Did your tour guide give you photos with names of your tour-mates?

My Portugal guide did this in 2022.

My guide for Scotland did in 2019, but that has been the only time. It WAS incredibly helpful and I wish they all did that. I don't think my south of France tour guide even did a group photo of us last year which was really disappointing. So, it is up to the guide.

Only one in 12 tours, and yes, I wish all tour guides did this.

One of three tours/guides did this….in lieu of the name game. The first two tours we were on had groups that really bonded. The group where we got a photo page and didn’t do much else towards getting to know each other never really gelled. I’m not sure that made the difference, but a photo page by itself doesn’t encourage interaction.

We didn’t receive the individual photos collage on any of our RS tours, but that’s a nice idea!

Two of our older RS tours did the traditional Name Game. My most recent RS Adriatic tour did a version after a few days where we stood in a circle, we each said our name with the group all saying it together around the circle - no stress.

The RS Paris tour didn’t do the Name Game, and we were sitting in an “L”-shape our first evening where we couldn’t all see each other during the orientation. But, we still got to know each other throughout the week. It really helps to intentionally try to sit with different people during each group meal.

I like to include the tour group photo in our photo books. The only one I didn’t receive was the Paris tour one which the guide’s husband took the last night together in a park.

I bring the printed roster to the orientation evening and try to add a few words after each name, i.e. the tallest person, teenager, lady with red hair, the talkative one, the person from Oregon, etc. I told one of the ladies the first morning that I noted she had an orange shirt, so I would know her name each time she wore it - LOL!

Our 2023 B-P-V guide provided a nice document. He took photos of each couple together with their names underneath as well as each single person with their name. Since couples are usually seen together that was really helpful. I'm very visually oriented so seeing images with words works more effectively than hearing every name in the "name game". That game is incredibly useless for my partner as well.

I recall being in a room where we couldn't all see each other for our Paris tour. Our guide Virginie Moré took several group photos and labeled each person in them. This way we could identify everyone later even if we hadn't interacted with them in the initial meeting. That was in 2016 so she was quite ahead of the curve!

I do wish every guide would provide such a useful tool.

My last RS tour guide (2022) was technologically challenged. She did not even know whether ApplePay was in use in Italy so she did not have the skills to do this. It's a wonderful idea! I've not had any guide do that over all my tours.

I do as Jean does and take the roster to the meet up and make a few notes as people do their introductions.

My tour guide did this on my last RS tour. I did not find this helpful. Having done 20+ RS tours I’ve enjoyed the challenge of learning. When I don’t remember a tour member’s name I will gladly introduce myself and ask them. It’s also an opportunity for a brief conversation.

When I don’t remember a tour member’s name I will gladly ask them. It’s an opportunity for brief introduction or conversation.

Were that I was an extrovert. My social anxiety is such that I would just never talk to them because I'd be too embarrassed that I didn't remember their name. Those photos made a big difference in my ability to interact with folks on the tour.

One of the benefits I’ve enjoy from the RS tours is that my formerly very shy and introverted self has blossomed. In the beginning it would take about three days to speak to everyone. I truly understand what you’re saying.

What a great idea! I've always been terrible remembering names so that would be so helpful. I'm getting a little forgetful which creates some social anxiety. Four tours so far and no guide has matched pictures to names. Maybe this year???
On last year's Village Italy tour, our guide set up a tour group WhatsApp page so we could all communicate while on tour and send photos to the group. WhatsApp page is still up and tour friends are still using it.

"Different strokes for different folks"...everyone has different ways of interfacing with new people...especially while traveling.
After 13 plus RS trips and having gone through several version of the "name game" and more...my wife and I have found various forms of the guide using the group's picture(s) very helpful. It has reduced some very uncomfortable situations that have arisen when tour members become upset that another tour member can't remember their name(s)! It has help my wife and I numerous times in speeding up our name recalls within the group thus making it more comfortable to engage in conversations earlier in the trips,
I'm a raving fan of using photos with names on group trips!

The photo/name correlation guide really helps when there are 3 James's, 3 Michael's, 3 Carol's, etc. on the same tour. It happened to us several times.

