I went on a Road Scholar tour and I’m not sure I would again. But it might be right for you.

Road Scholar is the tour company that has grown and changed with the times. Their main clientele has been older travelers who like the support of group travel and consider themselves life long learners.  Road Scholar is also attracting younger active travelers.  Their group trips go to just about every corner of the world and provide education every step of the way.

Road Scholar might be right for you if:

• You want to get educated about the places you are visiting. RS excels in the “Like College….Only Better” philosophy. They have a tour manager who stays with the group the entire trip, and they hire professors and other highly trained tour guides to show the group what is fascinating and important everywhere they go. Sometimes you will have a lecture at the hotel before heading out and sometimes you will be in historic places.

  

• You want your itinerary planned for you to take advantage of every day. RS days usually start by 9 am and can end later after a group dinner, so days can be long. There isn’t much free time built into a typical RS itinerary, but you will do everything on the itinerary, to the best of their ability. There are some RS trips that allow for more free time, but even these trips have a large educational component.

• You are keen to meet like-minded travelers along the way. Road Scholars are an active and inquisitive bunch, usually well-traveled and well-read. They make long time friendships with fellow travelers and meet up with them on future trips.

• You are more interested in the destinations than in luxury accommodations. RS has made a name for themselves for providing a lot of value for service. Hotels will be nice, but not super deluxe. And there is a range, depending on the type and location of the tours.

• You like to have most of your meals included in your itinerary. In a typical 7-day RS itinerary, all of your breakfasts are included. You will also have most dinners included and about half the days’ lunches included. Often the group will stop somewhere for lunch time and eat a la carte on their own tabs at the same restaurant. At other times, you can find a place to eat on your own within an allotted amount of time.

• You like having some special “insider” activities. In Florence, with a Principessa who gave us a tour of her home and the last Renaissance garden in Florence.

      Road Scholar might not be right for you if:

• You don’t like being herded around in groups. There isn’t a lot of solo time on a typical RS Tour.  Once in a while you may be able to get off by yourself for a bit, but it won’t always be that easy to do.

• You chafe at the thought of every day being planned out from start to finish. As I said earlier, there is little free time in a typical RS tour. You may have time on your own at a particular place, but there will be a group time to depart.

• You are easily annoyed by other people. There will be people on the tour who are always late getting out in the morning or late getting back on the bus after a tour stop. There will be people on the tour who have so many special needs that they interfere with the group schedule. There may be some people who will attempt to distract the tour guide with questions or comments to the extent that it takes away from the presentation for the rest of the group.

• You don’t care that much about learning from an expert in each place you visit. That’s ok-many people love discovering sights on their own and don’t need a lot of background information to enjoy a place.

• You want time for off-the-itinerary sightseeing and shopping. You would have to find these opportunities yourself if you are on a RS tour. You also won’t be with a group with these as a high priority.

For me, while I loved the educational aspects of RS,  I got tired of always having to be with a group and having everything planned out each day. I would definitely take another RS trip to an exotic location that I may not feel comfortable traveling to on my own.

The better you know yourself and how you like to travel, the easier it will be to figure out what kind of trip to take.

Good to Know:

• RS is a non-profit organization so you will be asked to make a donation or become a member.

• When looking through their catalogs, read the tour descriptions carefully. Make sure the trip has the level of comfort and activity you want.

• Read tour reviews on the RS website. They can give you more insight into whether a particular trip is right for you.

• Solo Travelers are welcomed on RS tours. There may be single supplements, but there are tours where the supplement is waived. RS can also arrange to find you a roommate if you request that.