G Adventures focuses on providing an authentic experience with low prices, avoiding lavish hotels and expensive western-style meals. They offer inclusions such as hotels, transportation, activities, and activities. The tour price is fair at $1,600, which works out to about $100 per day. The tour is ideal for solo travelers who want to meet like-minded people, but it may be more expensive if planned.
Tips are not included in the tour price and are at the discretion of the tour leader. The focus is on adventure and seeing the country on a limited budget. G Adventures recommends that the tour leader receives about $25 per week. The base cost of a 40-day G-Adventures Africa Overland Tour is $5,300 USD.
G Adventures is recommended for travelers looking for a tour with a limited budget, as it emphasizes the interaction with local communities and cultural experiences. The tour leader is expected to earn about $25 per week. The goal is to spend about $10,000 on 2-3 months of travel, staying in reasonably priced accommodations using Airbnb.
📹 Solo vs Group Travel | Is It Worth Paying for an Organized Tour Service?
How much to tip adventure guides?
The average tip for an outdoor or backcountry guide is 10-20% of the tour cost per person, depending on the level of service provided. The tip is given at the end of the tour and follows the tipping guideline for guided tours in the United States. If the owner of a guide service is the tour guide, they are tipped according to the same guidelines. References are provided for further information.
Who is G Adventures owned by?
Bruce Poon Tip, founder of G Adventures, is an award-winning small group adventure travel company and pioneer of community tourism. Born in 1990, he started the company at 22 to bridge the gap between backpacking and mainstream travel. Today, G Adventures is the world’s largest small group adventure travel company, with 28 offices worldwide. The company hosts 200, 000 travelers annually and offers over 750 tours to 100 countries across all seven continents.
In 2003, Bruce founded the Planeterra Foundation, a nonprofit that uses the tourism supply chain to channel travelers’ money into underserved communities worldwide. G Adventures continues to grow and contribute to social good and wealth distribution.
What age group is G Adventures for?
G Adventures tours have age restrictions, with most trips having no upper age limits, except for 18-to-Thirtysomethings tours. Travelers with pre-existing medical conditions must complete a medical questionnaire. Family Adventures are open to families with children aged 6-17, while standard adventures are open to children aged 12 or older when accompanied by a parent. Most trips do not have a single supplement, meaning accommodation is on a twin share basis.
Some tours have optional single supplements or rarely a mandatory single supplement. An optional service called “My Own Room” allows solo travelers to request their own private room while on tour. The cost and details vary by trip, so refer to each trip summary page for more information.
What is G for good G Adventures?
G for Good is a company that focuses on making travel a force for good, promoting social, environmental, and ethical good. It focuses on building meaningful relationships with local communities and directly benefiting the people and places we visit. The company’s definition of community tourism extends beyond destinations to include employees, suppliers, agents, small business owners, customers, social followers, and travelers.
G for Good is what makes G for Good unique and has been a commitment to making travel a force for good since its establishment over three decades ago. The company’s Responsible Travel Policy can be read in full.
Is G Adventures the same as Gap Adventures?
G Adventures, co-founded in 1990 by Anita Voth and Bruce Poon Tip, is an operator of small-group escorted tours based in Toronto, Canada. The company has 28 offices worldwide and focuses on travel. It partners with the National Geographic Society to create a program of 80 tours called National Geographic Journeys with G Adventures. The name Gap Adventures stands for “Great Adventure People” and “bridging the gap” between backpacking and other types of travel. The company’s name was inspired by their encounters while working at the Toronto office of Australian tour operator, Worldwide Adventures.
What size luggage is allowed on G Adventures?
From May 2020, All G Adventures tours in Japan use the Shinkansen bullet trains, which have a luggage size restriction of less than 160cm. This is the size most airlines consider “carry-on baggage” and allow in overhead storage compartments. It is recommended to bring a day pack or backpack for the day. On Day 2, you will collect your JR Pass in Tokyo and board a bullet train for Kanazawa. The evening is yours to explore or attend a dinner with the group.
