An integral part of the work of companies is the need to organize trips. At the same time, it does not matter at all which of the employees goes on a business trip - this event must be thoroughly prepared. This article will be devoted to this topic.

Today we will take a closer look at questions such as:

• organization of business trips;
• organization of trips of the head;
• organization of corporate trips.

Business trips can be both within one country and around the world. As a rule, the more contacts an organization has, the more often there is a need for travel arrangements.

Organization of business trips

As a rule, the organization of business trips is entirely entrusted to the secretary of the head. It includes such stages as the purchase of air or railway tickets, hotel booking, transfer, establishing contacts with the host, etc. Depending on the purpose for which employees are sent on a business trip, the degree of its preparation also differs. So, for example, the purpose of a business trip may be attending a conference, exhibition, advanced training, training courses, negotiations with partners or establishing new contacts. Basically, ordinary employees of the company or heads of departments go on such trips. However, this does not mean at all that the organization of these trips can not be given due attention. On the contrary, its result directly depends on the quality of the organization of a business trip. So let's look at all the points in more detail.

When organizing business trips on the territory of Russia, it takes much less time and costs than foreign trips require. To begin with, the secretary who is obliged to organize the trip needs to know exactly how many days the employee or employees should be in another city. Based on these dates, tickets must be booked. Keep in mind that traveling by rail is cheaper, but may take longer. As a result, the employee will be absent from the workplace for longer. In addition, a situation may arise when an employee arrives at the place at night or late in the evening (which happens very often when traveling by train). In this case, you will need to book a hotel in advance. Also, if the head of the unit goes on a trip, then it is unacceptable to buy tickets for him in a regular reserved seat.

Knowing the date of arrival, it is necessary to arrange a transfer. As a rule, many hotels have this service, however, if it is not available, we recommend that you agree in advance with the relevant company. Also don't forget to arrange a transfer for the return trip.

The choice of a hotel largely depends on its location. It is most convenient to give preference to those hotels that are located within walking distance from the destination of the business trip. This is especially true in cases where the event to which the employee went is strictly regulated and you cannot be late for it. In cases where there are no hotels within walking distance or they do not meet the requirements, we also recommend organizing a daily transfer.

Organization of trips of the head

When it comes to arranging executive travel, many secretaries get nervous, although it's not hard at all. The main thing to do immediately before buying tickets and booking a hotel is to ask your manager about his preferences. It is possible that he does not like to fly or prefers to stay in hotels located on the outskirts of the city. Therefore, do not be afraid to ask about it once again - in the future it will save you time and allow you to quickly choose the right option.

When choosing a place of residence, several of the most suitable options should be selected so that the manager himself can choose from those offered. Before that, check whether the hotel has free rooms for the desired date.

The organization of business trips of the head outside the country implies the presence of a visa. To apply for a visa, you must collect a package of documents that the embassy requests. To get started, you should visit the embassy website and familiarize yourself with the requirements and conditions for issuing visas. After that, you need to call the embassy - sometimes embassies do not have time to post the changed requirements on the site.

There are two types of visas: business and tourist.

To obtain a tourist visa, it is enough to request visa support from the hotel where your manager plans to stay. Often it is issued exclusively for the dates for which the hotel room is booked.

The procedure for obtaining a business visa is usually more complicated than a tourist visa: the embassy asks for confirmation of business contacts (contracts, invoices, extract from registers, etc.), therefore, for a single trip, a tourist visa is often issued through a hotel. But if your manager plans to visit the country often, it is better to apply for a business visa, especially considering that people who entered the country on a tourist visa are prohibited from doing business in its territory.

If you want to receive visa support from the hotel, then when ordering a room by e-mail or by phone, ask to send confirmation for the embassy, ​​i.e. provide visa support. The booking site sends such confirmation automatically to the specified email address. A printout of the document confirming the reservation may be asked to show when crossing the border, so print a separate copy for the manager.

