Group Travel Plans
Scheduled group travel is the magic of how to travel on a tight budget. When you join a scheduled group, you pay less than you would have if you travelled alone. Since most of those trips have their dates set way in advance, it allows one to plan and pay in installments. In group travel, the cost of most services is shared. This makes it affordable.
For instance, a 4 days adventure in Lamu would have costs of services such as boat transfers, sunset dhow cruise, Lamu old town tour, meals, and full day excursions shared. The scheduled trip to Lamu costs around Kshs. 35000 per person. If you took this trip alone or as a couple and enjoy the same activities/hotel, the cost will range between Ksh. 45000 and 50000 per person.
Group travel enables you to discover and explore many destinations effortlessly. This is because the operators have already researched for you and what remains is for you to pay and sit back. You will visit many gems within a short period of time. Your travel bucket list gets cleared with ease because you have a variety of options to choose from. As a traveller, you get the freedom to try services from different tour operators. You choose from available packages depending on how your travel bucket list looks like. You are not obligated to follow or become loyal to a particular tour company. The services you experience are the ones that guide your loyalty.
Group travel helps you meet strangers and turn them into acquaintances. Most people who afford travel are focused in life and therefore beneficial to you. They help you learn new things about life, understand various fields of careers and create meaningful business connections. You also make genuine friends that shape your future. People are fun when on holiday. During these trips, you are guaranteed of unlimited laughter. You also end up doing things or participating in activities you never thought you would. In short, group travel helps you unwind and rediscover yourself.
Transitioning
A time will come when you will be unable to join any scheduled group. You will realize that you have been to all the places being advertised. Most people are currently at this level. The highest number of Safiri Nasi loyalists is at this stage. What do you do when you get here? Do you stop travelling? Of course not!
My advice is that travel is a continuous process. You see how a river flows, beats all the corners, fills all the wide parts, collects together on the narrow parts and then drains in an ocean/lake? That is how travel transitions. Draining in an ocean means travel getting into unlimited possibilities.
During group travel, you made friends. Now it’s time to make those acquaintances work. The friends you made are travel enthusiasts. It’s time to bring them together and make up travel plans. The fact that all of them are travelers makes it easy to research and agree on next steps. You will realize that all scheduled group travel plans are limited to destinations with various attractions. This enables the tour operator to deliver several attractions to the client and at the same time give value for money. This means that there are numerous other destinations that scheduled group travels cannot take you to. This is where friends come in.
Once you identify a destination, you can now engage your trusted tour operator. A good tour operator will improve on your plan, advice on a better time to visit a particular destination, suggest ways to reduce costs, and help come up with a juicy itinerary while providing the necessary travel expertise. There are also tour operators that list packages on their websites that can be taken up by an organized group. When you do one trip together, it will become a routine. You can now list down a travel bucket list with the group and work around it with your tour operator.
If you weren’t lucky to bring together an army of friends, you can try it out with your family. Having travelled to various destinations with groups, you are enlightened on many aspects. It is now your time to apply your knowledge and shine amongst your family members. Many families have been undertaking private travels. Because of the high number of family members, it becomes a form of group travel. This means that cost of activities becomes low and it’s easy to agree on various travel ideas.
When gathering friends and rallying your family together for a travel plan becomes a nightmare, you can make your social media useful. Do a post on Face book, Instagram or Twitter; mention a destination you want to go and invite interested people to contact you. It will be a surprise to you to learn how many people are looking forward to such a pioneer. When you have them together, sell your plan to them and engage your tour operator for insights and easier planning.
When you look around the internet and can’t get a new or good scheduled group travel plan, do not feel like your exploring life has come to an end. There are ways to keep the fire burning. Solo travel is also an option, but if you are not a backpacker or a hitch hiker, costs will always be a problem. Next time you are on that group trip, make friends and bring them closer. You can always share your future travel plans with them to know who would be interested. The point is, don’t let your travelling spirit die when you exhaust scheduled group travel plans.
The beautiful world awaits………