In 2012 I took my family on our first European vacation. Before that we didn't really have the money for it but in 2010 I went contracting and was able to mass enough savings to spend on the trip and reward my spouse for being patient while I saved for it.
I planned the entire thing myself months in advance. Tours, hotels, transportation, the whole bit. It was a blast doing it and then seeing it all come to life. Granted, it was also a lot of work, but it was fun work. Thanks to the internet, there is no shortage of reviews and I was able to put together a nice trip. We flew to London and had an overnight layover there, which I combined with a day tour of the city. Then we flew to Rome, did a half-day tour, then hopped on a cruise ship that took us to parts of Italy, Greece, and Turkey. At each stop I used either the cruise company's excursions or private tours that I booked on my own. Upon the cruise's conclusion, I combined the transfer from the port to the airport with another day tour that visited some lakes and castles. It was a packed vacation and we had a great time.
Well, the spouse got the travel bug and most years after that we did a trip. Our passports picked up stamps from Spain, Costa Rica, Croatia, Mexico, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Thanks to contracting, I was able to do it while still making the mortgage. Except for Covid-19, where we took a year or two to do staycations. But each trip was a lot of work to plan.
Last year was the first time we did things differently. We had a travel agent take care of most of the planning by setting us up with a group tour with Globus [globusjourneys.com]. It was the Taste of Portugal trip, that spent a week visiting the north, central, and south areas of Portugal.
Pros
- I didn't have to think too hard once all the paperwork was done. The travel agent took care of arranging our flights and transfers. I didn't have to scour TripAdvisor and other sites looking for the best tours or hotels. There is some value in the peace of mind in handing it over to someone else.
- I didn't have to think too hard during the trip either. Similar to taking a cruise, most of the cost is borne up front. Once you're in the hands of Globus, you're on a pretty set schedule. You're not completely off the hook; Globus takes care of transportation and lodging during the tour, as well as opening and closing night dinners, and each hotel typically includes a complimentary breakfast buffet. You will be responsible for your own lunches, dinners on the remaining evenings, and any extra excursions you want to take. So I still had to do some planning to pick out things to do during afternoon free time and to find good restaurants.
- The guides they select are generally pretty good. They're multilingual and know the regions you're traveling in.
- Globus has been doing it a while, and they're pretty well organized. Communications are good; you'll get a steady stream of emails leading up to the departure day to remind you of what documents you need done and what you can do to prepare. Once the trip starts, you don't get much though, and some integration of the guide's notes and itinerary into a daily digest email would be kind of nice.
Cons
- Globus is in it to make money, as any good business should be. But some of their strategies broke down under duress, and you as the customer may feel it. I suspect Globus locks in costs by setting up long-term contracts with local providers such as hotels, restaurants, and local guides. That's smart and a good business strategy. But it affected our vacation in a couple ways; read on.
- You're set in the hotels you'll stay in. When I planned it myself, I could go cheaper or more expensive depending on the situation. If I just needed a clean, safe place to stay for a single night in-transit to another destination, I could go with something simple. Why pay for a five star set of amenities if you won't have time to use them? Globus put us up in decent hotels during the trip, so it's not a big deal, but if you're into min/maxing costs, you don't get a say here.
- The restaurants were where it made a bigger difference. The first dinner was at the same hotel where we were staying. This was a convenient and decent option that yielded a serviceable if not extravagant meal. But the final dinner was in a venue that I think they originally hoped would be special and it turned out to be less so. It was a fair drive from our regular hotel and we had to walk part way due to construction. Then the elevator access was limited and people had to wait a long time to get to the venue. It was at the top of a building and we were supposed to enjoy the view but the delays in getting everyone there meant we didn't all get to see it. This was in 2024, and while Globus had a contracted price, the restaurant was probably feeling the pinch of post-Covid inflation; it was clear they were cutting corners on the meal. Our options were fish or lamb, and the fish approached the thinness of the "meat" on a White Castle burger, and the lamb didn't look or taste like lamb. I can understand the restaurant's dilemma, but suffice to say, quite a disappointing last meal.
- We traveled from Porto to Agueda to Coimbra on the morning of the third day of the trip. Then on the fourth day, we traveled nearly halfway back to Porto to visit a winery in the morning, Wine before noon? Yes, but it's vacation, so whatever. Again, this stuff is probably locked in in advance, so you get what you get. If I'd been planning, I'd have gone to the winery around lunch time after Agueda and maybe arranged for heavier snacks to go with the wine tastings, then gotten into Coimbra in the late afternoon. The fourth morning could then be dedicated to a proper tour, and Coimbra was actually really cool, there were some neat things to see there that weren't formally part of the agenda that in my opinion should have been. Most of the time in Coimbra we were on our own.
- The final days in Lisbon were spent visiting three smaller towns. Each one had some charm and they were all worthy visits, but the last one, Cascais, was really beautiful and we only got an hour or two there. Would have liked more time at that one.
- One size fits all. In case you couldn't tell from the above points, the tour has to be pretty generic since 30+ people of all ages and backgrounds are brought together for the trip. The daily format is typically this and doesn't deviate much:
- Breakfast at hotel
- Guided tour or event in the morning
- Free time declared starting at lunch. You're typically on your own for lunch, afternoon activities, and dinner. There are optional excursions hosted by Globus if you want to purchase them. On this particular trip the excursions didn't really grab us so we walked the city and found good restaurants to visit.
There's nothing wrong with that but if you're used to tailoring things to the preferences of your family, you're out of luck unless you do some of your own planning in advance.
- The old joke says, "Hell is other people," but the people in a group tour can be both a blessing and a curse. When you throw 30+ strangers together on a bus, you're bound to come across someone that doesn't see eye-to-eye with you. Most of our crew was great, we met some nice people and had a good time. There was one guy that was quite vocal and complained about some things, and there were some who had mobility limits and probably wouldn't have been very good on high-adventure vacations, but none of that took away from our enjoyment.