What does CEO stand for in G Adventures?
CEOs are the backbone of G Adventures, leading customers on adventures and connecting travelers of all ages with the world. They can change people’s lives by connecting remote communities with the economic benefits of the global tourist chain. As a CEO, you can explore the world, take a group of travelers on life-changing trips, and earn a significant income while having the time of your life.
Is baggage size strict?
Airlines typically allow one checked bag and one carry-on bag, with a weight limit of 50 pounds and size restriction of 62 linear inches. Overweight, oversize, or additional baggage can be allowed for additional fees, which can be expensive. It is crucial to know the exact details of your airline’s checked baggage restrictions to avoid unnecessary fees. Checked luggage may be opened for airport inspection, and if locked, the lock may be broken. To avoid potential damage, use a TSA approved lock.
Is a backpack carry-on size?
When choosing a backpack for your vacation, consider factors such as size, comfort, organization, and material. For flights, choose a smaller backpack measuring no more than 18 x 14 x 12 cm. Comfort is crucial, as wide shoulder straps, waist straps, and padded back panels make them more comfortable for long periods. Modern backpacks come with spacious interior compartments, multiple exterior pockets, water bottle holders, laptop compartments, and tech pouches. Choose a material that best meets your needs, such as leather or canvas.
Packing light is essential to avoid overweight or excess baggage fees. You don’t need to pack different outfits for every day of your vacation, and you don’t need seven pairs of shoes. Planning your vacation wardrobe before leaving home will make your trip more enjoyable, and you can style multiple outfits from four or five well-thought-out pieces. Mastering the art of packing light will help you avoid overweight or excess baggage fees.
How much should you pay a tour guide?
The gratuity rate for guides should be around 10-20% of the total trip cost, with an appropriate tip for a guide between $50 and $100. If you’re paying $500 for a day or two of guided rock climbing, it’s important to tip even on pricey trips. Canadian guide Holly Walker suggests factoring in a 10-20% tip based on the total trip price into your initial budget to reduce the shock factor. For example, for a $5, 000 trip, you’d tip $500 to $1, 000 to be split among the guides. This helps to ensure a smoother and more enjoyable experience for all involved.
What is a normal tip for a guided tour?
The Tipping Guide published by the website About. com suggests that tour guides should receive a tip of 10-20% of the tour cost. However, it is important to note that the gratuity should be commensurate with the level of service provided.
📹 What I Spent in a Month Traveling Africa | G Adventures Group Tour
Planning a trip to Africa can be confusing to Budget. There is not a lot of information online on how much you will spend traveling …
I have done both. I was in my thirties when I took my first organised trip – it was intrepid – I had always travelled solo and loved everything about it. Normally the planning stage was the longest and I spent ages preparing for a new trip. This time, I was exhausted. I had been working too hard to plan a trip, I desperately needed a break but had no brain space for planning one. Booking an intrepid trip through Thailand was the best thing I could have done for myself.
I think the “drama” on a group tour is entirely dependent on the size of the group as well as the age of the people. There is also plenty of privacy, which is what I love about group travel. All in all, I much prefer it. You see WAYYY more of the local culture and sights on a group tour than you ever would on your own. G Adventures is awesome.
For my last few international trips, my family and I booked a private tour guide at each of our destinations. You get the best of both worlds. This includes a local guide who is very knowledgeable about the area (guides are usually native to the area) and can make recommendations re: food, theatre, etc. As far as itineraries and sites, the private tours offer some preplanned lists, but they also offer flexibility in terms of adding/deleting sites from a list and deciding when to visit particular sites. They know the must-see sites and can recommend other places/things to do off the beaten path. And they can allow you some extra time at a site for photos or buying souvenirs. Most offer private transportation as well. And when you’re done for the day, you’re free to do what you want, whether eating somewhere or just hanging out or shopping. There are also some drawbacks. You still have to be ready at a certain time in the morning to meet the guide. (I think you should start at a set time in order to maximize your time on the ground there.) Sometimes, you’ll get tour guides who don’t know the area or the history as well as they should. Additionally, because private guides are usually paid by the hour, you feel rushed and pressured to make the most of your time there. For booking flights and hotels, you’re on your own. For safety reasons, I will never travel solo internationally, even if I have a private tour guide. The only times I will travel solo are when I’m in the U.S. and when I travel to cities I’m relatively comfortable with (this includes visiting friends I know there).
