Advice for young solo traveller looking for 'group' holiday (that's not a boozefest!)

cloudylemonade_2

Hi, I'm new here and was hoping someone might be able to help.

I'm looking to take a holiday (somewhere in Europe) that is one of those group holidays where you are thrown together with other holiday makers. I'm a 26 year old girl and going on my own for the first time, and would be looking to go for anywhere between 4 and 8 days.

I don't mind whether it is a cultural, activity or adventure holiday, and although I don't mind a few drinks and nights out the one thing really want to avoid are trips that are going to just be a boozefest!

I've looked at a number of companies but really am not sure which would suit what I'm looking for?

Any suggestions or advice really appreciated...

Bananabelly

www.explore.co.uk
www.intrepidtravel.com
www.gapadventures.com

are all good places to start. If you don't want a boozefest avoid Contiki for sure, and probably On the Go as well.

On the other hand Europe is as easy as pie to travel in, so you could do it a lot cheaper by getting flights and then stating in hostels. You will meet heaps of travellers in hostels anyway, and you can choose your travel companions, it's also much more flexible.

ellybelly89

That link for intrepid comes up with

Intrepid

Comming sone since 1996.

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Bananabelly

ellybelly89 wrote: »

That link for intrepid comes up with


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Sorry, did it quickly from memory. Is fixed now.

PhotoMania

One of my friends have used exodus, www.exodus.co.uk - I've never used them, but my friend said they were brillant. They do solo traveller trips.
Hope this helps.

pipsi_2

Avoid Imaginative Traveller, i went away with them about 5 years ago and the whole thing was a complete disaster, the itinerary information was massively out of date and in some cases stated we would be visiting places that we went nowhere near. It also timed things really badly, eg we arrived in St Catherine's at the base of Mt Sinai late on a Saturday night and left on a Sunday afternoon which meant that the monastery was closed to visitors the whole time we were there. I'd travelled all that way and couldn't even visit the monastery which was one of the places i wanted to visit the most on my trip. The itinerary stated we would arrive on the Saturday morning (after travelling overnight) so would be able to visit the monastery, but instead we arrived so late that the restaurant in our hotel had to keep the kitchen open late so we could eat when we arrived.

Also there were some optional excursions which turned out to be not so optional, the cost of the excursion was divided between the number of people who wanted to go, there were a couple i wanted to opt out of because i couldn't afford to do everything and i was made to feel guilty because by me not going it made everyone else pay more. The reps would also say things like, 'i've invited a friend of mine who works in the museum along to give you a guided tour - you all owe x amount to cover the cost of his/her presentation' i was quite happy looking around places without having to pay someone to give me information i could see for myself. Also on a couple of occasions one of the others girls and i actually did some of the optional trips ourselves for a fraction of the cost that the reps were quoting. The whole thing was a farce, i complained a number of times while i was away and my Mum also called head office in the UK on my behalf but it didn't resolve any problems. One of the reps was actually quite rude and knocked on my room door once and gave me an earful for not wanting to go on an optional excursion, the same rep shouted at my for wearing a knee length skirt when we went to see the pyramids - stating it was inappropriate, I can't remember whether i changed or not but when we got there the site was full of other tourists in really short skirts, hot pants etc.

When i got back to the UK i wrote a huge letter of complaint which didn't get me anywhere, i got a reply weeks later which didn't even have an apology in it. Another of the people i was travelling with had previously been on a trip with the same company to Africa and the rep there had botched up the hot air balloon ride she was meant to be going on in Africa, so she didn't get to do it, the reason she'd gone on that trip was to do the once in a lifetime balloon trip which she didn't get to do.