SE Asia Tour: Geckos vs. Gap vs. Intrepid

You can do organized tours in various parts of Asia, but going with a company for the whole trip is a waste of money, in my opinion. If I were you I'd look for something shorter (few weeks or so) just to start you off, and that way you can decide early on how you prefer to travel without committing to a longer organized trip. Asia is so easy to travel, and you'll meet people in hostels that you can travel with for however long. I'm also a solo traveler and have done Asia solo and met lots of people on the way. I'm in South America now and have been traveling with a few other people for just over two weeks now, after meeting them on a day tour and realizing we were all going the same way. Flexibility is key with travel, and it's something you won't get nearly as much of with an organized trip.

I doubt you will get any recommendations on which tour is better on here.

This is a forum for independent travellers,and practically no-one who posts on here does tours (or would do them).Certainly not in a place as safe and easy to tavel in as SE Asia....

And..you will not find anyone BUT first time travellers on this sort of tour,in this area.

Why not try Tripadvisor or one of the American websites that deal with tours?

Better still,ditch the tour and do it yourself ;-)

Have to agree with #2 on this. If you really wanna do some group tours, try to arrange short tours locally. Far cheaper and you'll still meet travellers.

In certain situations, tours are an excellent way to travel, either if you don't feel safe or confident on your own, or if you're travelling at a busy time of year an options for independent travellers isn't as good as those in a group. It's easy to say that it's a waste of time taking a tour, but everyone needs to start somewhere.

I've travelled with Gap in Cuba (peak holiday season, and didn't have time to organise an independent trip) and Intrepid in Vietnam (was only 18, and didn't know where to start!). I thought the Gap tour was awful (badly organised, poorly run), and Intrepid was excellent.

Having said that, I used to run tours for Imtrav in China, and got to know a lot of other leaders from other companies working in other countries....I think to be honest its really down to the local operations and your guide. Gap in Cuba sucked, but I believe they ware excellent in South America. Imtrav specialised in Egypt, etc. Check out which company started their life in S.E.Asia, and go with them.

Having said that, you are travelling for a long time, and I think you might get fed up with a long tour after a few weeks. I'd advise starting with the "hardest" country, and do that on a tour. By the end of your tour, you'll have built up confidence, and know how things work. You'll then be able to do the easier countries more efficiently and more cheaply.

In 2003 my sister and I booked a Beijing-Hong Kong tour. It was cancelled due to SARS, so we ended up doing the trip ourselves. It was hard work (not speaking Chinese), but we ended up staying in much nicer hotels, flying, AND saved money over the tour price.

Indeed, if you're not feeling confident to travel by yourself do a tour, but not for the whole trip. just for a couple weeks to get your bearings. If during that tour you're adamant you want to keep going on a tour, fine, you can always sort that out last minute. Chances are, however, you'll realise that SEA is a great place to travel alone and you'll meet plenty of others to travel with anyway.

Incidentally, Intrepid started in SEA, but that was a long time ago. many companies have years of experience in the region.

Thank you, I think everyone misunderstood me. I wasn't planning on doing a tour the whole time, just to start in SE Asia because I don't feel comfortable traveling alone there. I was planning on meeting up with other travelers and friends in other continents. I'm glad to hear from someone who doesn't think they're too cool for a tour (like some of these snarky responses). It's daunting for a woman to just decide to fly across the world and travel alone in a place as vast as Asia where she can't read or understand the language. I wouldn't feel safe, happy or know where to even begin! I'll look further into Intrepid - Thank you!

You will notice that even those who say a tour is not a bad idea in some cases,have given you no advice on which one is better...

As I said..this is not the place for this type of question.There are better sites for that....

Not because anyone is 'too cool',but because the typical poster on here doesn't do tours in this type of place,and so you will not get any answers to your question here.......

BTW both of those who commented (a bit) positively used to run tours,so that is as enthusiastic as you will get ;-)

Most people who use this site will probably agree with me..a tour in this part of the world is a waste of money.You can do it much cheaper by yourself,and just as easily.And (usually) a lot more enjoyably.

Also you are not stuck with a bunch of people you may not get on with at all,who will ALL be first timers (that you said you wanted to avoid),charging from destination to destination as they try desperately to 'do' Asia in 2 weeks.Good if you want to drink lots of Chang,and tick 'countries' off a checklist.

By all means,go ahead and do it.It is better to learn by experience than by listening to other people's opinions.....

Quote lucapal: "You will notice that even those who say a tour is not a bad idea in some cases,have given you no advice on which one is better...As I said..this is not the place for this type of question.There are better sites for that...."

Why are you so angry and anti-tour?! I actually did give advice as to which was better (which was, "go with the company that started there"), and if you spend time in other branches, you'll see that quite a few people do ask about tours (and get good advice).

The TT doesn't mention anywhere about being for independent travellers only. The intro states:

Welcome to the Thorn Tree Travel Forum, travelling together since 1996. Join fellow travellers to exchange travel information, advice, hints and tips. Get help, get connected, get inspired and have your say.

The OP was asking for travel advice, which I think is allowed....

And what you say about tour people ALL being first timers...it's just not true. Like I say, I used to run tours in China....some of the pax had been on more tours that i'd run. A lot of people like to be able to pick a tour to a country they want to visit, and know that they are going to have certain standards of transport/hotel/safety etc. They book, go, have a good time, then book again for a different country for the following year. You may very well meet some very well travelled people on a tour, they're just not people that want to go it alone (for a variey of reasons). Does that make them any less "a traveller"? They are still seeing, and experienceing, just different things. They are no less worthy to post on this fourm because they got a clean private minibus rather than getting a shed on wheels full of chickens and farmers.