Hi - just wondering if anyones done the European Explorer this year (2009) and would like to hear any reviews you have? I'm thinking about doing this tour but I cant find any recent reviews about it. Love to hear your thoughts!

Hi

I did this tour (with the greek island cruising) in June and had the time of my life! It was beyond amazing!! Our tour rocked!! We had a smaller group (32 people) which was great.....it meant more room on the bus. Could not have asked for a better group of people. I have made some really great friends. The age of people ranged between 18-31 and was mainly Aussies. Our tour manager (Greg) and bus driver (Pete) were brilliant. Both were great guys who were very good at their job. If you have either of these guys on your tour, you are very lucky!!

The main reason I picked this tour was the itinerary. You get to visit some of the most beautiful places in Europe. Croatia is such a gorgeous place as is Switzerland. Barcelona was also another highlight (especially if you are a girl... the shopping was fantastic! The nightlife was great too). The Greek Islands and Italy were also amazing. Paris was such a pretty city.... The list just goes on and on.

I definately recommend this tour. Although 33 days sounds like a long time, trust me it goes so quickly! It was such a great experience and is something that I will never forget.

If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Miss Pink!,

Hi
im doin the exp plus myknonos in June next year.
Ive heard that timeout isnt has freindly and group orientated, did you find that with yours??

i cant wait all the same
france is my all fav dest

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No, didn't find that at all. Every time we went out, we partied altogther as a group. We partied just as much as the concept tours do. Everyone on our tour got along just fine and were friendly. Every tour is different though. I think it really depends upon the people you get on your tour and also on what you make of it. Go in with an open mind, and you will have a blast. Definately do all the optionals. Most people (if not all) on our tour did all the optionals which made it fun as we were all together as a group.

Enjoy your trip!

Thanks for your responses. what was the food like? I haven't heard anything good about it. And also free time? I've heard Contiki is very rushed and you get very little free time.

i am a travel agent and i sell quite a few contikis
and have always heard good things back about them
just a few bad negatives stick in your brain and my cousins partner just did a camping tour and he said that majority of girls only do timeout.
i mean dont get me wrong im not goin to hook up or anything im going to see europe and have fun.. but it would be good to have a mixture of people!!

i cant wait counting down the days!!

Hi Everyone!

I did the European Explorer with Greek Island Cruising in July of this year and it was awesome! I went with my partner and we are both aged 26. We were concerned when we first booked with Contiki because of the partying reputation, but we had no issues at all. What we found was that because this is a long trip, there was a small group (about 30 odd) that were on our tour, which meant more room to stretch out on the bus! We were concerned that maybe the people would be younger than us, but mid twenties was probably the average age with the youngest being 21 and the oldest being 36 (whilst still young at heart!) The majority of the group were Aussies, with a few of Kiwis, and one person from Mexico and one from South Africa. The group was awesome. We had about 5 couples on tour, a few singles and some that came with a friend. The majority of people got along well with everyone and noone was left out. We found that people respected if you wanted to opt out of a night out for whatever reason, but the invitation was always open! Our tour manager and bus driver were both fantastic. They were really knowledgable and tried their best to always help us.

Some tips for the European Explorer. 1) Know what you want to see in each city. You tend to travel for one whole day, arrive at 4-5 pmish and then usually the meal that night is one of the included ones. Sometimes you might do a night tour of the city in the evening, or else you have the night to yourself. The next day you get dropped in to town with maps to go and see whatever you'd like to see. A day goes very quickly, particularly in big cities like Paris and Rome. Know what you want to do and plan your day!! 2) Be respectful to your tourmates. Do not use the bus toilet unless it is an emergency!! We had big problems with this on our trip and made some people very unhappy! Similar to this, be on time to the bus. Noone wants to hang around waiting and waste their time. We actually left one couple behind because they were regularly late. 3) Do laundry wherever possible!! There are not many opportunities to have laundry done, so get used to the idea of handwashing and bring easy to dry items. 4) Do whatever optionals that you can. Some are better than others, but often the best friends are made on optionals because you spend so much time together. 5) Be open minded about food and locations. Some of the best cities were places that we had no expectations about. Try whatever cuisine you can. Most of the food was awesome! 6) Most of Europe is very costly. Save, save, save before you leave! A coke can regularly cost 4 Euro (yes, that is nearly $7-$8 Australian dollars!) On a holiday of a lifetime, you don't want to be on a super tight budget. 7) Bring something to do on the bus - coz you'll be spending plenty of time on it. 8) Prepare to tip and just deal with it, it's a custom and has to be done (even to use public toilets).

That's all I can think of for now. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask and I'll try to get back to you.

Happy travelling!

Thank yiy so much for that!
Thats going to help me so much
I am so excited about this tour it look amazing

I hope it lives up to my expectations!!

also do you think 6000eur is too little for this tour? I like to spend quite a bit of money. On clothes and stuff like that..

what was your fav place on the tour?

I am planning on doing this tour with the grrek island cruising option. Are the optionals on the tour page what you get offered or are there more? Which ones were the best?

This information has been awesome and very helpful, thank you.

My friend and I just booked this toiur for 20 june 2010 - do you think $5K is enough spending money?

Hey I am also in the same vote.... hmmmmm I am averaging about $200 a day? I have never been on one of these trips, or in fact, over seas lol So I am wondering if 200 dollars a day would be ok?