Insider Tips for Travel Tourists: Part 2

This is the second of 2 articles on travel tour tips. Discussed here are the hosted tours and do-it-yourself touring.

Hosted tours are probably just as popular as escorted tours. This type of tour gives you lots of free time to do what you want. The bare minimum prepayment requirement for a hosted tour includes hotels, roundtrip transports to hotels, and just one sightseeing destination. They may include lots more, but don't have to. Basically, you are picked at the airport and later taken on a single sightseeing tour. Most agencies have a local office available so that you may book additional tours if you like. Hosted tours make travel very simple. These may be right for you.

Now, the third basic tour type is something called a fit tour. As stated in the companion article, you basically do your own thing. The appeal with this type of tour is you see and do only what you want to without the need to visit places that are not of interest to you. Here, you simply prepay for that which you choose to do. By so doing, you'll know exactly what your out of pocket expense will be while fashioning a level of freedom tailored to you.

For example, if you may want to have to have both a driver and a personal guide. This can be a huge time saver, especially where you may have a long layover. Rather than going first to the hotel and killing time until a tour begins, the driver would just drop you off directly at a mutually agreed upon spot and awaits your return. The guide takes over for the tour itself and later returns you to the driver.

Using local guides can make your travel experience infinitely more memorable. They are generally experts on the area and culture and can give you unique perspectives on things to do as well. You can sometimes gain access to showings, screenings or other venues that you may not have access to on an unescorted basis. And through their knowledge, they may even save you enough money to overcome the cost to hire them.

Also note that regardless of how you may choose to tour; certain areas lend themselves to escorted or hosted tours more so than if you are a less experienced traveler. These types of tours just make the trip feel more relaxed and carefree. On the other hand, the familiar you are with a destination or the more American, the less need for escorted or hosted tours.

And finally, keep in mind that you can always mix and match tours as well. So part of your trip may be escorted, hosted or conducted entirely on your own.