[getbak]

I've done three: SW States, Europe, Australia.

I had a great time on all of them (obviously, or I wouldn't have done more than one).

The one I did in the States, I was young, wanted to take a trip somewhere, and wasn't sure if I'd be comfortable traveling alone, so that was my choice. Met a hot Aussie, had lots of fun.

Then, the European one, I again was traveling alone and didn't want to be lost somewhere in Germany knowing no one, so I figured it was a decent safety net.

Then, I chose them again in Australia because I priced out going to all the places I wanted to see separately, and the package price was a lot cheaper, all the places were pre-booked, and I didn't have to worry about driving on the wrong side of the road.


It's definitely a big-ass drunken party, but there were also people who didn't drink too much that seemed to enjoy themselves.


Because of the age group, there can be a lot of "high school" type drama between the boys and girls, which can be a bit annoying if you're older. I think you'll minimize that if you travel during the school year and do the "hotel" tours rather than the "camping" tours in Europe because you'll get a slightly older group who likely paid their own way rather than being on their parents' tab.

In Australia, they don't have the different levels of tours that they have in Europe, but they also generally stay in much nicer hotels in Australia than Europe. There were a couple of dodgy places in the Outback, but there wasn't a lot of choice there either.

In Europe, the hotels are either nice and far away from the main city, or crappy and close to the city...but I think that's probably typical of most hotels in Europe.


One good thing that they offer is if you're traveling solo, you can pay the "double occupancy" price and they'll pair you up with another solo traveler to share a room. In Australia, it's often 3 or 4 to a room, which is a little less comfortable. On my US tour, I got lucky and they had an odd number of guys, so I got a single room for the trip. I liked it so much, that I paid extra to have my own room in both Europe and Australia.

I think most of the solos who got paired up got along well, but there were a couple of people on my Euro trip who had problems not getting along with their room mates.

On the Aussie trip, because there were 3 or 4 to a room, a lot of them got put into small rooms with bunk beds. Because I paid extra, I usually had a Queen or King bed every night to myself (or, not to myself if it was a good night).


You definitely get into a rhythm on the trips...very little sleep in your room, but lots of sleep on the bus. Plenty of late nights drinking and dancing at the local clubs.

From my observation, the people who were solo travelers generally had a better time because you were able to break off into groups and find people who wanted to do whatever it was you wanted to do for the day. There were a few groups of girls traveling together and they seemed to have more tension because they weren't willing to go their separate ways, so if one member of the group wasn't having fun, none of them were.


There are a lot of Australians on the European tours, and a lot of Germans on the Australian tours, but everything is done in English, and most of the people on the trip can speak passable English (although, drunken Aussies can be hard to understand).

There were always a few Canadians on the trips I did, so you will meet people you have something in common with.

You also discover that the "ugly American" tourist stereotype is often very true.


If you're young and single and looking to hook-up, it shouldn't be a problem -- you don't even need to be particularly good looking. I believe my Euro trip had 6 or 7 couples by the end of it, and there were a few secret hook-ups that people didn't really know about too...and that was just among people on the trip.