Also, the organization of business trips to other countries involves the preparation of the currency. As a rule, hotel reservations are made on an advance payment in international currency. It is also necessary to foresee the availability of ATMs within walking distance from the hotel so that your manager can withdraw money from the card without any hassle. If there is no such information and the hotel does not provide currency exchange services, we recommend that you take care of the necessary amount in foreign currency before the trip.

Organization of corporate trips

The organization of corporate trips differs only in the number of employees who have to go to another city. Although this event can not be called frequent, however, many companies arrange corporate vacation trips. In this case, it is necessary to provide that the chosen hotel can provide all business travelers with places. It is also important to make sure that the transfer is roomy enough.

When organizing a corporate trip abroad, you need to make sure that employees have all the necessary documents. If a visa is required for the trip, we recommend that you draw up a plan according to which the documents will be prepared. So, after contacting the embassy and finding out the list of necessary documents (for applying for a visa), it is necessary to determine the time frame during which all employees must prepare a package of documents. Further, we recommend that you agree with the embassy on the date when they will be able to receive all employees. It is best to devote two days to this issue.

When booking tickets, you must contact the airline serving this direction in advance. You may be able to get a corporate discount with a one-time purchase a large number tickets. Also make sure that all employees are aware of the date and exact time of departure. If a lot of employees go on a corporate trip, then responsible departments should be appointed. Thus, the organization of corporate trips will not cause much trouble.

Attached files

• Order on sending an employee on a business trip (form).doc
• Regulations on business trips (form).doc
• Memo to an employee in case of a business trip (form).doc

Available only to subscribers

• Order on sending an employee on a business trip (sample).doc
• Regulations on business trips (sample).doc
• Memo to an employee in case of a business trip (sample).doc

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Which is better: an organized tour or independent travel? Everyone sooner or later asks this question. Someone prefers organized tours, someone likes independent trips. I'll tell you about my own experience. I had to go both on independent trips and organized through travel agencies. Both cases had their pros and cons.

Pros and cons of an organized tour

The most important advantage here, in my opinion, is the ease of travel arrangements. Collected everything Required documents, paid money to a travel agency - and after a while a ticket was issued, visas were issued (if the trip was abroad), tickets were bought. You can go. However, this advantage is outweighed by many possible disadvantages.

Airplane or train tickets can be bought at very inconvenient times and, if there are several airports in the city, at the most inconvenient one. Instead of a regular scheduled flight, you can get a charter flight, and here you are just lucky - sometimes it will be an old plane with very unfriendly flight attendants and a crowded cabin.

So, I live relatively close to the Moscow Sheremetyevo airport. And getting to Domodedovo or Vnukovo can be very problematic. In addition, charter flights often take off early in the morning, you have to leave the house late at night without getting enough sleep. Because the public transport does not go at this time, and leaving a personal car in the parking lot at the airport means paying extra money, you have to order a taxi or ask relatives and friends for a ride.

Often in organized tours you can overpay for a hotel, get a worse room for more money. Not to mention the fact that you can be provided with an inconvenient hotel in terms of location and service.

Another disadvantage may be your fellow travelers. Unfortunately, not all tourists behave politely, are ready to listen carefully to the guide and not be late for the bus. So, when I went to Spain - to and, then on the way back I cursed everything: the passengers demanded a movie. Not only was the sound very loud, but the level of the films was low. Because of this, the impressions of the trip turned out to be somewhat blurry.

In addition, organized tours are often limited in time. This is especially true for tours in Europe, when in a few days you visit several cities, and even countries. As a result, there is practically no time left for independent walks.

On the other hand, it may turn out that you are lucky with a hotel, a guide, and fellow travelers. I fondly remember the trip this summer, everything was organized almost flawlessly.

If you choose last minute tours, then the cheapness of the trip can pay off all the probable disadvantages, which, however, may not be.

You also need to keep in mind that there are places where you can only go as part of organized group and accompanied by a guide. For example, in National parks , some museums.

