To go on an escorted/guided tour holiday age 43

[Mummiepig]

I want to travel the world and see the big sights, think African safari, tour of India, the americas etc
But I have a SEVERE lack of confidence, I’ve seen guided tours where they take you everywhere but DH says they will be full of elderly people and I should wait 20 years
But I want to go now!
Has anyone been on one of these? Am I too young in my 40’s
Please don’t say it’s easy to do it yourself because it’s not for me, I won’t even go to the toilet on my own in a place I’ve never been before!

I want DH to come with me, but he wants a lie on the beach type holiday (he’s not confident either) but I’m bored of those holidays I want to see stuff but have someone else show me the way!

Could you persuade him if it was a short trip? Just to try it out? Lots of companies do week long, or shorter, trips around Europe. Maybe if he tried one he might find he likes it and be up for further afield.

DH and I did west coast USA 10 days with Travelsphere many years ago before children. It was a real mix of ages, some retired, family with teens, 30, 40 year olds. We had the most fantastic trip. Vegas/grand canyon/palm springs/LA/San Francisco and other stops along way. Everything done for you and fab guide. Would love to do more one day.

I went to Russia on one of these aged 35. I was by far the youngest. The next were a couple in their 50s then all retired people. It was brilliant, I loved every moment and would do it again in a heartbeat. I think you need to pick your travel company well, according to my fellow travellers ours was particularly good. We had a historian guide, local guide and a tour manager who took care of logistical points. It was fab! Go for
It.

I meant to say, peoples ages had no impact whatsoever. We all got on great and shared wine in the evenings chatting and I still see a few from time to time.

Totally, Go for it!

I went on an escorted holiday, aged 28, around Italy. Sure, there were much older people on the buses but I instantly had 40 people looking out for me and their stories truly enthralled me. My "companion" was a 60 year-old former Latin teacher and she was a true wealth of knowledge and the others very friendly. I got a
Lot out of the trip.

We went to Thailand on a guided tour, we had a private one but met often with a group of 6, age range between 14-40 (2 families and two couples). The guide showed us things we would never looked at ourselves.

A colleague did a guides tour in South America, that was specifically for able people as it included mountain trails, she was in her early forties.

Another colleague did lots of gides historic tours, Egypt, Greece, Jordan, Morocco.That was with a company specialised in these topics and he was in his forties as well.

You need to look closely but they are companies out there.

I don’t think there is such a thing as a guided tour all over a whole continent or country. So you pretty much have to go there by yourself and you can book individual guided tours to certain places such as remote or not-so-easily-reached areas, like up in high mountains or the jungle. You can travel all over the rest of the country yourself on local buses or trains or just hire a car, you book your accomodation in advance, look up places you want to see and things you want to do. Nowadays travelling can be very easily planned and executed because of the internet. I can’t imagine how people travelled -especially solo female travellers- before the internet. I know they did but it must have been so much more difficult and time consuming.

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www.raildiscoveries.com/train-holiday-ideas/fly-rail/?TelRef=EB1&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Great%20Rail%20Journeys&utm_campaign=771040_Fly%3ARail%202019%20-%20Multi%20Tour%20%28A%29&dm_i=3KUX,GIXS,6MCI2,1RKCO,1
we are going to book our 4th journey so far done Norway, Andalucía (Spain), & the Italian Discovery, on the Italian one there was a 30 something daughter with her mum & the journey required fairly active people! as a group people did help each other but not in the way your dh means! but because we mixed as a group older fragile people don't tend to do the more active trips. The couriers are great they organise & gather you together & on the days where you don't have formal tours they help & advise you - these tours stay in hotels together rather than splitting you up & you eat together as well - On our Spain journey some of our group travelled on Monarch & it collapsed so the head office & courier made sure that those affected got another plane on the same day as they were due to go home - I think it was an hours difference. While some issues (& the complexity of the Italian trip it was hardly surprising - train time changes caused by Italian Rail) the courier sorted them out & made sure we were all OK including finding loos! They tend to be a bit more expensive than some but read the feed back

DH & I went on one to India in our late 20s. We weren't the only ones, the group was a mixture of couples in their 60s, their 20s and a few 20-something singletons. We all had a great time.

My fun colleague who is in her 50s recommends ‘Just You’ and ‘Cox and Kings’ for solo travel.

I can recommend exodus for a younger crowd.

I've just come across these: www.exodus.co.uk/exodus-edits

I'm due to go with them on a different holiday later this year. Customer service has been fab so far!

www.exodus.co.uk/exodus-edits

Have a look at Dragoman. I think you'd be about the middle of their usual age group.

Done 8-9 trips with intrepid - really mixed age group and good fun. Good for it!

• go for it

We did 2 tours of Italy, different areas, in our mid-sixties. Two thirds were over 60, but each had a good sprinkling of 40-60s.

After 40 years of organising other people, it was great to have someone else organising us.

We used Riviera (highly rated by Which), and were very pleased.

There are lots of good options from other posters but I’d recommend your first step be going to see a couple of independent travel agents who sell a variety of tours and ask their advise, get some brochures etc to look though.

Once you’ve narrowed your choice down a little do some reading of reviews of each company to get a better feel for them. Note some of the cheaper companies will use hotels well outside the city centres - if your budget allows choose one that has more central properties as that gives you some flexibility to wander about when you have some free time. Also look for a company that has smaller groups - being on a coach with 50 others isn’t much fun. Again, if budget allows, smaller groups with 15-20 is ideal.
Good luck OP- you will have a fab holiday!

Thanks some great advice! Will look into it some more

We have gone on guided tours in our 30s and were not the youngest. Check out All Points East. Their tours are amazing!!

Explore and Exodus both have an average age of over 50, but there's normally a couple per group under that.

Intrepid skews a bit younger, more 30 - 50 I think although again there's a range. All would do the type of trip you're looking for but if you'd prefer a group closer to your age then I'd recommend Intrepid.

Another one to look at is G Adventures

Thanks OP your thread has given me the kick I need to decide to book my first solo holiday.

Agree that age depends on the tour operator and destination. I went one age 22 and most were around our age plus and older couple or two. Most will tell you the age/groups of those already booked on, so if you book more last minute then you can pick your group so to speak.

Look at Explore, Exodus and KE Travel. I did Exodus to Morocco on my own for 3 weeks and loved it.