I will be going on my first RS tour. Do you get a list of people who are going on the tour and can communicate with them ahead of the tour? Thinking of 2023 tour and roommate matching service. Can you reach out to to other people going solo and see if they would like to join a day ahead or after?
Posted by
Virginia, USA
5846 posts
You won’t know info about your tourmates in advance. On my last tour, they provided a list of first names only about a month in advance. Years ago, you got full names and where people were from, but they quit giving out info due to privacy reasons.
Posted by
Wisconsin
466 posts
About 30 days before your tour, you will be emailed a list of all tour members' first names along with each person's city and state of residence. The list will have the full name of your guide.
Posted by
Lynnwood, Washington
8876 posts
I have seen posts here on the forum from time to time where someone states, "Hi, I'm (name here) and I will be on such and such a tour on a certain date. I'm hoping to connect with others on the tour, especially anyone interested in pre or post tour activities."
Sometimes, they seem to get a response and sometimes they don't. They might have received a response through the private message feature, I don't know.
You can give this a try when it gets closer to the time. I think you should plan for any pre and post tour activities and lodging to be as a solo traveler and then be pleasantly surprised if you get a response. It is easy to either add nights at the tour hotel (they give you the first and last hotel contact information when you register) or find another hotel nearby. The advantage of staying at the tour hotel for pre-tour is that there will often be others from your tour staying there as well and you can start connecting at that point.
Posted by
WA State
3961 posts
I think Carol had some great advice. I haven’t traveled solo on a RS tour, but there were a number of solo’s on all of our tours. I heard positive comments about roommates.
As a couple we had a serendipitous experience
at the “RS travel reunion/test a tour guide” 5 years ago. We were standing in line to enter the event. A RS guide stopped to introduce herself and asked us and the couple in front of us what tour we were planning. Both of us said “Athens and the Heart of Greece.” We discovered we were scheduled for the same tour date 8 months later! Long story short, we communicated for months, met up a couple days before the tour and enjoyed each other’s company. We became good friends & they live about 50 miles from us. In addition we are still in contact with solo tour members and couples.
I wish you the best as you plan your first RS Tour!
Posted by
Milwaukie, Oregon
1056 posts
Back in the day, before privacy restrictions, you would have received full names and contact information of people on your trip. Nowadays all you will get is a list of first names and city locations of your tour mates. While on the tour, guides are forbidden from circulating blank sheets for participants to share their emails/addresses but participants can take the initiative to circulate such a list themselves, I’ve been fortunate to meet a couple of now good friends through this forum before we sensed up on tour together.
Posted by
Cape Cod
144 posts
We have met people on all our tours we gone on and continue to visit and with some travel with again and again.
I think it would be nice if there was a line on the sign up sheet that gives permission to give full name and add or at least city or state.
I keep looking for someone else going on theMy Way Alpine tour in August..My husband and I have been looking forward to it since January 2020.