Johannesburg - As you get older, you cannot help but get a little bit wiser: with experience of life, those strongly held views of youth can change or even seem absurd with the benefit of hindsight.
That is certainly the case with me and travel.
In my youth, there were two things you would not have caught me doing: getting on a cruise ship or going on a “package tour”.
Those views were shaped by watching movies like If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (if you haven’t seen it, don’t bother, it’s slapstick sleaze) and the TV series The Love Boat.
In the case of the former, a grim picture was painted of oversexed, over-drinking and under-intelligent tourists being shoved through a hectic sausage-machine tour.
In the latter, there were plenty of desperate American housewives and pensioners looking for love in all the wrong places (like cabins, lifeboats and gangways).
When I finally did get a chance to do some serious touring, I was married – but determined that we would do things “our way”. And we did. Right across England, Scotland Ireland and Wales, and then over the Channel to Paris. Everything was a whistle-stop blur as we tried to tackle too much in too little time.
There were some highlights: foul-mouthed Scottish lasses having a go at each other in our hotel in Kirkcudbright (there was a disco downstairs and our room was next to the women’s loo); a Christmas service (with a smattering of snow) in an old stone church somewhere in England; having a “wee fry” with my father’s family in Ireland (bacon, eggs, lamb chops, all fried in farm butter); being questioned by the British Special Branch as we drove off the ferry from Ireland; walking the bitterly cold streets of Paris and stumbling upon another world in the Impressionist Museum.
We could have called the trip “If it’s Tuesday, this must be Betws-y-Coed”.
Years later, with the kids now grown, we seemingly hadn’t learnt many lessons when we took them on a similar trip. This time, though, it was the worst winter in 50 years in the UK and I was driving a large, rear-wheel-drive BMW (which ended up backwards in a ditch in Northern Ireland). Most of the time behind the wheel (I did all the driving) I was in a state of near-paralytic fear of sliding over an ice-covered road. I needed a holiday when I got back from that holiday.
Two years ago, as travel editor, I decided that I would have to do at least two things to understand the average South African traveller: go to Mauritius (it is so popular) and go on a cruise (one of the biggest growing sectors in travel, locally and internationally).
So it was that I accepted an invite from Cruises International in Joburg to experience a Royal Caribbean cruise to the fjords of Norway. Apart from enjoying the ethereal beauty of that part of the world, I realised that a cruise experience was a good way to see the world: you have your accommodation, transport, food and entertainment all thrown in and – best of all – you unpack once.
Then I knew: it is possible to have a holiday at the same time as you are touring.
At a recent lunch, Trafalgar Tours SA managing director Theresa Szejwallo was talking about coach tours and said the same thing.
The industry, though, has come a long way since the If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium days. Now there are many tour products, including Trafalgar’s, which offer more sedate itineraries, where you stop in a place for two or even three days to fully experience it. And there are tours for smaller groups, which makes for a more convivial atmosphere.
My wife went on a school tour to France and Italy (as a chaperone) last year and, apart from being struck by the beauty of those two countries, she was most impressed that everything had been arranged. There was little stress because they were taken everywhere aboard a coach – and the package included tickets to places like The Louvre in Paris and St Peter’s in Rome, which helped them neatly bypass the queues.
Having been on media tours in Europe and elsewhere, I have found it relaxing to sit at a coach window and watch the world go by, knowing I don’t have to cope with the stress of driving on the wrong side of the road in a foreign country.
DIY travellers may well say that going on your own means adventure lies around every corner, and that can be true – but, at the same time, getting lost or having a difference of opinion about where to go will strain even the strongest relationship.
More and more companies, like Trafalgar, are offering special, not-for-the-general-public treats on their tours, including visiting out-of-the-way historic, cultural or beauty spots or even dining with residents.
And, when it comes to cruising, my sister and brother-in-law got themselves a bargain 12-day cruise around the Mediterranean – and thoroughly enjoyed it, while saving a packet by not having to have more than the odd meal off-ship when sightseeing.
The all-inclusive nature of packages that some companies offer is very attractive. I did a trip with Uniworld Cruises up the Rhine last year and apart from the 6-star food, service and cabins, the most seductive thing was not having to worry about extra expenditure because of the all-inclusive deal – which meant being able to relax while watching the castles floating past. No stress.
Now that I have been converted to the idea of travelling with a group of strangers (which in itself can be stimulating), my wife and I think that instead of haring off to Europe on our own next year and meeting my son somewhere, we will take a cruise or a coach tour – and maybe hook up with him at the end of that.
Another thing about getting older is that time really does speed up – so a relaxed cruise or a coach tour is one way of slowing it down a little.
I don’t want to wake up one day and realise I have seen so many places but that I didn’t stop enough to smell the roses…
Saturday Star