"I don’t like group tours."
Well I don't blame you.
Crammed in a hot, double-decker tour bus, numbly spilling out “the next site” wearing matching ball caps or stickers with cruise ship names, fumbling with headphones and trying to catch up with your speed-walking tour guide waving a giant, yellow sunflower…bummer.
So what is OUR
small group tour philosophy?
MOBILITY. ACCESSIBILITY. CONNECTION.
MOBILITY - There are more ways for your SMALL groups to access the forbidden, than there are for solo travellers or larger groups. Squeeze your way past the larger groups in longer lines, get the last few seats front and center at the Medieval jousting festival. Even the best truffle hunting doggy stays better focused when followed by 8, rather than a forest stampede of 24 newbies. When you’re just 12 travelers, you can ride with the vintner in a minivan, down a narrow country road, for lunch at the his farmhouse. Instead of riding a crowded ferry to the islands, 10 of you can crew alongside the captain as you sail sail the sunny coastlines and stop for a swim, wherever you decide. Sneak in a church’s back door or blend in the sunny piazza! Nope, no double decker bus for you.
ACCESSIBILITY - It’s easier, with just a FEW of you, to join the pick up soccer game and have a panino at Fratellini in Florence. 10 is just right for a private, relaxing Apperitivo Party in the art gallery or the artisan's studio. Need to duck in the local Town hall for your great grandmother's birth certificate? No problem with a small group. Take the back road to the hidden thermal spring. Impromptu cooking class at the chef’s house if the hike is postponed for a summer shower. Of course you’ll stand shoulder to shoulder with him, smelling the fragrant rising aromas. And go ahead, quiz your local guide about Etruscan life until your heart’s content. He’s with you for lunch, and this isn’t a crowded lecture hall.
CONNECTION - You won't be just ANOTHER ONE in the mass of tourists and diss-jointed tourism. In a smaller group you won’t be viewed as a tourist, an outsider looking in, but you will be met as a new friend. Another benefit of good small group travel is the time and space to achieve another level of connection, not only with the world and others that surround you, but also with yourself. So come home feeling you've just shared a special journey with new friends - and also had a moment to reconnect with your oldest friend, yourself.
"A journey is best measure din friends, rather than miles." -T. Cahill
