Solo Travel vs. Group Tour

I've traveled alone to Europe and to the Mediterranean and here's my thoughts on how to do it. There are two different ways that you can go about traveling solo; you can do it really solo, plan your own flights/hotels/excursions, or you can book through a company and they will do all the planning for you. I've done them both and here's my take.

GROUP TOUR

First up is the group tour. I booked this trip for just myself. I didn't know anyone that I was going with but I did know that there would be other people there in the same, metaphorical and physical, boat as me. There were about 20 of us all together, not including our tour guide. Each tour guide is an employee of EF Tours. Our guide, Daphne, happened to be from Athens and had a lot of insider information, however that isn't always the case. Tour guide can be from anywhere and can lead you anywhere. We were really fortunate to have a guide from the area we were visiting. This was a two week trip and I opted for the 'take all my money and plan my trip for me' version. When booking, there is a list of additional excursions that you can book that will be planned into your itinerary for you. I was given an arrival date and a range of dates to fly in as well as either the end date of my two week trip or the opportunity to add a new trip to the end of my journey and extend my stay. I input what I thought would work best for me and they booked my flights for me. Since everyone in the group, though individual, were all staying together, there was a sort of group rate for accommodations so they also booked hotels and travel for us. It was generally recommended that if hotels and travel, such as ferries and metros, were booked that you travel with the group.

This was really good for my mom because she was a little worried about me going off somewhere on my own. However, you always had the option to leave the group. It was made very clear that although we were always welcome to be with the group that this was ultimately our trip and that we were able to spend it however we would like. This was true with a few of us on Mykonos. As a very party place and lots of us being not so party people, some of the group decided to book a different hotel that was a little more quiet and less club like. We met back up with them a few days later and they rejoined us for the rest of the journey, but like it was always told to us, this is our trip and we were to enjoy it as we pleased.

We packed SO much into these two weeks. We hit Athens, Santorini, Paros, Mykonos, and took a lovely trip through the Aegean Sea. I did the typical tourist things, the Parthenon, the blue domed city, the famous pink door. But I was also able to do things that I'm not sure many people would think to do. During one of our boat cruises, we went snorkeling inside of a cave (absolutely not for me but a great adventure for others), sailed around the island where Tom Hanks has made his home, and went wine tasting.

All in all, I raved about this trip for a very long time. Being with the same people for so long you're obviously going to have some annoyances, but nothing that we couldn't work past. Not everyone on the trip clicks, which was a little difficult for me, but I found a group and made some friends and stuck with them for most of the trip. I loved that I didn't have to stress myself out with planning, especially since I always had some hesitation that I would book something wrong or do the wrong thing. This was such a hassle-free vacation and the only trip that I have ever taken where I wasn't ready to go home. Usually, I miss my bed, I miss my life, I even miss my job, but not this time. I thought about accidentally letting my passport fall by accident off the ferry so I would have to, through no fault of my own, a complete accident, stay behind.

Final thoughts: If you've never traveled before, EF Tours is an excellent first way to go. They take care of all the basics and your only job is to enjoy. I had a good time, met great people, and most importantly, I felt safe. As a solo female traveler, my biggest thing is safety. There wasn't a single time on this trip where I ever feared for my safety, which was a relief for both myself and my mother.

SOLO TRAVEL

Up next, the completely independent venture. This is not for the faint hearted and, I'll be honest, I wasn't sure that it was for me. Participating in a European work exchange, I was given a place to stay in exchange for work and during my free time I could travel wherever I'd like. I was staying in a little village called Toot Baldon, which was only 15 minutes from the city of Oxford and about an hour to central London. I'll be honest right from the start. I think I would have liked traveling solo a little bit more if I wasn't also working. That aside - I loved traveling here. It was super easy for me to get where I wanted to go using the bus system. The buses are clearly labeled and their paths and timetables are posted both with live updates online and at each individual bus stop. I exchanged money before I arrived, but I still found myself using my credit card for a lot of things, especially the bus. With every bus that I have taken thus far, I stepped on the bus, tapped my card, and that was that. There's no need to buy a physical ticket from the bus driver or prebook online or at the station. There is currently a cap on single one way bus tickets at 2 pounds, which is much cheaper than buying a bus pass. The Oxford Tube is the bus that takes you from Oxford to London and is roughly 20 pounds roundtrip. This was a nice way to travel as it was a charter bus so it had air conditioning, USB ports, and a bathroom on board for those that are like me and come with the smallest bladder ever. This was much better than Ubering around, which is 1) something that can get real expensive real fast, 2) something that doesn't make me feel as safe and public transportation.

I think the biggest differences are exactly the ones that you would expect. I had to ask strangers to take my photo, eat by myself, and generally do everything alone. Now, I'm not a social butterfly by any means, but it does get quite lonely not having a friend to chat with, especially if Wi-Fi isn't something that really works for you. I did, however, love being able to do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. I never had to run my plans past someone or take others' thoughts into consideration. It was nice to be able to just do what I wanted. That may sound a little selfish, but this is your money that you've invested into this trip and you deserve to do the things you want. There were things that I had to figure out the hard way. Did you know that 1 pound and 2 pounds are coins and not bills or are you as naive as me? You have to pay to use the bathroom in a lot of places, which is fine, but a tour guide would have mentioned that ahead of time.

Having done a group tour before, I felt pretty comfortable doing this on my own, but I'll be honest, if I hadn't done a group trip before I am not sure that I would have had what it takes to travel alone. If I had to choose a preferred way to travel, it would probably be just me and a friend or me and my parents. If I had to choose between the two options that I'm writing about, my answer would be based on experience level. I think everyone would benefit from a group trip and I think I would have benefitted from one more group trip before doing it solo. As with anything, there are pros and cons to both. On one hand, you've got safety in numbers, an experienced guide, all transportation and accommodations taken care of, and a strict schedule. On the other hand, you can visit the places you really want to, you have a new sense of freedom, you can set your own sleep/eat/travel schedule, and can really grow your confidence in being an individual.

If you've done a group trip or travelled alone I'd love to hear your thoughts! Thanks for reading, and safe travels.