I love planning my own trips, the only reason why I would ever consider an organized tour is for the sake of company because I don’t think I’ll have fun on my own. Part of the fun for me is sharing the experience and I can’t imagine having fun solo. Side note: you must be a mind reader man because this is exactly what I’ve been contemplating recently
1) these are my 2 favorite tour companies because they are Responsible, Sustainable and give back to the local communities. That is one of my top reasons why I would choose to support them first before looking into any others. ( you forgot to mention that) 2) Having said that, I have yet to experience either one of these, but I plan to. – So yes, I will but I am on the older crowd side and don’t qualify for the rustic trips for the younger crowd (unfortunately because a would love to stay in a (glass) windowless hut on a beach any day! 3) I am used to doing travel planning all by myself and try to travel on a shoestring. However, never traveled alone. I always had a friend to do travel with. Now its not that easy to find a friend who has the same time off as yourself, so I would probably prefer a small tour than go completely alone. Yeah, cuz that is kind of boring. 4) Cost/convenience/ hassle : Sometimes you look at a tour package and think “Woah! that is so expensive! overpriced!, I can do it so much cheaper.” But could you really? Nickels and dimes add up. And if you really priced it out – apples to apples, you may find that there either isn’t much of a difference, and even may be cheaper If a tour company did all the work for you and carried the responsibility on their shoulders and not yours. So, its a toss up. If you love the research and love spending hours and hours putting everything together, like airport transfers, tours, your whole itinerary, and you really value your freedom.
I do both 🙂 My niece is stationed in Germany so I went and stayed with her for a month & a half. On the weekends I would go with her and her husband and during the week while they were working I would go on my own it was amazing. Being a woman I agree with you safety is a factor but if you travel smart you’ll be ok. Use a wrist wallet or something that hooks into your bra. Backpacks are for a water bottle & souvenirs:) Save money where you can so you can spend on a cab for safety if you are stuck somewhere and it got late!
Great article! 😊I did Central America with G Adventures and it was amazing! I totally agree with your pros and cons (though we didn’t have much drama, which is really good considering we were travelling together for 1 month), but ultimately the pros won out for me. There was so much I ended up doing that I wouldn’t have without the tour- either because I wouldn’t have known about it or it wouldn’t have appealed to me without deeper investigation eg. doing a cave tour of ATM in Belize or climbing a volcano in Guatemala. On the tour they had people visit our hostel to discuss these activities in more depth so we could make an informed decision. Plus, I just felt so much safer! Even when I went out to do things on my own (we had quite a lot of freedom during the days) I knew if anything happened to me or I went missing, someone would notice and raise the alarm. Privacy is a big thing for me and I am someone who needs alone time, which can be hard on group tours, but I still found time to do it. Admittedly really long group tours can be a bit draining for people who aren’t super social (like me), but I found it was just about setting boundaries and pushing yourself to take those few hours here and there where you just rested up on your own and did nothing. Even people who were very social had to do that at times. There are certain places I will never go in a group tour (E.g Europe because it is pretty easy to travel through and I feel confident/comfortable with how things work), but a group tour is a really great option for places that are a little more out of my comfort zone 😊.
