My First Tour
Written: Aug 12 '01 (Updated Aug 20 '01)
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Pros: guides provide lots of information, ability to see so much in a short time
Cons: not enough time in each area, only see the tourist areas, long bus journeys
The Bottom Line: I said yes to "Would you recommend Trafalgar to a friend" since it wasn't a bad tour, I just am not a lover of tours.
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| Minstrelette's Full Review: Trafalgar Tours |
I usually travel on my own. I travel mostly for business and usually tack a few personal days on the end of a business trip. I haven't had a real vacation in over 5 years. Working for myself, I always felt that I couldn't take the time off. Well, I finally decided that was ridiculous and started thinking about how, when, and where to take a vacation.
I didn't want to spend too much money for this trip. Traveling alone can be extremely expensive, so I decided to ask some friends. No one wanted to take the time off, so I started looking into tours. I've always been against tours. Why would I want to be told where to go and what to do and when to do it? I'm a very independent person. So I started looking into educational tours. There were several that sounded good, but they cost too much (average was around $3000). I love to learn, but I didn't want to pay that much money. If I did, I would just travel on my own. So I started looking into other types of tours. Trafalgar offered exciting destinations for a great price. I decided on a 17 day tour (which is really 15 days and 2 days of traveling to and from your home) in July to Spain, Portugal, and Morocco for only $1240. That price included all breakfasts, half of the dinners, all hotel rooms (with taxes, tips, and porter service), and admissions to all sites. So, it worked out to less than $100/day.
The best way I can break down this epinion is to first give details of the day-by-day activities, then list the pros and cons of a tour, and then I'll sum up the experience.
I arrived in Madrid, Spain, found my tour bus, and arrived at the hotel in less than an hour. Not everyone was so lucky to be met at the airport. Most people got into Madrid in the evening and had to make their own way to the hotel.
The first day in Madrid was to be spent on our own. I went to the Prado Art Museum and the modern art museum next door. Then I took a little siesta since that's what the rest of the country was doing. I had dinner at a little cafe near the hotel and called it an early night since I was exhausted from traveling.
The next day we got on the bus and traveled to Toledo. We had a brief guided tour of the city and then went to a shoppe that sold swords and jewellery. I bought a beautiful sword that, even with the shipping costs, was less than what I would pay in the States. We left Toledo in the middle of the afternoon and drove to Granada. We spent the early evening on our on and then had dinner all together at the hotel.
On day 3, we got a tour of the Al Hambra- a beautiful Moorish palace. We were told it is difficult to get admission tickets so we were lucky to have it all taken care of ahead of time. Then we drove toward the Costa del Sol. We had about 30 minutes to enjoy the beach and luxury hotel before we had to go to Mijas for some brief time on our own and then an elabourate fish dinner. I really wish we could have spent more time on the Mediterranean coast. The water was so beautiful.
Day 4, we woke up at 6:00 for our 2 hour bus ride to the ferry terminal. We then had a 2 1/2 hour ferry ride, passing the Rock of Gibraltar, to Morocco. We got back on the bus when we arrived in Tangier and had a 6 hour ride, with one break, to Fez. We had dinner at our hotel that night.
Day 5, we took a walk in the medina (the old part of the city). Words cannot describe this place, but I will try. It has 12,000 narrow streets, and we walked on 163 of them. It's extremely crowded with people. There are little shoppes and stands selling fruit, pasteries, goat heads, clothing, shoes, and metal objects. There are donkeys passing you on the right and left and there really isn't room for them. People are pushing you, you're trying to keep up with the group, there are children helping you keep up with the group, and every 30 seconds someone is trying to sell you something. It's a truly remarkable experience. They took us to a shoppe to buy rugs and another one to buy metal. The quality of the metal items was terrible. Fortunately, most people on the tour realised this and did not buy anything. After the medina, we went back to the hotel to rest and then went to dinner that night in a "traditional" Moroccan home. It was an optional excursion and it sounded fascinating, so I signed up. Well, it was disappointing. It wasn't really someone's home, it was a large room with 15-20 tables. They served each course one right after the other, usually not letting you finish each one before they took it away. There was belly dancing and they were horrible. They served the traditional Moroccan tea and then rushed us out. It was this night that my eyes were opened. How do they find the places they take us to? Do they take us to the places that pay them the most for taking us? Where are the better shoppes and restaurants? Why are the hotels we stay in far away from anything? So with nothing in walking distance, we are forced to spend our free time at the hotel, spending our money at the hotel shoppes and restaurants? Was the rug shoppe they took us to really one of the best? The metal shoppe certainly wasn't. I wondered if the sword I got in Toledo was really the best quality that I could have found.
