1. You Make A Lot Of New Friends
When I first started traveling I just wanted to see stuff and do fun stuff. That’s what I thought traveling was mainly about. But actually, that’s HALF of what traveling is about. Now that I’ve gone around the world more, I’ve learned that meeting new people and making new friendships is one of the most rewarding parts of traveling. I might even say that it’s the BEST experience you can get while traveling.
Contiki is great because you are usually on a bus with a lot of people (sometimes 50). And you get to make new friends from around the world. With your new friends, you’ll explore the Eiffel Tower or eat Pizza in Italy together. party at night and make fun of each other. These little things you do with your Contiki family is what you’ll remember 5 years down the road…. these memories will stick with you stronger than when you walked around a new town by yourself.
2. You Can Travel Safely
The world is a crazy place these days, and it’s a little scary to travel by yourself for a lot of people. Your Contiki group will likely be a large group of people, especially if you do one of those 2-3 week European tours. It’s always great to have a big group when it comes to safety. Nobody really wants to mess with that. Plus you guys are the bomb since you’re the ones having the most fun wherever you go, and everyone around is just looking at you wishing they could be as cool :P.
With a larger group, you’ll also be able to find more people who you connect with and can be close friends with. You’ll end up doing most of your stuff with this group of people usually. But you guys will travel around in one large group half the time you go around cities and explore new places. There’s a lot of value in being in such a large group traveling around. Contiki usually gives you that.
3. You Can Choose How You Want To Spend Your Day
You’re always free to do whatever you want. However, most people choose to do whatever the tour is doing. Like you can land in a city and just run off and do your own thing but that rarely happens. Contiki is a very guided tour and they will take you around and show you stuff, explain history to you, and help you see the city and learn about the culture. And then you get free time to do whatever you want in the city. Your tour manager will give you suggestions for what you can do. So it’s kinda split between half guided tours and half free time (give or take).
It also depends on which type of tour and place you visit. But that’s a general idea. Anyway, you’re never stuck doing what Contiki wants. You are always free to break away and do whatever you want.
4. Contiki Is Very Structured
I’ve been on several group tours outside of Contiki and it made me realize how structured Contiki is. Most of the important things are planned out for you. You wake up at this time, get back to the coach at this time, eat at this time, and get free time at this time. This is good and bad. But for a lot of people, it’s great. Because you don’t have to worry about planning or logistics.
Many tour companies I’ve been on are more “relaxed” and do as you wish. Wish can be good too. But I think for most people who want to go on a tour and be shown around cities and taken around to see and experience things, they want the “guided” part more. Contiki gives you a lot of that and it’s structured in a way that maximizes your time.
5. You Get To Do Things You’ll Never Do Back Home
How about paragliding over the Austrian Alps or bar hopping in unique bars in Greece? Even simple things like taking the Underground in London for the first time or eating real Gelato in Italy are experiences you’ll never get back home. Travel offers you that. If you’re scared to travel or don’t know how to do it yourself or don’t have anyone to go with, Contiki is a phenomenal company to help you out with that! Again, traveling with other people is an amazing thing. You’ll make friends quickly and you’ll get to do all these fun things with them. You get that safety net of familiar faces to do stuff with.
6. Contiki Is Great For First Time Travellers
If you’re scared to travel I recommend a group tour for your first time. Then you’ll get to see what the world is like outside of the home and you can decide after that if you want to solo travel or do more group travel. I do both and I love both. I like to combine both on a single trip actually. Spend some time on my own and some time traveling.
For my first time traveling, I was scared of the unknown. I’m not sure I would have gone to Europe if I didn’t do a group tour. But going to Europe with Contiki made me fall in love with traveling and fall in love with traveling with a group of people. It’s just sooooo much fun making friends with your peer group and just doing stuff every day together. It’s like a big family. If you’re worried about traveling but want to do it, a group tour like Contiki will be an eye-opening experience.
