Early on, we shied away from hiring a guide – heaven forbid we be seen following someone holding an umbrella! Gasp. We opted instead to read the placards, do our own research, (which somehow never really happened), and eventually, stare blankly at whatever was in front of us, take a picture and move on.
Titanic Experience, Belfast | 2015
It didn’t take us very long to realize that we don’t know everything. Nor should we have to. This is one of the many reasons we like to travel – to learn, to absorb, to discover. If all we wanted were the facts, we could stay home in the comfort of our pj’s and Google all the facts we desire.
After a particularly disastrous visit to the Forbidden City we knew things had to change. Having missed a week from school, the children had to share what they had learned. This is what they wrote: “Empty room, walk, walk, walk, empty room.” Oof. Not the outstanding education and experience we wanted for them. Luckily, they were still little, so we had time to improve our ways.
We chose to start looking into private guided tours, where available, for a few reasons. First, we had young kids. We did not want to have to hurry them along when they found something that interested them, nor did we want to have to shush them if they were getting antsy. A private guide allows you to adapt the tour to your own interests and speed.
Brasov Castle, Romania, | 2012
Second, often the cost of a private tour for the four of us was not exponentially more than if we had paid for a group tour. This made the decision easy. We had already paid for our flight, our hotel and our meals. It didn’t make sense to us to not spend a few more dollars to get an amazing experience. After all, we travelled all this way to see whatever monument, castle, house, museum we are standing in front of, we should probably also learn about why it is so great, right?
Third, and this is true for group and private tours, guides are almost always extremely enthusiastic and passionate about what they are telling you. They make the history of their country not only interesting, but personal. You get stories that their grandparents told them, you get real life experiences, real life opinions. For us, we learn and retain so much more information and history this way. In fact, between the four of us, we can often remember most of what we were told.
Google has nothing on these face to face, personalized tours. Sign up, find a ‘guy’, learn something new, listen to a story, enjoy the spot you are in. Following a bright red umbrella is not actually necessary.
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