To book a tour or fly solo in SA?????

imgonnarun

Hi guys,

Would really appreciate some advise from any of you who have travelled SA especially females who have done it on your own!!
Ok story is - I have two months this coming summer that I hope to travel to SA for.
I have travelled a good bit before parts of Asia, Europe, OZ etc BUT always with friends or as part of a tour, I have used contiki and trek america in OZ and USA where I was travelling solo.

I have preliminarily booked this summers trip at mo, as in flights and the following tour with Tucan http://www.tucantravel.com/tour/map/tucan-explorer/ter I know I want to go to SA and booked this itinerary on impulse last week, it is on hold for me for a week.

Here's my issue - the general feeling Im getting about Tucan online is to avoid them! Have any of you travelled with them before? What are they like?
I appreciate that tours are dependant on what you make of them. My reasoning for going with a tour was security, the fact that i'l be travelling on my own, I have little spainish (learning it at the moment) no portuguese, You get to pack in alot etc
Also cost wise the tour is coming in just under 4500, and reading up it is apparently a lot cheaper to travel independently

Ive been thinking about just booking the flights and doing the itinerary of the above tour myself. Is this madness?? I have travelled a fair bit that I think Im ‘streetwise’ in all the obvious ways while travelling. What I’m afraid of is will I meet people to travel with? Will it be impossible with the language barrier? Is it cheaper? How hard is it for a female solo traveller??
Would appreciate any advice, should I do it on my own or book the tour???

(I had this post written out and net crashed just as I was posting it so not sure if it went through, don’t think it did but apologies if it did & thanks for reading )

solerina

I cant comment on Toucan specifically but as with all tours it will be more expensive than going it alone, however the plus side is you will probably get to see a lot more and it will be easy (no planning on your part)....so its really a personal choice !! Everyone will have their own idea as to what you should do... weigh it up, securirt of being part of a group and probably seeing more or independence and saving money ??

fichillie

I used Tucan in Asia, and found them fantastic for the China tour I did, and pretty ok for the Cambodia/Vietnam tour I did, which may have been more down to the size of the tour which was alot bigger (15/16ppl).

I'll be travelling SA as a solo female for 3 weeks this summer, 2 of which is on a tour and the other is week is organized by myself. I just like the convenience of not having to worry about anything while on a tour. what always worries me too is language barrier. I know you pay that bit more but for the hassle it might be worth it??

I'm doing my tour this time with g adventures, which ive heard good and bad things about, so I guess every tour is different!

deisePhil

It depends on what countries you are planning on visiting, but English is widespread in Chile and Argentina. Generally the poorer countries have the least english. I didn't have much spanish but it was rarely an issue. Only when your off the beaten track.
S.A can be scary at first but there is a pretty well established tourist trail. I was actually surprised at the number of solo females I met along the way. and none had had any problems. Just keeps your wits about you in the cities.
Tours can be booked easily and cheaply when your're there and gives you alot more freedom to do what you want to do and when. Organised tours are good for convenience but at 4500euro , it would want to be amazing.

imme

I'm a guy, I did both a tour and solo travel in South America.
I used GAP Adventures, now called G Adventures or similar, they were fine, but in retrospect expensive.

Organised trips usually include local travel costs, accommodation costs and some meals usually breakfast.

To have a guide is good if your use of local language is limited, but the schedule can sometimes be hard to get used to, ie the idea that you can't change it and that you're on a conveyor belt of sorts.

Generally you don't need good Spanish to survive in S America. Brazil can have it's moments re Portuguese.

There are some places off the big tourist routes where you'll find people who can't speak anything other than Portuguese and will think you odd if you ask them if they speak English, Spanish or French etc, Portuguese is all powerful in their mind!

If you travel solo and stay in hostels you should meet up with a crowd that you can hang around with and probably other solo travellers that will be going the same road as yourself.

Enjoy.

solerina

fichillie wrote: »

I'm doing my tour this time with g adventures, which ive heard good and bad things about, so I guess every tour is different!

I was on a G adventures tour for two weeks in Peru....couldnt sa a bad word about it, fantastic in every way !!! Enjoy

imgonnarun

Thanks for all your replies:) I think i'm going to scrap the tour, as deisiphil (I think) said above at that price it would really want to be amazing and the more I think about it 60 days is a long time if your stuck with a bad tour group/guide.. I'm going to go back to the drawing board and replan, maybe split the time part tour part solo and see how it goes.... I'll prob be back for more advise as the plans progress.... thanks!

doriansmith

Wise decision. Personally, I'd absolutely hate to do a tour like that. You'd have no freedom & if you don't like some of the people you're still stuck with them for 65 days. What if you arrive somewhere & love it & want to stay longer? No choice but to move on when you're on a tour.

I spent 4 months in South America in 2010, I wasn't alone but met plenty of people who were & they all managed fine. You've said you've travelled a lot and are streetwise, you'll be fine. And you'll meet plenty of people in hostels over there.

solerina

The only thing about doing a long tour is you wouldnt be stuck with the same people, they basically blend one tour into the next, sure there would be some people doing a lot of the 60 days but there would be others you would be with for a week or two...likewise with the guides, they change as you move along (i know someone who did a 6 week tour and this is how it worked for her)...Good luck with your DIY plans !!

ck086

You've made the right decision! I'm travelling solo in SA at the mo' and I'm female. Like you I was concerned at the start and wanted to book an ~80 day tour. I'm so glad I didn't now as I would've missed out on doing so much.

Sure, you do loads of activities with the tours, but they're not necessarily what you would pick to do yourself. And, every1 you meet tells you of a new place that you 'have to visit'

You meet tonnes of people in the hostels, sometimes you want to be alone but its just not possible Every1 is in the same frame of mind too so its easy to have things to chat about.

With the language.. I done the Michel Thomas audio CDs. They're really good. But, there are lots of people who have no Spanish at all. Among backpackers, mostly every1 speaks English. I'd recommend learning a little bit.

My trip is Rio - Iguazu - BA - Patagonia - Northwestern Arg - Bolivia - Peru - Equador - Colombia and I'm in SA until Jul so if you need any relatively current info during your plans just PM me.