- Take a Tour!!!
I cannot — and I mean cannot — stress this enough. The second you get to your location — take a dang tour. Find a tour that’s going to give you a good overview of wherever you’re staying. Find one that’s going to give you a taste of the culture there. Tours can be expensive but at the end of the trip at least you’ll know you had at least one truly riveting, enriching and exciting adventure.
Do something that scares you, interests you, makes you feel alive and everything in between. Lord knows, you can shop at the gift shops and sightsee when you’re done. With a tour under your belt, you’ll know exactly what you want to go back and look at. You’ll learn about and see things you wouldn’t have otherwise gotten the chance too.
- Buy your excursions off the cruise ships.
This one is a bit of a double-edged sword. When you buy tours off the ship, there is a chance that the tour you want – for the time you want – won’t be available when you get there. So if you’re worried about that and don’t mind spending some extra dough, go ahead and purchase your tickets through the cruise ship.
However, when you buy your tours off the cruise ship, more often than not, the cruise ships rack up the prices to make a commission. Chances are your ship will charge you a pretty penny more than the tour business selling the same tickets on the docks. To avoid this problem, I’d recommend waiting to buy.
While sometimes they don’t have enough tickets available, tour companies are pretty good about meeting the demands of the tourists. That’s what they’re there for after all.
- Find a local
Not sure what tour to take? Where to eat? Where to shop? What to look at? Locals are your best shot at finding out all the dirty deets. They’re gonna point you in the direction of things really worth your while.
Tourist destinations are full of tourist traps. So find someone who lives there year round to get the inside scoop.
- Talk to your tour guide
Tour guides are awesome. They’re funny and they know more than you. Pick their brains for the short time you get to spend with them. They are stock full of inside information that they want to give out.
Seriously, ask questions. The more you talk to your tour guide and ask them questions, the more you are going to get from the experience.
Tour guides are quite literally a database of information and not to mention an endless supply of interesting and hilarious stories. I’m certain they don’t have time to tell you everything they know, so if you’re curious about something, speak up.
- Tip! Your! Guides!
This one is just the right thing to do. Similar to servers, most tour guides work off tips. Not tipping them, especially for a good experience, is about the biggest slap in the face you can give.
If you are on a large tour bus, a tip of anywhere from $5-10 is plenty. Even a couple dollars is better than nothing if you’re able.
If you’re taking a more personalized tour ,such as a hummer tour, zipline or kayaking tour, my rule of thumb is to tip at least $20. I know tours are expensive but you should always keep in mind that your guide isn’t seeing any of what you paid for the tour. So you should factor a tip into the price in your head before you commit to buying.
- Write a review
Tripadvisor is a great place to pick out good tours as well as give recognition to good tour companies and guides.
Your guides also probably won’t tell you this, but lots of companies pay their guides for each five star review they get on Tripadvisor. So if you can’t afford to give a tip, the least you can do is write them a good review. Make sure you include your tour guide’s name, though, so they get credit.
I know sometimes it’s hard to remember and seems like extra, unnecessary work, but I promise you those five or so minutes you spend writing your guide a review will really help them out as well as make their day.
As much fun as tours are to go on, I can tell you they’re even more fun to give. If you’ve ever considered guiding, I seriously recommend you look into seasonal work. Tours are all around an incredible experience for everyone involved. 🙂
Sierra Sage 