I’m a notoriously slow morning person and I’m about to do a 12 day guided tour. The sample schedule shows “breakfast at 7am, depart at 8am” most days. Is this actually rigid or more of a guideline?
Like, if I’m 10 minutes late to the bus, do they leave without me? Or is there usually a buffer? I don’t want to be the person holding up 30 other people but I also physically cannot function before 7:30am. Should I have just booked a self-guided trip lol?
No, you have to be on time. I don’t know why tour companies do this(except to try to fit too much into a day) as most people leave the tour absolutely exhausted by the early starts. Some days even earlier. You will most likely be required to have your bag packed and outside the door while you are having breakfast. Better go into ‘training’ now.
To really enjoy a trip based on your preferences and tour pace, you should go for a private tour instead of a group tour.
I am currently at day 10 of a tour through England, Scotland and Ireland.
They are strict on times, so you have to be organised and on time in the mornings.
Okay so the honest answer is… yes! Like the bus will leave and no one wants to be that person, so the 8am departure genuinely means 8am. But honestly? I’ve kind of come to love it. You end up seeing places before the crowds and by the time most people are just waking up you’ve already done something. It accidentally became one of my favorite parts of guided tours.
That said, the 7am breakfast to 8am departure window is tight! So maybe start practicing now lol. Even just getting up 10 minutes earlier each day leading up to the trip. Your future self will thank you. I mean, where are you actually looking to tour though? Because honestly some destinations are just so much better self-guided or even partially guided (where you still get that structured feeling but with a little more breathing room on certain days)!