Our UK tour guide did this, and it was really helpful. One reason it may not be done, is if someone on the tour expresses concern about security, as happened on our tour. The guide got past it by assuring him he could use a fake name. I think this practice is really useful, and RS tours may not be the venue for those with extreme privacy concerns.

Only two guides have done that on the dozen+ RS tours I have taken.

The names thing was not a big problem. We were given a list of names before the tour and we tried to learn them before we left home.
What was VERY disappointing was no group photo. Had I known he was not going to take a group photo, I would have handed him my phone and asked him to take a group picture somewhere, perhaps at Castlerigg Stone Circle, where we were all together in a small area. It would have been so easy.

By the time I realized we were not going to have a picture taken, it was our last morning there, people getting breakfast in the hotel, coming and going, and it was too late! From comments on other topics which included a group photo, it seems that most tour guides WILL take a group photo. Doesn't need to be a printed photo, just one sent to email. If you want one, be sure to bring it up to your guide. Why would you not want one?

Sounds like the office needs a guide handbook or training or something. This is pretty basic stuff. For this kind of money, they all should be able to get some group and individual photos organized.

My 2023 Best of Turkey tour guide did a name/photo directory, which I did find helpful. Unfortunately she didn't say why she was taking our photo at the first group meeting so some didn't have the most flattering images. The handout also included the contact info (email, phone) used to make the tour reservation which meant some families had all the same contact info for listed everyone instead of individual info. I would have preferred we were asked to ok putting that on the handout before it was printed, but not sure how others may have felt. On four prior RS tours, guides said they weren't allowed to share contact information with the group so a paper was passed around to share emails/contact. So either that policy has changed or it's just a guide-specific thing.

And FWIW a group photo isn't a big deal to me, as I usually capture images of everyone on the tour at some point. Our group picture from our Turkey trip was a large hard copy 8x10 photo with photoshopped imagery of hot air balloons in the background - a nice gesture but a cumbersome memento for carry on luggage crowd.

I decided to email the guide from our tour to ask about this. She said that Rick prefers the name game, but leaves the final decision to each guide. So I suppose I will just ask our next guide if they could do the picture thing, since it is how I best can learn names.

Also, since she didn't do it, can someone explain what the name game is?

Actually, I just googled "rick steves name game" and found this video. The stress of humiliating myself by being expected to name everyone in front of everyone might just be enough to convince me not to book another tour. That is terrifying.

https://blog.ricksteves.com/blog/tour-name-game/

Kathleen, most of the guides who still do the name game have modified it, so that it is a group bonding experience, rather than a nightmare. As Jean mentioned upthread, some guides will have the entire group repeat each name together, so the only "performance" required of you will be saying your own name.

And even then, you could have someone else announce your name for you. That happened on one of our tours.

Most guides don't do the name game, even though Rick wants them to. We've been on over 20 tours, and I only remember doing the name game 4 or 5 times. One of those times, the guide told me later that it's more for his benefit, than for the members. That was a time when all the group chimed in to repeat each name, so nobody was on the spot.

Thanks, Jane. Yes - if they have everyone do it together, that sounds like it could be helpful and perhaps even fun. But I'd still like the photo sheet, too. :)

Kathleen, out of 4 tours, I only had one guide do the name game. She took volunteers which I did not do. I really don’t like the angst of being put on the spot. But I have read where people made up names. Just have be careful not to offend anyone.

Fortunately we haven't had the name game in our last 7 tours (2019-2024).

Our 2023 B-P-V guide was careful to ask permission from each individual before including their photo and first name or nickname on the document. Everyone cooperated - no one expressed any security concerns with that minimal info.

Our last tour guide handled the group photo issue really well - there were 5 great shots taken at some of the most beautiful spots in Greece - in full beautiful sun. These were the best group photos I've seen from any of our tours. Some of the group exchanged photos after the tour ended via the voluntary contact sheet. One of our favorite tour members had used her own camera for a nice secret portrait of me and my partner on Hydra. That was a nice surprise when we got home. We don't normally find many people interested in taking photos of us!

