5 Reasons Why You Should Travel With Contiki

In 2008, I went on my first Eurotrip by myself, and booking my tour with Contiki was one of the smartest things I’ve ever done!


Contiki is the worldwide leader in tours for 18-35s. Offering an unbeatable mix of sightseeing and culture in over 40 countries across 6 continents, we create hassle-free vacations for like-minded people who share a passion for discovering amazing places.
--- Contiki Website

I booked a European Impressions tour that took me to 11 countries in 20 days with 50 other people! Whether you are traveling solo, traveling with a friend, or are a couple on your honeymoon, I totally recommend it! Here are the reasons why I won’t book anywhere else, and why I would totally do it again in a heartbeat!

1. Contiki makes everything Easy

It was my first big solo trip in the land of far far away, so naturally, I was a little intimidated. I didn’t know what to expect and everything was unfamiliar. Contiki just takes the fear away because they take care of everything. The itineraries are set, the tours are organized, the excursions - although optional - are pretty awesome, and even if I traveled by myself, not once did I feel alone! Our tourguide, Sandy, she knew her stuff. She’s been a tourguide for years so she had the inside knowledge about all these cool places both inside and outside of Contiki’s inineraries. Translate: She hooked us up on all the best places in each country to go out for drinks and good fun!

Meet Sandy, our amazing tour guide!

2. Contiki is considerably Cheap!

I spent around $2500 for the tour that I chose. If you break that down, that amounts to about $125 a day for 20 days – which includes board and lodging, transportation, breakfast, most dinners, and the amazing tours! I think what I appreciated most out of what I paid for was the convenience. It saved me the trouble of having to figure out where to go and what to do and who to hang out with. It was so nice to have been able to just sit there and let the tourguides lead the way – especially since I knew nothing of the places we visited! And if you’re traveling alone for the first time, trust me. You’ll appreciate the hand holding just as much as I did!

The ladies outside Moulin Rouge

Our group in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa

3. It’s like being back in High School

Seriously – I felt like I was caught in the middle of the storylines of Gossip Girl and Melrose Place combined! I guess if you bring a group of fifty 18 to 35 year olds (with raging hormones) together for 20 days, all sorts of drama is bound to ensue – and they did! People hooking up with people, people switching partners, catfights, threesomes, you name it, they all happened! One of the perks of being a wallflower in this situation is that I got to see everything, but still managed to stay outside of the raw and compelling bubble of it all. Twenty days doesn’t seem much, but when you spend every waking minute of it together, it feels like a lifetime! I did, however, make quite a few good friends. I’m pretty sure all of us did! That’s actually one of my favorite things about this tour. You get to make so many lifelong friends in such a short period of time whether you like it or not! So if you’re more of a lone wolf who prefers solitude and isolation, then forget about Coniki. You’ll hate it.

My Roomies!

4. Your (alcohol) limits are tested

There is a reason why this tour is for 18 to 35 year olds. At first, I thought it was just because they were targeting the hip and youthful and cool --- and that’s all still true, but after going through it myself I realized it’s also because you need to have the energy and vigor to be able to keep up!  The tour is so fast paced, you’ll need a vacation after the Contiki vacation! Everyday you have to get on the bus by 7 to 7:30 am, and you’re out and about for more than 12 hours.
And then… there’s the drinking. We literally drank - Every. Single. Night. You never want to be the loser who slept in and missed out on all the fun, so you drink… and you keep drinking until your liver explodes. When we got to Munich for Oktoberfest, 35 of my tour mates didn’t even bother seeing the city. They went right down to the grounds and drank the whole day! I had half a mind to see a little bit of Munich. But the others? They didn't even care. They just went straight for the steins! Now that’s hard core!
There will be nights where you only get a few minutes of sleep and you wake up with a throbbing hangover, but you can’t sleep in because you’re driving to Italy for the next 8 hours! So unless you have Betty White as your grandmother, I think it’s best to leave them at home and go through the painful yet epic journey yourself… For what doesn’t kill you… keeps you alive to drink another day.

This is what my tourmates looked like when I found them - after drinking for 4 hours

Having my first beer, and hanging out with hot German locals :)

5. It is the MOST FUN you will ever have in your LIFE

I remember vividly… I was enjoying a gondola ride in Venice, giggling at our gondolier who was singing what I could only describe as an Italian marching band song of sorts, when I turned to my roommate and asked:

“Where were we yesterday?”
“I think we were in Austria.”
“Oh I thought we were in Germany.”
“No that was the other night – Oktoberfest remember?”
“Ah, you’re right. Where are we going tommorow?”
“Florence, I think?”
“Oh. Wow.”

Best. Conversation. Ever! Going to bed in one country to explore another the next day, that’s the Contiki life!
It’s been years since the European Impressions trip, but I still speak very fondly of it to anyone who listens. I went on top of Mt Pilatus in Switzerland, drank Oktoberfest beer in Munich, ate waffles in Belgium, rode a gondola in Venice, danced the flamenco in Barcelona, saw the Mona Lisa in Paris, and got high (for the first time in my life) in Amsterdam! In 20 days I did all that, in the company of 50 other people who were just as excited as I was to be there! It really was one of the best times of my 20’s, that’s for sure. I conquered Europe and lived to tell the tale!

