Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with tours

Need advice on WV New River/Gauley trip on a budget

caroljean63 — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:05:19 -0800

We would like to plan a family trip (myself, husband, 15 & 18 yo athletic teens) to the New River/Gauley in WV & would like some recommendations about which river, which outfitter, and lodging recommendations. My husband and I did the lower New a few years ago and my husband did the Gauley a couple years ago in the Fall, so we somewhat know what to expect. Our kids have never done any WW rafting, but they're adventurous and athletic and would likely be bored meandering down a slow river. We're planning on the week of August 16th. Recommendations on which river we should go with?

We're on a tight budget, so bonus points for money saving ideas. I'm NOT a camping kind of person, but I'm willing to suffer for a couple days in one of those tents-on-a-platform and hiking to a shower house. I can't do more primitive than that. However, I'm kind of surprised to find the price (for a family of 4) is upward of $75 for those! I can stay at a Holiday Inn Express with breakfast included for that price! But alas, no where near where we need to be.

We'd also like to include a Canopy Tour. I've looked at a whole bunch of sites, and I'm starting to think that there are only a couple different places that actually run the tours, but different outfitters (i.e. Class VI) will arrange them for you? Is that correct?

If that's the case, am I better off arranging everything separately (canopy tour, rafting, tent lodging, or whatever) or trying to find a package deal?

Again, we're on a tight budget, so any money-saving ideas would be appreciated!

Not a Tour Type of Guy

Xurando — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:29:37 -0800

Going to Bhutan in October. Want to find a tour company who will stay out of my way and essentially let me go where I want to, alone. Most sources tell me this impossible, but I don't believe it. Any MeFites been there?

What are some great travel/tour companies?

warble — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 09:45:44 -0800

What are some of the best companies out there for unique and interesting tours or "guided vacations"? I love the idea of these types of trips, and I'd love to be able to start dreaming about my next great vacation... In reading a recent Ask Metafilter question, there was a link to a tour company that runs bike tours for women going "inn to inn". How cool! This got me thinking about the fact that I love the idea of "guided vacations" that are unique, fun, and passionately run. Whether they are tours, or staying in one place and diving into a subject or area, I'm all for it. Any part of the world is welcome, and any type of trip.

For example: In a couple weeks, I'll be going on a "Women's Winter Adventure" weekend with a dogsledding company in northern Minnesota called Points Unknown. We'll be having classes on how to work with a team, run a sled, and then go out and do our own dogsledding! I'm really excited about this.

I also love reading the REI Adventures website. I find their trips expensive but also ambitious and very inspiring. I sometimes browse their website on a slow workday just to get away from it all.

Do you have any suggestions for more companies that provide unique and interesting guided vacations, especially if you've personally used them and found them to be great? I'd love to have more companies to look at, dream about, and potentially go on vacation with!

Guide me around Peru

faunafrailty — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 17:12:14 -0800

I need recommendations for a Peruvian tour company. I want to do a 7-10 day tour in Peru, visiting Machu Picchu, traditional markets, and as many other cultural landmarks as I can. I would like to keep hiking to a moderate minimum. I don't want to do the entire Inca Trail, but would do some hikes if it means seeing something awesome at the end. I REALLY want to visit many markets with traditional handicrafts. I love museums. I want to see lots of ruins. I think it'd be cool to see Lake Titicaca.

I want a trustworthy tour group that'd be a appropriate for a 30-something female on her own. I'm not opposed to sharing a room with a fellow tourist, and I don't need fancy digs. Machu Picchu and handicraft markets are my highest priorities.

Any recommendations on tour companies and/or things to see, especially good markets?

(P.S. I have read and favorited some other similar questions, but wanted advice on the markets and more recent advice on travel companies. Thanks!!)

Advice for Driving I-10 along the Gulf Coast?

cobaltnine — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 07:51:48 -0800

RoadTripFilter: 2.5 days in New Orleans, followed by driving to Orlando. We're okay (about 85% set) with the endpoints, but we'd love advice on the road between, both on the road, and on food. Bonus New Orleans tour question at the end. We'll be down there in mid-December, right before the holidays, if that makes a difference for any answers.