Pros and cons of solo travel

Independent travel offers much more freedom than organized tours. You independently find tickets, hotels. Now, with the development of the Internet, it has become easy. I usually use the search engine Aviasales, through which you can pick up and book flights and hotels, rent a car.

The network has a huge amount of information on cities and countries, both on special tourist sites and on travel blogs, various guidebooks are sold in stores, you can download them to your tablet from the Internet. Well, then whoever likes it: someone needs to plan the entire route in advance, someone prefers to navigate on the spot.

Perhaps, the only negative(if we are talking about a trip abroad) it can be getting a visa: sometimes queues line up at embassies almost overnight. However, recently this happens less and less often, many embassies and consulates organize special visa centers where you can call in advance and make an appointment for certain time. There are also special services that are self-employed.

For some on independent travel, poor knowledge may be an obstacle to knowing foreign language. However, if you approach this issue creatively, then the language barrier is completely overcome.

♦ These tips can be used outside of China:

In general, it seems to me that with the development of the Internet, the share of independent travel is increasing. In most cases, they turn out to be, moreover, very budgetary and affordable for almost everyone.

I prefer solo travel, unless the convenience of a tour outweighs its likely downsides. However, often the cost of the tour can be cheaper than independent travel. I talked about this in an article.

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Good afternoon, dear reader.

Innovations affect the features of the transportation of groups of children. First of all, this information is intended for the staff of child care facilities, as well as drivers of travel companies involved in the transportation of minor children.

The concept of organized transportation of a group of children

Since July 10, 2015, the concept of "Organized transportation of a group of children" has been changed in the traffic rules:

"Organized transportation of a group of children" - organized transportation of eight or more children in a bus that is not a shuttle vehicle.

"Organized transportation of a group of children" - transportation in a bus, not related to a shuttle vehicle, of a group of children of 8 or more people, carried out without their legal representatives, unless the legal representative (s) is (are) appointed (and) accompanying person(s) or designated healthcare professional.

As before, organized transportation has the following features:

• the children are on the bus;
• the bus is not public transport;
• the number of children is 8 or more.

New feature organized transport. It is carried out without legal representatives of children. Let me remind you that the legal representatives of the child are parents, adoptive parents, trustees or guardians.

So if children and their parents are traveling on a bus, for example, a sightseeing bus, this is not an organized transportation of children and the rules of organized transportation do not apply to this case.

However, there are situations when, even with the presence of legal representatives, the transportation is organized. For example, there are 8 children on the bus. The parents of one of the children act as an accompanying person. Transportation in this case is organized and requires compliance with the rules.

Accompanying children by traffic police car

First of all, the changes affected the list of documents required for the organized transportation of a group of children:

c) a decision to appoint an escort for buses by a car (cars) of a subdivision of the State Inspectorate for Road Safety of a territorial body of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as the subdivision of the State Traffic Inspectorate) or a notification of a negative decision based on the results of consideration of an application for such escort;

c) a copy of the decision to appoint the escort of buses by a car (cars) of a subdivision of the State Inspectorate for Road Safety of a territorial body of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as the subdivision of the State Traffic Inspectorate) or a copy of the notification of the organized transportation of a group of children;

Until July 10, 2015, the original decision on the appointment of an escort or the original refusal of escort was required for the transportation of children. Starting from July 10, a copy of the decision on the appointment of escort or a copy of the traffic police notification is required.

Consider the related clause of the carriage rules:

10. The head or official responsible for ensuring road safety, the organization, and in the case of organized transportation of a group of children under a charter agreement, the charterer or charterer (by mutual agreement) ensures that an application is submitted in the prescribed manner for escorting buses by cars of the State traffic inspectorate unit.