I actually just got back from doing my FIRST solo group tour with EF GoAhead Tours to Italy (who I’d highly recommend) and it was the BEST experience of my life! I met some really awesome people! Group size was about 24-25 ppl, although I prefer a size around 16 at most, but I still had a blast! Everyone was awesome…no catty behavior. Luckily for us, there was no getting up at 4am to head to a site..lol. The earliest time was 7:30am which I can manage..lol. Although I had traveled internationally on a few occasions with others, I wasn’t yet ready to take the full leap to traveling somewhere completely alone so I opted for a solo group tour thru EF GoAhead which gives you balanced time with visiting sites with your group as well as having full free days on your own. For me, I just didn’t want the stress and responsibility of trying to plan out my itinerary for 10 days. Not only that, but there was a lot that I wanted to see in Italy and in general, you will see more sites on a group tour. There was no single supplement to pay as the tour was geared specifically for solo travelers. We started in Venice, then headed to Florence and ended in Rome. But I extended my trip for an extra 2 days so when my group departed from Rome, I was all by myself in Italy and made my way down to the Amalfi Coast to Positano were I had booked an overnight stay and made my way back to Rome. It was an AMAZING experience! A little intimidating but adventurous at the same time. I realized during my time with my tour group in Florence and Rome, I found myself exploring those cities on my own.
Great article Ernest with great points I personally did not like the G Adventures SE Asia trip because I thought we moved way too fast to really enjoy any of the sites. As a predominately solo traveler, I do constantly worry about my safety (and I’m a pretty big dude), however, there is also a rush I get when I get off of a plane or bus in an unknown area. I think both experiences (solo and group travel) are valuable to have so that you can get an idea of the type of traveler you are.
Thanks man for this helpful article! Been researching all over the net but you helped me narrow down what to do. It was when you mentioned solo travel good if your going to visit few places or it’s walking distance vs. using group tours if you want to see more further away places. Excited to try G Tours for first time!
I am solo traveller as well. Agree with what you said. Also want to add, booking anything solo can be tough (even g or interpret). They can ask for solo premium, last min cancellation or changes before trip starts (G adventure, not necessarily bad change but it made me super nervous). When travelling with tour and if you cannot deal with your random snoring mate, it will cost you a lot more to switch room. Lastly, even G adventure is a Toronto founded company, but there are a lot of Australian travellers. I travelled with G and 2/3 of my group are Australian.
There was a time when I would plan all my tours, mostly because I had a set person or place to see. My last vacation to Australia and New Zealand was with Trafalgar tours and I totally would use a guided tour again if it is a place I am not familiar with or if I want special access to hard to get to places or just don’t want to hassle all the planning.
Although it’s not as complex as international travel, the solo vs group discussion should also be considered for ski trips. Quite often it’s significantly cheaper with a group, just need to find one going to the resort on your list and see if the dates work. They sometimes even have lodging options too, Ie; ski in/out ($$$) or off property ($). On that note, can you do a review of hotel cards that can be redeemed at resort locations? Marriott’s 3 locations in Park City do not qualify for the annual night (which is only for cat 1-5). IHG & Hyatt are great keeper cards, but my family are only interested in ski destinations. Just a thought for a future article, thanks! Keep up the great content.
I’m venturing off to Greece later this year as a solo traveler. I’ve never been there and have always wanted to go. As a kid, my mother, her sister, a cousin and I spent about 3 weeks on a bus tour of Europe and then a month with a Eurail pass. Very brave of Mom considering this was back in 1973 and English was not spoken that much in Europe! I found an apartment .1 miles from the Acropolis and I plan to spend a long time looking at the ruins and recalling my college history courses. I can do that as a solo traveler. I don’t like to be hurried. Tours were just too expensive. Right now, I’m planning other things I want to do and see. Anyone ever seen Delphi? I want to, but am unsure of the +$100 price tag. Thanks!! Great article, as always, Ernest!
Yeah, the negatives of group travel are why I don’t do that more often. I’m planning to take one to Israel and will go with a group (2 are on my list depending on my circumstances)but I will pay extra for single occupancy. I’m there for the trip not to hear someone’s life story (there is one in every group, lol).
