Go on an 18-35 trip

“It's 100% worth it! I did my first Contiki to Europe at 18 and I'm so glad I did. My friend and I originally planned to go and take the train and figure out our own itinerary but we'd have missed out on so much if we had not done the tour instead. I'm more of an introvert and was concerned about being stuck with strangers, but you have a ton of freedom to do your own thing outside of the group should you choose, but I found I actually enjoyed the group. The guides are amazing, they get you access to the Louvre that bypasses the line and other tips and tricks that saved time and money. I did the European Highlights which was 15 days long. Great value for money as some meals were included as well. Since then I've done a second Contiki to Costa Rica and another trip to Europe with a company called Topdeck which is basically the same as Contiki. I know some people are concerned about the drinking and if it's just one big pub crawl, and there are people that go for this experience but no group is ever 100% this way. There are some couples, some friend groups and some solo travelers and none of my groups were clique-y. My first tour was in 2011 and im still in touch with some of the people i met. You won't regret it!”

“The age range varied, but I’d say the average age of my fellow travellers was 25. We had three 18 year olds, but most others were in their mid-20s and then a few were 30 and over like myself. [...] The great thing about the tour was the flexibility to do as much or as little with the group as we wanted. I loved being with my tour mates and when we did split up into smaller groups it was so nice that there was always someone who was interested in doing the same thing as I was. My favourite part of my trip was getting to know the people on my tour. You’d be surprised how close you can get to someone when you are with them 24/7 for three weeks. We shared rooms, stories from home, and adventures. I still keep in contact with a few of my tour mates and even got the chance to visit with some of them when I went to Australia three years later for another Contiki tour.”