Questions on the Road Itself:
Google's telling us it's about 9.5 hours on I-10. Is it wildly underestimating things? What're the chances of snow, rain, ice? How long/bad are the bridges? Do we need toll money? How much? Are there areas (Gulfport, Mobile, Pensacola?) where we might get stuck in very bad traffic at certain times? We'll probably leave early (7-8, if I have my way), to make the most of daylight. We have no necessary arrival time in Orlando, although we do have a hotel booked for that night, late arrival OK.

On Food:
We'll obviously be stopping and eating along the way. We'd much rather nip off the highway for good food than eat chain food. I don't eat seafood; the boy eats anything; we both loooove breakfast. This is mid-week, if that makes a difference.

Other: We might be able to stop somewhere interesting for an hour or so, if there's anything like that. Jump off the highway for scenic driving for a bit, or world's largest ball of twine, good; three hour museum stops won't be possible.

Bonus question: We're definitely doing a voodoo/cemetery tour in New Orleans, but we have no idea which ones are better than others. The haunted Savannah tour I took was great - not too serious, no costumes, slightly sarcastic. On the other hand, if it's dumbed down I'll be irritated and bored, since I have a better than average knowledge of both topics due to my graduate thesis. The websites I've found offer little in the way of information.

Nobody Walks into traffic in LA... we hope!

Scram — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 10:29:40 -0800

Can anyone please provide some standard legal language for a walking tour release form to be used in California? My husband and I give bus tours in LA, and when we do we're covered by the bus company's insurance. Now we're about to launch a couple of walking tours, to offer something less expensive and time consuming for our audience, and I'm concerned about liability. We won't be going anywhere intrinsically dangerous, but we'll be crossing busy streets downtown and it's always possible someone could get hurt out there.

I'm thinking that I'd like to bring a form to the tours that participants would have to sign before paying and receiving a wristband that would mark them as official attendees. If anyone could point me to such a form--either providing appropriate language in an answer below, or directing me to a Nolo Press book or similar, that would be great.

Also, in the interest of saving trees, is it necessary for every attendee to sign a unique form, or is it enough for one form to have multiple signature lines? How long should signed forms be retained? Anything else we need to know?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

offbeat ipod walking tours

luser — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 19:34:46 -0800

I know there's "walking tour" audio you can buy for your ipod for major cities, but there must be quirky audio tourguides for offbeat neighborhood tours (that are free). I'm thinking, like in NYC, a guide to scenes from Woody Allen movies. What's the word for these walking guide audios, and where are some good ones for NYC, Philly, and Baltimore/DC?

Tasty Tours

Miko — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 07:19:22 -0800

Have you ever taken a culinary walking tour? Might you be willing to share highlights and details? I'm planning to develop some tasting tours for my city and would appreciate hearing about your own food tour experiences. I'd like to learn from successful tour models like Foods of New York, Boston's North End market tours, or Chicago Food Planet, but from a tour-goer's point of view. My plan is to offer 2- to 3-hour tours of a compact downtown environment, covering the culinary history of our area and featuring small tastings from six or seven businesses that represent classic regional food traditions.

I'm pretty set on the actual foods I'm going to focus on and solid on the historic information. This is a pilot for a potential side business for me. As I'm planning now for summer, I'd like to hear about your experiences on tours like this. For instance -

-What did they charge? Was it worth it?
-How was the balance between information and entertainment? Humor and history?
-If it was fun, what contributed to that feel?
-How was it organized? Reservation or drop-in? Payment method? Did you wear a special badge to show you were a paying tourgoer?
-Did the sites you visit offer free tastings or educational tidbits, or just show their wares?
-Did the tour host give you gifties like coupons or freebies at the end of the tour?
-In general, what would make such a tour fun and worthwhile for you?
-Was there anything you disliked?

