What does /trv/ think of packaged travel deals? I'm not

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I guess what I'm asking is: If you don't know which locations in a country are worth the visit, is it a better idea to follow some predetermined program some company has thought up? I've done a lot of research, but I don't want to miss out on some stuff just because some books/the internet haven't represented a site well enough to me.

I'm specifically planning on doing a tour of Australia that visits a lot of the hotspots, but leaves out Perth and Darwin.

I wouldn't mind going on a tour for a country of which I don't speak the language, and has little tourism infrastructure. However, you're looking at Australia. Just look at detailed descriptions of different tours and look around further on the internet and I'm sure you can easily go to Australia by yourself without needing a tour.

>>1170676
Cancer. I've been on a couple with my parents when I was younger - they were fine doing Europe on their own, but Arab countries scared them too much and they went with package tours.
What you can expect is rushing from sight to sight at the speed of light followed by mandatory visits to friendly souvenir shops that take as long as visiting actual historical places. But most of all, there is zero sense of adventure. You are constantly surrounded by people who speak your language and everything is planned out for you - from transportation to food. You're touring a foreign place in a giant bubble that prevents you from experiencing it properly - contact with locals is extremely limited and you do not learn anything about their daily life - you just move from tourist trap to tourist trap in a coach, avoiding everything normal. And not to mention, you're paying a premium for that dubious luxury.
I hate package tours with a passion, they remind me of school trips and are a huge waste of vacation.

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>>1170700
>>1170708
thanks
if anyone can give some advice as to what to do in australia, that would be great, so far i plan on visiting every major city (apparently there is a need for elementary school teachers there right now, so i may get a job there, and i would like to see where i could be living). my basic itinerary is this [>city (things i want to see while there)]:
>Melbourne (twelve apostles, mackenzie falls
>Sydney (blue mountains, opera house)
>Brisbane
>Perth (the pinnacles)
>Adelaide
>Darwin (bungles bungles)
i also want to see Uluru and Kata Tjuta, and i want to do some surfing and rock climbing

>>1170895
Probably stick Cairns in there. Well worth it.... And probably don't need to do Adelaide cause it's fucking boring. If you do two nights would be plenty!!!

>>1170895
aussie here
if you wanna do a cheap quick trip just do east coast
>brisbane
>gold coast
>byron bay
>newcastle (optional)
>sydney

if you wanna do the whole of australia, you'll need to realise it's a big place and good luck

Packaged tours generally: Travel elitists loathe them, but assuming you get a good operator that matches your interests then it can be a good experience. Personally I like shorter tours of a specific site/region, I think I'd get pretty frustrated having to stick to a schedule and hang out with the same group for more than a week. That said it could be argued that taking a tour with a large group might actually reduce tensions because many of the things that groups argue about (where to eat, how much to spend, what to see etc.) are already fixed and not up for debate.

A big reason people do tours is for the social aspect but that's actually a big drawback for me. If you get along with the people on the tour then that's great, but if not you're stick with them for a long time. Compare that to independent travel, where you can still stick with people you meet, but aren't bound to them the same way.

Ultimately it depends on what you want from the trip. If you want to get outside your comfort zone, test your language abilities, experience complete freedom or get an understanding of a foreign culture then you're not the target audience. If you're looking for a fun, relaxing, convenient experience, then tours can be great for that.

For Australia in particular: it's not a hard or dangerous country to travel in, and it's already expensive so I'd weigh up whether the extra cost of a tour is worth it to you. Especially such a large tour - what happens if you really like one spot and what a few more days there?

I did this in the states and got stuck with a bunch of losers for three weeks, just stayed off my face the entire time so it was bearable.

I went off by myself afterwards and the calibre of people I met while hostel jumping was much much higher

>>1170676
Consider going by your own and going on day tours for difficult to reach places.

Ausfag here, the bulk of young(er) tourists rent campervans (sleep & prepare food from within) or buy cars to drive the vast distances between points of interest within Australia. This gives you the luxury of choosing your own path (having a vague idea of a route to take is good) as well as controlling, within reason, your spending - a supermarket or hostel / camp ground is never too far away. Plenty of people also take Greyhound buses, which service regional areas where air travel is expensive, however, flying between all major cities is pretty cheap, there is intense competition amongst the 4 big carriers & almost always a special. Forget trains we only use them to ship coal / minerals. I get that the tour is easy but if you are under 50 it will probably bore the shit out of you given your fellow travellers will probably be middle aged couples. Also, hostels are where you meet travellers / traveller women, always keen to get drunk and have fun, but importantly share knowledge on where to go & what to see. Beware the Irish though, they are usually pikie-esque scum (many brits too).

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>>1170971
>stayed off my face

Que?

>>1171083
it means keep drunk the whole time, I assume