How To Choose A Tour Company

How To Choose A Tour Company That’s Right For You

Before booking your next trip you might be sat wondering how to choose a tour company that’s going to suit you. Getting the right company and the right kind of holiday for you is going to impact massively on how you enjoy your trip. That’s why it takes quite a bit of research. Because there really are all kinds of holidays out there. The ones drinking until 5am every night , the 60 mile per day cycling holidays, historical walking tours, yoga retreats, beaches and cocktails – you name it, there’s a holiday company doing it.

My Experience Booking with Medsailors

It’s difficult to describe just how much research I did before I booked with Medsailors. The words ‘a lot’ just don’t do it justice. I probably spent an hour most evenings for a couple of weeks looking at different tour groups operating in different countries in the Med and the Adriatic. I knew I wanted to do something after my experience earlier this year with Sail Croatia. But I wasn’t sure what. As you might know from my previous post, travelling to Croatia in May 2019 was my first experience of solo travel and I loved every minute of it. It’s given me the travel bug, the overwhelming urge to do more and see more.

So it was to be another adventure on my own, and I wanted another trip on a sailing boat. A sail boat getaway isn’t for everyone, and I discuss the pros and cons in a previous post, but for me it’s a beautiful way to travel.

First I looked at Italy but the options seemed more limited, and I’d already done a trip to Croatia, so going further South I was left considering Montenegro and Greece. Both are places I’ve been wanting to visit for some time. Plus, now that we’re entering September the further South the better the weather. Now with only a couple of possible destinations in mind I began researching tour companies in more depth.

Researching Tour Companies

When people go travelling they want different things out of their experiences. I wanted this trip to be the right trip for me and there’s a few specific things I was on the look out for –

A varied itinerary with good amounts of optional activities and free time
A group of like-minded individuals, preferably similar ages to myself and preferably other solo travellers
Fantastic reviews (Facebook and Trip Advisor are my go-to sites)
Preferably a few meals included so I wasn’t scratching around for food

I looked at a few different companies including G Adventure and Intrepid. I’d heard good things about both from my fellow travellers, and as with everything, word of mouth goes a long way. But then I struck upon Medsailors, which just seemed to tick all my boxes. The itinerary was interesting, they have great reviews and the trips are aimed at 18 to 35 year olds. I read blog posts about their different trips and even found a few Youtube vlogs. One video in particular sealed the deal for me. Hello Greece! Click here to watch.

Once I had made the decision I enquired about availability. Another thing I judge a company strongly on are their customer service skills. So I was pleased to have a reply in my inbox within a few hours and some helpful responses to the questions I had asked.

Research Checklist

Before even starting any research you’re going to want to write a list of what you want out of your holiday. You need to decide upon a destination, whether you want it to be active, or relaxed, organised to the hilt, or whether there’s an emphasis on free time. Are you interested in watersports? Or hiking? Or horse riding? Once you’ve got a list the best thing to do is to start reading reviews. See what real people have made of their experiences. (Though always read reviews with a pinch of salt. People tend to blame tour companies for the weather and similar things completely out of their control.) Then enquire – good customer service is another box ticked.

So there we have it. Now you know how to choose a tour company that’s going to give you the best possible experience. Let me know where you’re heading next!