Create your dream trip with a Customized Tour

If you’re looking to craft a Customized Tour around a niche interest like filming locations for your favorite shows or movies (“Outlander” or “Dungeons and Dragons” anyone?), your first step is to find people who share that interest with you. Once that’s done, you can crowdsource activities, locales, and can’t-miss restaurants.

Bettye has found that her group members love offering input on her tour’s customized elements. “I have found that it piques interest,” she said. Whether it’s stopping in the Sicilian town where a group member’s family came from or visiting the picturesque city of Dresden, Bettye is always looking for fun additions that make her group members feel their ideas are heard. “I always say, ‘What can I do to customize it?’” she said. “‘Give me a list and let me do my research.’”

Pro tip: Don’t forget optional excursions! Bettye’s group votes on each excursion offered on their Customized Tour and decides whether or not to make it an included activity. “My group likes to be involved in that process, and they like that personal touch,” said Bettye.

From Egypt and Iceland to Mexico and Canada, the list of destinations your Customized Tour can visit is vast. We suggest that you choose a place where your group of travelers wants to go, then start making a list of what you all must see, do, and, of course, eat!

“Research what Go Ahead has to offer at each one of the places on tour, but also research places nearby that would be special additions to it,” said Bettye. Our itineraries are handcrafted by our own travel experts, which means it’s easy to pick and choose some of our most popular destinations, like Venice, Italy, and pair it with our more off-the-beaten-path locales, like Split, Croatia. So go ahead, take a look at our itineraries and choose where you want to go and what you want to see as you plan your Customized Tour.

Pro tip: Diversifying how you get from point A to point B can only sweeten the journey for you and your group. “Adding the train saves time, and people can relax while seeing such different scenery,” said Bettye. Whether you’re looking for a ferry to get you from Athens to Mykonos or a train to take you from Anchorage to Seward, let your Tour Consultant know how you want to get around your destination and they’ll modify your tour to help make it happen.

If you see any destinations or activities on our existing tours that interest you, ask your Tour Consultant to work them into your itinerary. Bettye does this regularly and recalled one of her group trips that was inspired by particular activities on two different tours of France. “I wanted to do a Provence and the French Riviera tour, but I also wanted to do the Food & Wine: A Taste of Bordeaux & Burgundy tour [with the Champagne extension],” she said. “We started in Nice and we for sure wanted to do the walk around Cap Ferrat. And we did food tastings as we made our way up to Paris.” By combining existing aspects of the Food & Wine Tour with the destination elements of another, she was able to build a one-of-a-kind trip. Tres magnifique!

Whether you want to draw directly from different Go Ahead tours like Bettye or start from scratch, the sky’s the limit. Once you start to work with your Tour Consultant and give them all of the details for your dream trip, we get to work researching and crafting an itinerary. We generally turn around a sample itinerary within five days, and in about two to four weeks, you’ll have a finalized trip ready to go. It’s as easy as that! Once the tour is finalized, our team will create marketing materials for you to give out to your group and potential travelers.

Pro tip: Plan your Customized Tour about one year in advance. Since we’re creating a brand-new itinerary, it’s always good to have some lead time. Plus, it gives you time to publicize your trip and get more people to join you.

Customized Tours work well for travelers who are part of a group or club—think alumni clubs, church groups, and workout classes. This makes them a natural option for people like Bettye, who established a travel group as a Group Coordinator before she started customizing her tours. Group Coordinators are travel lovers like you, who gather groups of friends and family to see the world with and enjoy one free spot on tour for every six people they bring along. Plus, the rewards don’t stop with a free trip—Group Coordinators stack up points per traveler, per day on tour, which increase with milestone trips and can be spent on even more travel.

These globetrotters love utilizing our Customized Tours option and easily promote their unique itineraries to previous travelers. Whether or not you’ve traveled as a Group Coordinator before, designing a Customized Tour for a group with a mutual passion is an excellent way to get your spot on tour for free.