Day 6, when we went to breakfast in the hotel, there were pictures waiting for us. The day before there was a man following us and taking our picture everywhere we went. First I got nervous- what were those pictures for? Then I decided that our guide would not let him take pictures if it was dangerous, so I stopped worrying. The pictures were available to us that morning for $2.00 each. I didn't want to, but I actually bought 3 of them. Since the walking around the medina required concentration so I wouldn't step in anything unpleasant or lose track of the group, I didn't take many pictures. It was nice to have a memory of that. However, most of the pictures didn't show what it was really like. So many of the pictures were of just one or two people. Walking around there was more crowded than Times Square on New Years Eve. How did he manage to get our pictures without the crowds? He's been doing this a while, I'm sure, and wanted us to have a pleasant memory; not one of being claustrophobic. I like to remember a place as it was. Anyway, after breakfast, we traveled to Marrakesh, through the Atlas Mountains which were beautiful. We got there in the early evening, just as the big square outside the medina started to come alive. They took us on a rushed tour around the square and through the medina. This is when I started to get really irritated that I was on this tour. I wished I could have spent more time in the square. I was enjoying looking around at all the amazing things- snake charmers, monkey tamers, acrobats, people, cafes, etc.- but I was nervous about losing track of the group. I did manage to get my picture taken with a monkey on my arm though. It was one of the highlights of my trip!
Day 7, we had a guided tour of Marrakesh. We went to the one Muslem palace that non-Muslems are allowed to go into. Then they took us to the modern section of the city to go shopping for leather and other items. I didn't even go in the stores. I just walked around the area talking to another woman on the tour who began to doubt about the authenticity of the places to where they were taking us. That afternoon we went to a Berber (the original people of Morocco) village. They live very primitively, but there was still plenty of signs of westernisation. That made sense, this village is used to groups of tourists coming through all the time. One man made an antenna so he can watch TV in his home. I saw a child wearing a t-shirt with Mickey Mouse. I was really looking forward to seeing a primitive village in a third world country and was disappointed to see how much the western world has changed them (not enough to go protest in Italy though). That night we went to the Fantasia, an enormous palace where you have dinner while several Berber tribes perform for you. The performers looked completely bored. They do this 365 nights a year. I know it gets old, but this is their job. I've been in productions that ran for several months, and I got tired of it, but I always put on a smile. These people didn't bother. After dinner, you have more entertainment- stunt horse riders, a flying carpet so obviously fake, dancers, and fireworks. If you've been to a Medieval Times, the evening is a Moroccan version of that. It wasn't an amazing experience, but I did have a good time. The people I sat with at dinner were a lot of fun and made the evening much more enjoyable.
Day 8, we continued on to Casablanca via Rabat. In Rabat, we had a whirlwind tour and then continued on our way. Casablanca was the most modern city. There were multi-storied buildings and the architecture was very modern as opposed to the unfinished look that was throughout the rest of the country. In Casablanca we had a brief walk through the medina and then had dinner at our hotel. The hotel we stayed in, a Meridien hotel, was truly a 5 star hotel! It was absolutely beautiful! If I had stayed here on my own, it would have cost a fortune, I'm sure. After dinner, several of us went across the street (finally a hotel located in the middle of town where we could walk to other place) to the Hyatt hotel. Inside was a bar designed to look exactly like Rick's Cafe in the movie "Casablanca". This was my favourite night on the entire tour. Good drinks, good music (a piano bar with a man playing old standards and played my 2 requests), good conversation, and good atmosphere.
