I’m thinking of taking one and want to hear other’s experiences.
What is it?
I have cousins who did Contiki tours of Europe and they both enjoyed it immensely.
I have a couple friends who’ve done Contiki tours of Europe. They had a great time. Be warned, however, that they’re not the best way of meeting the locals; you’ll spend most of your time with a group of tourists like yourself.
Incidentally, Contiki tours are famous (or infamous, depending on your perspective) for inspiring, uhh, intimate relationships of the less-than-long-term variety between members of the tour group, if you take my meaning. 
Violet: It’s a tour company that only takes people aged 18-35. Most tours are dominated by retired people.
Narrad: Hee. That’s pretty much my reason for taking one.
I’ve taken a couple of open (all-ages) tours, and the 5 or 10 people under 40 (“the youngsters”) all tend to hang out together. Which can be fun, but on the last tour I took, they were all boring and unadventurous and it really hurt the fun factor. So I’m trying to increase my odds.
Not that I’m saying a tour full of retired people isn’t fun, it’s just that they have different goals a lot of times. So this time I figured I’d try an age restricted tour.
Where are you thinking of going, and is there any reason why it’s got to be with a tour group at all? Trust me, you’ll meet tons of people and find plenty of opportunities for intimate relationships of the less than long-term variety while traveling independently, and the rewards tend to be greater. Planning a trip and deciding what to do is fun – and so are all the unexpected things that happen along the way.
'Course, I haven’t actually taken a tour myself, just hung out with people who were, and most of them did seem to be enjoying the experience. Go for it if you think it’s right for you.
This only works IF (and this is a big if) you’re an extrovert. If you’re an introvert, you can take a week vacation and not meet anyone. Speaking from experience here. Add in that I’m a bit obsessive about planning, and so that just isn’t the most fun thing either.
I went with Contiki in 1995 (Greek Island Hopping, since redone) and 1999-2000 (Winter LA to the Bay).
In short: Go on a tour with them! You’ll have a wonderful time!!!
As Narrad noted, Contiki (and comparable tour packages) are great on seeing the area and the highlights, and short on meeting the local people.
Being reasonably social helps. You’ll be with the same people for 10 to 40 days (or more!), depending on the tour, and usually you spend much of that time crammed into a tour bus. Get to know some of them as you go down the road.
I’ve got a few years left before I age out; I plan to take a Contiki tour of Australia at some point. Why Australia? Because my two previous tours were about a third Aussie.
Hmm, I’m about as introverted as they come, and I’ve never had the slightest difficulty meeting people while traveling – although it probably helps that I’m quite happy on my own and not desperate to meet people. Helps if you’re traveling on the cheap as well – I suppose if you’ve got a hotel room and bath to yourself, much of the impetus to interact with other travelers is gone.
But OK, I can see that a tour would be the best option if you don’t enjoy the planning part.
If you’re planning on travelling through Europe, might I suggest Busabout? It’s structured a bit different than Contiki, in that the company runs a fleet of buses that travel along a pre-ordained circuit across Western Europe, and you book the specific days you want to travel. You still meet a lot of like-minded people, since in parts you’re all confined to the same circuit (I travelled with mostly the same people from Amsterdam all the way to Venice), and people who’ve done both say it’s a more independent, rewarding experience than Contiki.
You may not have heard of it, since it seems to be targeted towards Canadians, Aussies and Kiwis primarily, but I did meet a few American backpackers along the way. The website is www.busabout.com. I highly recommend it.
(Note: If you’re planning on doing a tour of Australia or NZ, you’re out of luck. Busabout only runs through Europe, for now.)
Thanks Treviathan, I’ll have to check that out. You’re right, I’ve never heard of it before. Looks neat at first glance.
Fretful, did you do the hostel thing? I didn’t mean to sound so dismissive. I’m planning on doing that next spring for Northern Europe (Benalux and Germany), but I don’t have the time to plan it all out right now, and I have to use up 3 new weeks of vacation somehow. Tours are anti-planning… I could go somewhere tomorrow and know everything was taken care of, as long as my check didn’t bounce.
My original plan was to go to Australia for this vacation, but that hit a slight snag when the price came up about $900 more than I hoped ($3900 for one!). Still possible, but it’s an awful lot of money for a vacation.
Generally I just stress for a few weeks than decide to go somewhere . I’m in the middle of the stress period now.
So these Contiki people, they use buses, right? Not reed boats? Yinz had me worried there for a minute… 