Now that I’m 30 and starting to feel the pains of old age creeping in, I sometimes wonder if my body could still keep up with Contiki’s frenzied pace. Will my limbs be able to survive all the walking? Will I still have the energy to keep up with the tweens? Will my liver still hold copious amounts of alcohol as it did before?

Probably not.

Will I do it again?

AB-SO-FREAKIN-LUTE-LY!!!

**Contiki did not pay me to write this article. I really just love them that much. :)


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Hi There! Have we met before? You look familiar! Those shoes look great on you, by the way! I’m Eartha and I recently decided to quit my job to travel the worrrrld! Join me in my adventures by checking back on my blog, and leaving me a comment or two!

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Remembering Oktoberfest in Munich

When I signed up for the Contiki tour I went on in September of 2008, I didn’t even know that it was in the itinerary. How was I supposed to know Oktoberfest started in September anyway??
Later on, I found out that most of my tourmates chose that tour specifically because of Oktoberfest! Out of 51 people in our group, only 16 of us opted to see a little bit of Munich. The other 30 went straight to the fairgrounds to… well, to drink!

I’m glad I got to spend a few hours exploring the city though, because Munich is beautiful and I’ve never been to Germany before. Besides, if I hadn’t gone, then I wouldn’t have been able to buy this authentic Bavarian beer maid costume (called a Dirndl) that I absolutely adore!!! 

With Alicia and our tour guide, Sandy

I’ve worn this outfit at least 10 other times after I’ve bought it (for Halloween or local Oktoberfest celebrations) and it still does its magic (read: they make your boobs look amazing).

After the short pit stop, the other 15 and I set out to find the group. The fairgrounds were HUGE! There must have been thousands of people in there that day.  

Reminds me of a carnival!

When we finally caught up with the rest of the gang, as expected, most of them were already drunk. What else is there to do in a festival celebrating beer after all? It’s hard not to when the steins are this huge!

Got Beer?

Apart from the beer, my tourmates and I delighted in some of the traditional German staple food. There was the Schweinebraten or roast pork, Wurstl or sausages, Saurkraut or red cabbage (I’m not a fan, unfortunately) and my favorite, Schweinsaxe or Pork Knuckle, the German equivalent of Filipino Crispy Pata. Mmmmm…

Cav and his Pork Knuckle!

The atmosphere was incredible, and everyone was friendly – especially the locals. It didn’t hurt that they were cute too. Who would have thought that I’d think a lederhosen was a turn on??

The ones I’ve met taught me a few things. First, never wear sandals (or open toed shoes) to Oktoberfest because a stein drops and breaks every few minutes, and you don’t want wet and bloody feet to ruin your vacation. Second, when you toast, you say, “Prost!” – which means, “Cheers”. Third, when you toast, you have to look people in the eye, or else it’s seven years of bad sex. (NO BLINKING, PEOPLE!)

 

Me hanging with my two new cute German friends in Lederhosens ;)

Sandy, our tour guide, pretty much gave us free reign over our activities for that day. I mean – there really was only one activity if you think about it. Anyway – she only had one rule, and it was, “Make sure to be back in the bus by 10pm sharp, or else you’re going to Italy on your own.” She was serious. Our hotel was more than an hour away from the fairgrounds, and there weren’t any taxi’s to take us all the way there at that hour. It sounds harsh, but to be fair, she made us a little sheet with the names of all the nearby hotels, plus the train schedules for us to be able to catch up with the rest of the group in Venice, in case we get left behind. Whenever Sandy said, “sharp”, she meant “sharp”. No exceptions.

I didn’t think it was going to be a problem – until it was 9:30 and everyone was drunk out of their wits, and our driver was parked about 3 miles away from where we were. When people started to realize this, panic ensued. Suddenly, there was only one thing in our minds – We needed to GET TO THAT BUS!

It’s all a little hazy, but I remember a lot of running. Lots and lots of running. It was only then that I realized what it meant to ‘run for your life’. Imagine about 30 people falling over, throwing up, dodging the crowd, scampering to get to the bus… my roommate even lost her flip flop (just one) amidst the chaos. It wasn’t pretty.

By some miracle, we made it in due time, all panting like we’ve run a marathon as we hurried to our seats. I remember right when I sat down, Sandy started counting heads. I was a little nervous. It didn’t look like all the seats were filled and I found myself feeling bad for whoever was left behind. I’d honestly hate to be in their shoes because how the heck could you find a hotel in the dead of night with that much alcohol in your system?

Then Sandy came up to the front, turned her microphone on and said, “Guess what? WE’RE ALL HERE!!!”

And the bus erupted with cheers loud enough for a pork knuckle to crack!

A bus full of inebriation!

How we all managed to get there in one piece is beyond me! (It turns out, the seats I thought were empty were occupied by people crouched down, throwing up.) Our driver roared the engine to life, and we started our journey back to our hotel in high spirits – both literally and figuratively!

Sandy played our tour song (which she chose for us on our second day together), “You Shook Me All Night Long” by ACDC, and all of us sang it at the top of our lungs word for word, albeit a little slurred. I think we were all just so relieved to have made it, most of us lost our intoxication that when we got back to the hotel, the drinking continued. No surprises there! :)

After our action packed day and the exhaustion started to kick in… one by one, we started to head back into our hotel rooms… but not before grabbing one last glass, to stare into each other’s eyes and say one final, “Prost”. :)