What is the best company to go travelling with, have you herd of contiki is it really good, theres sta travel?

Question

do you get accomadation? how does it work?

Answer 1

Depends how old you are and where you want to go. You'll be with a group and basically you have a coach, tour guide and tour around europe, oz, the us etc on a set itinerary.
So if you don't like the group you're with, you're stuck with them for the duration of the tour, and if you like a city then you can't decide to stay in one place longer as everything is planned out and is set in stone.
You get different levels of accomodation depending on if you do a basic tour and do camping or pay more for backpacker hostels or hotels.
You may end up sharing with someone you don't get along with, although it may be a good way to meet people if you are by yourself.
Personally i'm not keen on tours and would rather travel independently, but i can see why some people enjoy them as you don't have to organise anything yourself.
Not sure about sta travel. A friend of mine had a nightmare with them, they managed to not book her flight correctly and it caused her major stress trying to get it sorted out.
Whatever you decide i hope you have an excellent time.

Answer 2

Hello!

As the previous posts say, Contiki does tours in Europe, New Zealand, Australia, and North America specifically for people 18-35. I went on a Contiki this summer for two weeks in Europe and had an awesome time. It was so much fun and very nice not to have to worry about planning all the little details. I was a little worried about not knowing the other people and not having enough free time to explore the cities, but I made a lot of new friends and had more than enough free time! With 40-50 people on the tour with you, the odds that you won't like anyone is pretty rare.

The way it "works" is you'll choose what tour you want to take and Contiki will send you all the information about it. You can choose a Superior or Budget tour, depending on how much you want to spend. A Superior tour is hotels, and Budget is more camping and Contiki-owned properties. What comes with your package is the transportation on the coach from place to place, all the lodging, and some meals. It'll detail in your itinerary what is included. From there, you can choose whether or not you want to do Optional Excursions which is additional money. Some of these are things like fancy dinners, a show at the Moulin Rouge, white water rafting, a gondola ride, bungee jumping, etc. Flights are not included, but you can book them through Contiki's website if you want.

I definately recommend a Contiki trip. I'm going on another one this summer to New Zealand and can't wait. Check out www.contiki.com for all the info. You can post questions and talk with other Contiki travellers and see what they think about their trips as well.

I wrote a blog about my trip in Europe, feel free to read it at:
http://kathryn-contiki.blogspot.com/

I hope that answers your questions about Contiki! Feel free to send me an email if you have any other questions at [e-mail] .

Happy travels!

Answer 3

Unless STA has changed, they only do travel packages not the actual tours. They can get you good priced flexible fares if you are young or a student, and I always found them to be helpful with good customer service. STA can probably help you compare touring companies for the places you want to go and help you book one if you like.

I have not done Contiki personally but have never heard anything bad about it from those that have. It should be a great way to get organized travel if you are not keen on making all the arrangements and decisions yourself, and since it is aimed at younger people it includes lots of adventure and outdoors type activities instead of just museums and boring things.

There are lots of local contractors for touring as well (mostly aimed at younger people), such as Oz Experience in Australia or Kiwi Experience in NZ or the Green Bus in USA. The different companies operate differently, some will book accomodation for you and others may make recommendations or tell you their preferred stop and then you book it yourself. Most will also recommend and assist with booking activities. So it is more structured touring than going it on your own; however, many of these are also 'hop on, hop off' entities so if you want to stay somewhere on the route longer or take a route deviation on your own, you can then schedule to jump on one of the next buses coming through and continue at your own pace. I'm not sure that Contiki does this, I'm pretty certain those are scheduled tours only.

Answer 4

Contiki is a tour operator that specializes exclusively in travel for18-35 year olds. If you're in that age group, you'll have a wonderful travel experience, as you'll be with other travelers your own age as well as the tour guides.

If your not in that age group, look to Globus, Brendan, Central Holidays and Central Holidays - to name just a few. These are all first-class, financially secure tour operators.

Have a good time planing your vacation.

Answer 5

I would think about it, if you don't like the people your with, are you going to have to stay with them the whole time? I hope you do have a great holiday, though

Answer 6

I like travelocity. If you are age 55 or older join aarp they have great offers plus they use travilocity.