I’m from Malayisa and I’ve been travelling with my family to other Southeast Asian countries, China (group trip) and UK(itenerary planned by my sister who studies over there). The reason I dislike group tours is food waste. We had our meals together and the portion is just too large for us. It makes me sick when I see roughly 40% of food is left uneaten. Besides, I do not have a good time taking photographs. Sometimes it takes more time composing the shots, but you gotta move.
You can see more solo but you can experience more in a group. I feel like if you’re going somewhere significantly different to where you spend more of your days in the year then you should do group. Price difference is negotiable if you’re getting scammed / up charged or wasting time figuring out what to do next.
Last year I travelled with TrekAmerica. It was awesome. They have really small groups (about 5-10 people, maximum is 13). So it was all really personal. This year I think about going to NZ with Gadventures… some people just told me that the groups are really big and it isnt personal at all… it is just always the same with each group… now I dont know… is Gadventures a good way to travel with young people (I am 19) ??
Hi Trip Astute. back in November of 2014 me and my cousin went with a tour group called Globus. we flew from either Newark or Logan airport into London’s Heathrow airport we stayed in London went to the office of Globus in one of the hotels in London. they went over the itenery with us. Things I liked about the tour group we got to talk about sports with other people they were telling me that there summer sport is cricket and I think he said they play 20 or so regular season games, we were telling him in the Us our summer sport is baseball and they play 162 games the guy that I was talking to was from Austrila or Austria ? I have my picture taken with a man his daughter is from Toronto in the photo he has a Maple leafs hoodie and I have a New York Rangers long sleeve shirt on. we went all over the country side of England we saw the sign of Birminingham where Black sabbath is from. your correct you meet a lot of people and see how they live by talking to them. Things I don’t like about tour groups we have to get up at 6:00 am NOT PM BUT AM we have to shower have breakfast the bus leaves at 7:30 am this is not a vacation. you have to do what the group want’s to do not what you want to do. Trip when you travel do you bring a hat of a sports team example La Kings, Toronto Maple leafs, New York Yankees, LA Dodgers, Philadelphia 76ers, Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Black Hawks?
I like to travel solo! It gives me FREEDOM! I’m free to do what I want, when I want. I make my own decisions too. And I meet lots of people because I talk to everyone. My articles are all about my journey in many countries, meeting people, adjusting, feeling at home anywhere and saving money too! Happy journey!
I have another question me and my cousin are suppose to be going on vacation in October my travel agent gave us a good deal on Ireland. I remember when Globus sent us a welcoming package. They mentioned in the package a lot of things 1 thing they mentioned that we have to have a pin in our credit cards is this still the same as it was in 2014?
Trip Astute Help I need help making vacation plans. Me and my cousin are looking to go on vacation from either November 3thrd or the 4th to the 9th or 10th. we first started looking at Universal in Florida, next he came up with group package with Globus to Ireland he only want’s to do a tour group in Ireland he doesn’t want to go on our own he want’s something like the 2 you suggested I called both company’s up and they said there are NO TOURS IN NOVEMBER Intrepid and G adventures. on our own my travel agent from Liberty said since were not driving Ireland wouldn’t be a good idea. she said Universal would be better. But we have no kids the park closes earlier . I called the Visa signature concierge service they came up with 2 places Alaska and Cancun perusal your article theres Panama and costa Rica. so for November 3thrd to the 10th any idea’s with a travel group no to far we don’t want to go to South east Asia or Thailand. in Ireland are there any other tour groups that you would recemond or basicly it would be the same as G adventures they don’t travel to Ireland at that time of year? any idea’s as a vacation to go on with tour groups?
I’m leaving this month, so excited! But I’m so on the fence on how much cash to bring… I’m going volunteering first for 2 weeks and won’t be able to keep an eye on my belongings at all times so I’m a bit nervous to bring a lot of cash. At the same time I know what a pain ATMs can be lol. How much cash did you bring of each currency, and would you recommend bringing rather less or more?