Day 9, we drove to Tangier for our last night in Africa. We had a brief picture stop to see where the Atlantic Ocean met the Mediterranean Sea and then took a quick tour of the city on the bus before checking into the hotel. We had an hour before dinner so I spent it at the hotel bar (I was tired of looking around shoppes and that's all that was in the area).
Day 10, we took the ferry back to Spain and then got back on the bus to Seville. After dinner at our hotel, we had an optional excursion to see Flamenco. By this point, I did not get my hopes up. I was sure it would be a typical tourist place with untrained or non-talented dancers. I was pleasantly surprised. While it was a tourist place, the dancers were wonderful! It was a very short performance (I was told most non-tourist shows last a few hours), but I enjoyed it completely. After that, a few of us walked around the city enjoying the Fiesta for Corpus Christi. This was wonderful- seeing how the people that live in the city celebrate. It was very much like a fair in the States- food stands, people selling junk, people playing music... What was different was the hours of the event. People start partying around 11:00 and are still going strong as the sun rises. What also was amazing is that when we went back to the hotel at 1:30 AM, there were still tons of children out on the street. It was wonderful to experience another culture in this fashion.
Day 11, we had a walking tour of Seville. We went to the Plaza d'America, saw several of the buildings from the 1929 Expo, went in the Gothic Cathedral, saw the Plaza d'Espanga, went on a small riverboat cruise, and took a tour of a bullring (we weren't in Spain on a Sunday and that's the only day bullfights take place, so we didn't get to see a bullfight). All that was completed before 3:00 PM. It was an exhausting day and it was nice to have a few hours of free time before dinner. Most things are closed in the afternoon in Spain, but I found an Internet Cafe open and spent some time catching up on some business.
Day 12, we traveled to Lisbon, Portugal. We had a brief tour on the bus and then went to a Fado dinner- the traditional folk music of Portugal. The dinner and music was fantastic. This was another highlight of my trip. The dinner consisted of soup, fish, chicken, and dessert and all the wine we could drink. Usually it's fish OR chicken, not fish AND chicken. The chicken was in a delicious port wine sauce, but I was too full to finish it.
Day 13, we had a more extended tour of Lisbon, stopping at the major tourist attractions. After that, we went to several small towns on the coast. Those small towns- Estoril, Cascais, and Sintra- were the most touristy areas on the tour. They looked like they were once beautiful small towns. While they are still beautiful, they really are too crowded to really enjoy. It's the biggest vacation spot in the country. I did get to buy some really good port for less than half the price it would be in the States. The highlight for me here was seeing the most western point of Europe. I stood on the piece of land that before the late 15th century, people thought was the end of the world.
Day 14, we headed back to Spain, stopping in Fatima, that little town where the 3 girls saw the Virgin Mary during World War I. This is where religion meets capitalism. I watched very religious people walk on their knees up to the shrine while all around me people were selling religious trinkets and postcards. It was a strange situation. Then we continued on to Salamanca in Spain. We had the afternoon to ourselves. I walked around the small town, enjoying the Gothic and Roman architecture and enjoying the inexpensive wine at the tapas bars. After the dinner in our hotel, a few of us went for a walk. This city is beautiful at night. Seeing the Plaza Mayor all lit up and watching all the people enjoy their drinks in the lively cafes... Our guide told us about an extremely detailed facade somewhere in this small city. Somewhere on the facade, was a frog that got in the architect's way when he was working and decided to add a frog to the design. You're supposed to try to find the frog in the elabourate design. As we were looking for it, a guy came up to us and gave us a 10 minute lecture on the history of the facade. I'm sure it was interesting, but of course he only spoke Spanish which I barely understand. One woman with us understood a little and tried to explain it to us. So with a combination of watching the man's body/sign language and the woman's attempt at an explanation- I understood that it was the work of several different architects and the designs told the history and folklore of the area. He finally showed us where the frog was located which was a letdown- you couldn't really tell it was a frog. Anyway, this day was one of my favourites since it was the only day where we actually had a lot of free time. It was nice to go where I wanted to go and stop at places where I wanted to stop.
