Embracing Group Travel in Ireland

Wait, what? Group travel for a committed solo traveler?

If you've been reading my blog since I kicked it off in early 2020, you know my focus was to share the stories and adventures of my solo travels around the world. And if you've found my private Facebook travel group, aptly named "If Only YOUR Suitcase Could Talk: Traveling with Patty" you know that I am promoting two group tours in the coming months. So, how did I go from the person that spent years embracing the independence of solo travel to the person trying to convince you to join a group tour?

Let's go back to early 2016. For years my mom and I had attended annual weekend-long scrapbooking events in our area hosted by a family-owned company. Each year we got to know the owner Patsy, and her family well and she and I often chatted about our mutual love for traveling and seeing the world. So, when I received an email advertising that she was hosting a girls getaway trip to Ireland, I was intrigued. As I investigated it further, I quickly realized it was a group tour with a full itinerary, each day planned out, tour guides, meals, etc. My initial thoughts were "no way, I'm so used to doing my own thing, eating when I wanted, exploring at my pace with no one else to worry about." But, for some reason I never deleted the email and in a conversation with Patsy a few weeks later I shared I was thinking about it but hesitant about the "whole group thing." She encouraged me to join, even though she knew of my love for solo travel.

A few weeks later I got a message from Patsy saying there was only one spot left and the next thing I knew I was on the phone with Go Ahead booking that last spot. What had I done? As the departure for the tour came closer, I had an array of feelings. I didn't have to plan anything, Go Ahead was taking care of all of it - even my requests to fly a certain airline (it's all about the airline miles, of course). This was strange for me because part of the joy of embarking on a solo journey is the immense amount of research and planning that goes into all the details. That was my jam, it's something I'm good at and the part of trip planning that gets me excited about exploring a new place. But this was different. Thinking back, I don't think I even checked out a single travel guide from the library on Ireland and I know I didn't even read up on any of the places we were going. I barely paid attention to the itinerary. I was going along for the ride and letting someone else take care of everything. Which for a self-defined Type A person was well out of my comfort zone!!

Enter Ireland....I only knew a few other members of the group before we arrived in Galway that very RAINY mid-August day, but one of the things I love about travel was the people I meet along the way. While slightly different in a group since you're basically thrown together from the start, there's a bond that forms over a shared interest. And perhaps an opportunity to meet people at their best with all the stressors of home life left at home.

We quickly bonded and that trip took me on an unexpected journey into the world of group tours that I never saw as a part of my future. We were brought together by a love of travel. And scrapbooking since that's how most of us knew Patsy. Which meant just about every single moment was captured on film, from every single angle. Seriously, I'm not joking!

We enjoyed group dinners in castles and toured the Cliffs of Moher. We kept each side of the bus in check whenever a photo op presented itself in route by yelling "right side" or "left side." We aimed to drink a different Irish beer every day, which by day three I think we'd tried 15 and didn't care that the math didn't quite add up and we'd overachieved our goal. We saw the sights, enjoyed our tour guides' stories and Irish humor and admired our bus driver for navigating the narrowest streets and safely avoiding wayward American tourists driving on the "wrong" side of the road. He even took us to his local Irish pub in his hometown. Not that there isn't a pub on every corner in Ireland, there is!

We took advantage of our free time and made our way to the Guinness Storehouse, because "when in Dublin" and we were still on a "how many Irish beers can taste" quest. We posed for silly pictures in the museum and forced ourselves to have one more beer. We journeyed off the beat and path to a seaside town outside of Dublin, getting "lost" and eventually "found," though I will always say one is never truly "lost" as you are always "somewhere." And on our last morning in Dublin, I convinced a few of my new travel buddies to join me at the crack of dawn to skip the hotel breakfast and walk to this highly rated donut shop in Dublin that I'd gotten up early to find the day before and get early morning pictures of the empty streets of Dublin before they filled with people. I'm not sure if it was the donuts or the photo ops that was the winner in convincing them to join me! A side note, only when traveling do I find the desire to rise before the sun on purpose!!

On our last evening, I was coaxed into joining an Irish dance with real Irish dancers, something that should never happen again as dancing is not one of my talents by far. There's a video of that debacle floating around somewhere that should never be made public. Another reminder when you travel with scrapbookers, everything will be captured on film. But, the best part of that evening, despite the celebration of a successful tour and the fact that I had 20+ new travel friends was that I was voted "Ms. Shenanigan's." It's a title I hold proudly and worked hard to achieve as evidenced by the pictures below.

My first experience on a group tour was a success. Memories were made. Friendships were formed with other travel enthusiasts I may have never met, many of whom live all across the United States. I gained the reputation as the "rogue" one, likely due to my solo travel inhibitions that I can never quite keep at bay and thirst to explore those local spots not often on planned itineraries. Even though we were on a set itinerary, we had evenings and blocks of time where we explore on our own so that side of my traveling life was kept happy. Whew!

After Ireland, I joined three more group tours with the same group coordinator, Patsy (that's her in the picture to the left), over the next three years; Thailand, Spain and Ecuador, the Galapagos and Peru. I was able to reunite with several of my Ireland friends and my group of travel-loving enthusiasts grew with each tour. While each of these places was special in it's own way; particularly Spain and Ecuador as both were return visits for me, I knew that touring as part of a group wasn't half bad. Though, I'll never ever let go of that urge to travel and explore solo, sometimes it's nice to have others to travel along with, too. And somewhere along the way I listened to those of you who said you wanted to travel with me and decided to sign up as a group coordinator, too.

So, as we ease into traveling again in a post-COVID era, traveling is going to include some hoops, hurdles, and extra steps as we get back out there again. If you've been reading my blog you know I pulled off one successful solo international trip during a pandemic last September that gave me a lot of insight as to what travel will look like moving forward. And I am in the planning stages of a second solo international trip that will take off next month. Traveling with Go Ahead on a group tour such as the one I just described to Ireland will make your return back into traveling a lot easier. Go Ahead will take care of all the details related to the flights, hotels, many meals, tour guides and most importantly entry requirements and extra precautions that may be necessary. All of the hotels, buses, restaurants and activities are guaranteed to be safe under the World Tourism Council Standards of Safety Seal. You will have the assurance that Go Ahead's response team is behind us 24/7 in case anything goes awry. If you're ready to get back out there, the world is waiting. Think about joining me in Europe for our Christmas Market Tour departing November 28th, 2021 or our South American Food and Wine Tour departing March 11, 2022. The best part is, you'll have the reigning "Ms. Shenanigan's" as your group coordinator so it's sure to be an adventure!

Photo cred for many of these photos goes to my "left side" of the bus, Ireland traveling buddy, Stephanie!

"Life is meant for good friends and great adventures." - Anonymous

Editor's note: Since this blog was originally posted, several of my group tours have successfully been completed, but there's always something new in the mix. Check out my website for the current tour offerings!