Recommend Photography Tours and Travel Workshops

matildaben — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 11:02:01 -0800

I would like to find out about good providers of photography tours and/or travel-based photography workshops abroad. Preferably, the workshops should be pitched at the level of an intermediate photographer. Photographic interests: nature, landscape, architecture. Geographic interests: England, Scotland, Iceland, or other places in Europe. I'd be open to other suggestions if they are really amazing (Asia, perhaps). The teacher/tour leader should have a significant degree of experience and professionalism.

Please don't tell me about your Google searches or ads you saw. I'd much rather get in-person knowledge to find out who really stands out in this field.

Help me be compelling

serazin — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 20:03:39 -0800

Have you ever been on a guided walking tour? What did you like about it? What did you dislike? Was the subject matter most important, or the presentation? How long was it? Was it focused narrowly (like, sites to pick up dudes in the Castro) or more broadly (like, the history of Manhattan) I would love to hear as much detail as possible about the walking tours that have bored you, thrilled you, or just made your feet hurt. Thank you!

Bargain tours to Europe?

jayder — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 20:02:51 -0800

Can you suggest any tours from U.S.A. to Europe (including plane fare, transportation between European cities, and hotel accommodations in each visited city) that do not involve doing activities with a tour group? My wife and I would like to visit Europe cheaply and have our transportation and lodgings paid for in advance. We don't want spontaneity in our travel or lodgings; we want it all planned and paid for in advance. While in each city, however, we would like the freedom to do as we like with each other, without a "tour group." (We don't mind flying to Europe and traveling between each city with a tour group, we just want to be independent in each destination city.)

I realize this is what travel agents can set up for us, but I am wondering if you MeFites are aware of any pre-fab, bargain tours that include multiple European cities with travel and accommodations paid for. We'd like the trip to be approximately ten days and encompass at least three of the following cities: London, Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice, Dublin, Edinburgh.

Winery Tours in Niagara Region of Ontario???

vidarling — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 05:00:16 -0800

Any suggestions or recommendations for Winery tasting / tours in the Niagara region of Ontario? Logistics appreciated..... Where, when, any reservations or costs involved. Is there are some that serve snacks as well? I am just trying to plan a Sunday afternoon.

Some small unique ones or even large ones would be great!

Escorted tours for women?

Salmonberry — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 19:04:03 -0800

Does anyone have any recommendations of guided/escorted tour companies that run tours geared towards women? I'm looking to go on vacation, and I'll be by myself. I'd prefer to travel in a group so I have people to talk to, and I don't want to be on a bus with 19 year old college students or 55 year old couples. The tours geared for singles look a little dodgy. I'm not looking to discover the goddess within or some backcountry adventure, like so many women-centred travel companies seem to think. I'm 35, and ideally would like an escorted tour where I honestly don't have to really plan anything, but just sit back and enjoy. Like a Trafalgar tour type of thing.

Glasgow walking tours

beaverd — Mon, 04 Apr 2005 14:22:35 -0800

I'm going to be visiting Glasgow, Scotland, and I wonder if anyone has a walking-tour guide or guide company that they like and would recommend. I'm interested in finding out about Scottish history, Glasgow architecture, etc. Google gives me tons of results and it's hard to choose one, so I'm hoping someone has recommendations they'd like to share. Thanks!

Travel to Japan

GaelFC — Thu, 16 Dec 2004 13:27:26 -0800

My husband and I want to take a vacation in Japan. He's been there once and speaks some Japanese, but I was wondering if there is a kind of guided tour where they don't babysit you everywhere, but do help organize English-speaking tours of things that might be hard to do on our own (Fuji, Hiroshima, possibly even Okinawa). We really don't want to sign on for the traditional guided tour, but would love to be able to have some guidance when needed. Any companies like this out there? thanks!

Youthful Tour Companies

smackfu — Thu, 22 Jul 2004 07:20:07 -0800

What are the big "youth"/age-limited guided tour companies around the world? Contiki is big in Europe but I'm looking for something elsewhere due to the sucky dollar.