didn't happen. I went to a spa instead one day and went in their outdoor pool and was freezing getting out. I'd definitely go wherever earlier in the year probably June or September
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uberoblique said:
Rome definitely has some rooftop pools in not horribly expensive hotels. The metro is pretty good and easy to get around. You’d just need to check the pool is still open this time of year.
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I'm planning ahead won't be until earliest next summer maybe even longer depending on finances as I still have some other stuff booked anyway but I like one solo trip a year, hopefully I can afford one next year
 
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