The only thing I dislike about RS tours is the "buddy system" thing where you're responsible for someone else getting back on the bus. In my case, I thought I saw my "buddy" get back on the bus, only to discover I'd misidentified someone else as her. Thank god my wife noticed my buddy was missing, otherwise we would have left without her.

I wish my tour guide had handed out a sheet with names and pics on it for this very reason.

-- Mike Beebe

To be clear, for a Buddy Check, you are only responsible for making meaningful eye contact once you are both on the bus.

Ditto to what Liz said. You need to make eye contact with them, which ensures that you don't mistake someone else for your buddy. We found it to be a simple and effective method of making sure nobody got left behind. I'm an introvert, but that level of engagement is pretty easy even for me.

CL wrote:

My 2023 Best of Turkey tour guide did a name/photo directory, which I did find helpful. Unfortunately she didn't say why she was taking our photo at the first group meeting so some didn't have the most flattering images. The handout also included the contact info (email, phone) used to make the tour reservation

The guide handed out everyone’s contact info (gleaned from reservation info) without asking, or even telling you they were doing that? I would not like that. My understanding was that RS guides were not supposed to give out people’s contact information.

My understanding was that RS guides were not supposed to give out people’s contact information.

Our guide waited until the last day, when everyone had gotten to know each other, to pass around a piece of paper for us to add our email address to. It was entirely optional, so if anyone had doubts about sharing it with the folks they'd met on the trip, they could just pass it on to the next person.

I've read that some guides create a WhatsApp group early on so folks can share pics or chat during the course of the trip. I would have loved that!

I've read that some guides create a WhatsApp group early on so folks
can share pics or chat during the course of the trip. I would have
loved that!

Me too. On our one and only RS tour so far I brought it up with my other tourmates but it went over like a lead balloon. Just like I enjoy trip reports on this Forum from places I've already been, I enjoy looking at photos by others of places I've been, to see the same place from a different perspective.

The guide handed out everyone’s contact info (gleaned from reservation info) without asking, or even telling you they were doing that? I would not like that.

I agree with samatudd and would not like it at all either. I'm very particular about giving my email and phone number to people I hardly know. The only time one of my computers was infected (knock on wood) with a virus / malware was the result of an unsolicited email from a tour member to whom I had not given my email address. Of course had I been smart, I wouldn't have opened it, so it's partly my fault.

The tour guide on our (Globus) NZ/Aust trip last year set up a Whats App for the group, which people could join or not, and it worked well.

I copy the name list that is emailed before your trip starts and paste it in the “Notes” app on my phone. Then as the trip goes I add brief notes about each person as we get to know each other.

One out of nine tours. Wish they all did it!

I appreciate you starting this post, Kathleen! If I happen to take a RS tour next year, I will definitely request that the tour guide does not share my phone number. I have given it to a few tour members previously, but that was by choice after getting to know them.

Out of 11 tours, including the Village Italy tour I’m currently on I’ve only done the dreaded name game once. That was my first tour in 2014. I think most guides do none at all or a very abbreviated version several days into the tour, they know nobody wants to do it.

Our guide is doing a photo sheet for all of us, this is the first time I’ve heard of that. No one has ever given out my personal information. If people want to volunteer their email on the last day they can, extremely no pressure sign up sheet.

And the buddy system is the best, makes leaving to the next stop sooo much faster.

"Dreaded name game" is so true for me. Luckily it hasn't been done on my last few tours, so I think the guides realize it is not popular. I do LOVE the photo with names and the buddy system and find them very helpful.

I thought I saw my "buddy" get back on the bus, only to discover I'd
misidentified someone else as her. Thank god my wife noticed my buddy
was missing, otherwise we would have left without

I don't know if we were instructed to or if it was just what my buddy and I did, but we made eye contact and pointed at each other.

As for the name game, I sucked at it while my wife rattled everyone's name off like she had known them for years, but I'm grateful we did it. It saved me the embarrassment of still not knowing all the names by the end of the tour. But that's just me, I can name you every dog on my street but no clue as to the humans they live with.

Our guide emailed us a group photo with the names attached which was also helpful.

Our tour guide, the fabulous Deborah, did that for our 2019 Best of Italy tour. Back then I thought it was a great idea; now even more so as I could use it to recall names of people in the tour photos I took.