Day 15, we went back to Madrid. After a brief tour of the city, I rested. I was exhausted from waking up early every morning, having my days completely packed with travel and information, and not going to bed before 1:00 AM any night. So I found a cafe and read a book. That night we had dinner at a tourist-packed fish restaurant. The dinner was good but I wish I could have spent my last night in a non-tourist destination.
Day 16, I woke up at 5:00 AM and took a cab to the airport. There were 2 airport shuttles that Trafalgar provides, but they didn't leave until after my flight left.
Pros
- Seeing so many places: In 15 days we were in 3 countries on 2 continents. We saw 12 cities and several small town. If I took a trip to these countries by myself, I never would have seen everything I saw with the tour.
- Meeting new people: I'm a social person. If you enjoy meeting new people and spending a lot of time with them, a tour is a good idea. There were 41 people on this tour from the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Singapore. Everyone of course shares a love of travel, so many of the discussions were about all the places we've been to. It was also interesting hearing everyone's views of current events and politics. I've always found that, in general, people who live outside with United States know much more about what is going on in the world.
- All the details are taken care of: Personally, I like to be in charge of where I stay and how I get to destinations, but most people do not. So I'll list this as a Pro. The only details you have to worry about on a tour is how to budget your money. Everything else the tour guide takes care of: the hotels are all arranged, your luggage is carried in and out of the hotels, if you need suggestions of where to spend some free time or you need to find an ATM or a pharmacy- your tour guide will have all the answers.
- All the information: I love to learn. I love bits of trivia. Our guide was full of them. During the long bus trips, every once in a while he would tell us a story, point out what was growing in the fields outside the window, teach us some key phrases in Spanish, Portugese, or Arabic, talk about the political situations, and answer questions we might have. He knew a lot- he'd been doing this for 8 years. If I had traveled on my own, I never would have learned this much.
Cons
- Seeing so much: I'm listing this as a con because it really was too much to see in 2 weeks. I tried every night to write in my journal. Several times, I couldn't remember what we did that morning since there was so much in between. I prefer traveling to 2 or 3 cities in 2 weeks and learning what each city has to offer. It was hard to get the flavour of each place we went since we were never there for more than 1 day (and many of the places we only stayed for a few hours).
- Too much tourist stuff: I really like to find off-the-beaten-path places. On a tour, you don't get to see that. You get to see what every tourist sees. I like to get to know the people of the area. I didn't have any time to talk to people who lived in the area except for a few hotel bars. All the places we went to, they were used to tourists. I felt like they were acting a certain way so we would have only good impressions. If you travel alone, you wouldn't get that.
- Bad feelings about the places we were taken to: I know the tour guides get kick-backs from the shoppes and restaurants they take us to and that bothered me (even though I would do the same if I were in their position). I wanted to go to places that the locals frequent, not the place that paid the tour guide the most money. I feel like if I went on my own, I would have seen a different city.
In general, I'm glad I went. I was able to see 3 countries for an extremely reasonable price. I got to learn trivia facts about all these areas (I now know more about the vegetation of Spain than of the United States). I enjoyed spending time with the other people on the tour. However, I do not think I would travel with a tour again. Ideally, I would like to find someone to share hotel rooms with to cut down on the costs, spend some time with them, and spend the rest of the time on my own. I could do city tours to get my fill of information but be able to do things at my own pace. I could get to know an area well, rather than see an overwhelming amount but not have enough time to take it all in. I'll just have to work on finding a travel companion.
I would recommend a tour to people who have a lot of energy, want to see a lot in a short amount of time and don't care about really getting to know an area, and for people who don't want to spend a lot of money.
I can't recommend Trafalgar over another tour company since this was the only tour I've ever done, but I can't not recommend it either. So, if you're planning a tour, I'd read other people's epinions on tour companies to see how they compare to Trafalgar.
Recommended:
Yes
Tour type: Group
Tour format: Bus
Tour length: Over a Week
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Epinions.com ID:
Minstrelette
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Member: J Bennett
Location: New York, NY
Reviews written: 110
Trusted by: 241 members
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