30+ day trips?

[ap517]

have any of you done trips longer than 30 days? How were they?

I'm looking at longer trips in India, Africa, S America (various companies). Aside from school trips to Asia and Central America with my friends, I've never done group travel. I did a 3-week Euro contiki trip a few years ago. I know that is a poor comparison for g adventure trips but it's the only experience I have with group travel. I've traveled abroad anywhere from 6 weeks to several months to Europe on my own or with friends and was able to split apart for an afternoon or days which saved our relationship but being with the same 10-15 people for 2 months...yikes!!

I know there are heaps of opps to separate from the group but knowing me I'll head out on the safari and never return. haha! But with Africa and India I feel I need to be with a group. I can probably do South America alone. I'm also pretty shy and am somewhat of a wallflower so I really enjoy solo travel. I mean I guess I can always do shorter 2-3 week trips with alone time in between but it's cheaper to book it all together and the longer trips cover more ground than the shorter trips.

[markmol]

Hi
with the tours with G the longer tours a usually a combination of a few shorter tours, you get some people on the tour for the whole trip, some people only on the trip for 7 to 10 days & will pickup other people at various locations. I did a tour in East africa & there was plenty of free time to have quality time with oneself.

[IncaTrail50]

I agree with Mark...the tours are usually combo trips. Any trip we've done has changed throughout as major cities were reached. And don't be concerned with being a wallflower. The tours are amazingly diverse! Some people NEVER speak! Some are NEVER quiet! Due to the optional parts of the tours the dynamic changes. Day 2 five of us take in the optional activities, day 3 seven of us, day 4 all of us, day 5 only 2 of us, etc. Sometimes a few of us hide in our rooms and avoid the group. No one is ever offended. And what a wonderful group we have and what great travel stories we hear! Don't worry about being with the same group for two months. Chances are it won't happen that you stay with the same people for that time...but you just might meet some GREAT new friends among the travelers coming and going!

[ap517]

Ok thanks for everyone's responses. I'm doing a 3 week tour next week to Egypt and Jordan so I can gauge the rest of my trips from that in terms of length, how much free time there is, etc. I didn't realise the longer trips were shorter trips combined.

[Zuleika]

I too get what I term "peopled out`' where I just need to be away from everyone for a few hours. I then have an early night by myself, or opt out one of the trips to do my own thing for a few hours, then Im good to go again. On my last safari I stayed in camp whilst everyone went out for a drive. I had a chance to do my laundry, re-sort my backpack and lie in the sun reading for a few hours by myself which was wonderful.
I also always take an iPod, so on long truck days if I don't feel like talking or company I just zone out with some music or a podcast etc.
Most trips I have made some wicked travelling mates who I have stayed in touch with and travelled again on other trips.

[georginal]

I'd agree, you need to create some "me time" on a lot of these trips. I've always personally gone for a mixture of tours and solo travel. My last big trip was Africa, which was a months volunteering in SA, followed by a solo trip down the Garden Route to Cape Town , then the G Cape Town to Nairobi, which was obviously a full blown tour. Don't be shy of opting out of excursions either if you have other stuff you want to see or get the chores done or just be lazy for a bit!

[TravelFun]

I'm with everyone...make sure you have some 'me' time and feel free to do your own thing. The longest I've spent on a single group trip was for 5 weeks which was long and alot of people started opting out of group dinners so to have their own time. The group did most things together in the day and it was great fun...but sometimes you just need time-out.

Happy Travels!

[ap517]

Ok thanks! Good to know I'm not the only one who needs their me time. I do like to and want to be social but need that me time so don't want to be the only one staying in or opting out of adventures!

[johnedward]

I visited in lots of countries for spend vacations. Last year I was in Thailand with my friends and stayed around 40 days there. I travelled all near by countries of Thailand such as Malaysia, Singapore and Philippines.

[johnedward]

I am totally agreed with you as I really love to make tour to different countries. Me and my friends had gone to Europe last to last year and really enjoyed staying there. We are 11 people including me and had so much of fun in that tour.