10. The head or official responsible for ensuring road safety, organizations, and in the case of organized transportation of a group of children under a charter agreement - the charterer or charterer (by mutual agreement) shall ensure, in accordance with the procedure established by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, that a notification is submitted about the organized transportation of a group of children to the division of the State traffic inspectorate in the event that the organized transportation of a group of children is carried out by one or two buses, or applications for escort by cars of the division of the State traffic inspectorate of convoys in the event that the specified transportation is carried out in at least 3 buses.

Submission of a notice of organized transportation of a group of children to the subdivision of the State traffic inspectorate is carried out no later than 2 days before the day the transportation begins.

Until July 10, 2015, the head of the group had to submit an application to the traffic police for escorting buses with traffic police cars.

Starting July 10 application for support applied only if the transportation is carried out by three or more buses. In this case, the traffic police sends an escort car.

If the children are traveling in one or two buses, then another document is submitted to the traffic police - notice of organized transportation of a group of children. In this case, the escort car is not allocated.

Documents are submitted no later than 2 days before the start of the trip.

Attention! The deadline for filing a notification with the traffic police has been changed from October 1, 2019. It is 24 hours for urban and suburban travel and 48 hours for intercity travel. This issue is discussed in .

In any case, the team leader must carry either a copy of the escort request or a copy of the organized transport notice.

Documents for organized transportation of children

d) set list food products(dry rations, bottled water) according to the range established Federal Service on supervision in the field of consumer protection and human well-being or its territorial department - in the case provided for in paragraph 17 of these Rules;

d) a list of a set of food products (dry rations, bottled water);

Starting July 10, 2015, when transporting children, a list of food kits must be available. Previously, such a list was required only if the estimated travel time was more than 3 hours.

Requirements for drivers carrying children

8. Drivers who have continuous experience as a driver of a vehicle of category "D" for at least 1 year and have not been subjected to administrative punishment in the form of deprivation of the right to drive during the last year are allowed to drive buses that carry out organized transportation of a group of children. vehicle or administrative arrest for committing an administrative offense in the field of traffic.

8. Drivers meeting the following requirements are allowed to drive buses carrying out organized transportation of a group of children:

• having work experience as a driver of a category "D" vehicle for at least one year out of the last 3 calendar years;
• not committed administrative offenses in the field of traffic, for which an administrative penalty is provided in the form of deprivation of the right to drive a vehicle or administrative arrest, during the last year;
• who have passed a pre-trip briefing on the safety of transporting children in accordance with the rules for ensuring the safety of transportation of passengers and goods by road and urban surface electric transport, approved by the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation;
• who have passed a pre-trip medical examination in accordance with the procedure established by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation.

As before, drivers who carry out organized transportation of children should not have penalties in the form of deprivation of their rights or administrative arrest during the last year.

Until 10 July 2015, drivers also had to have uninterrupted driving experience as a category D driver within the last year. This requirement becomes more loyal to drivers. Starting from July 10, it is enough to have one year of experience out of the last three years.

For example, the following situation could have happened earlier. A person has been working as a category D driver all his life. However, half a year ago he moved to a new job (also a driver). During the change of workplace, the experience was interrupted for 1 day. Until July 10, 2015, such a driver was not allowed to organize transportation of children. After July 10, there is no such restriction.

• Passing a pre-trip briefing on the safety of transporting children.
• Passage.

Situations in which a health worker is required

12. In case of organized transportation of a group of children in intercity traffic by an organized transport column for more than 3 hours according to the traffic schedule, the head or official responsible for ensuring road safety, organization, and in case of organized transportation of a group of children under a chartering agreement - a charterer or charterer (according to mutual agreement) ensures that such a group of children is accompanied by a medical worker.

12. In case of organized transportation of a group of children in long-distance traffic by an organized transport convoy for more than 12 hours according to the traffic schedule, the head or official responsible for ensuring road safety, the organization, and in the case of organized transportation of a group of children under a charter agreement, the charterer or charterer (by mutual agreement) shall ensure that such a group of children is accompanied by a medical worker.

Previously, a medical worker was required for transportation, the estimated duration of which exceeds 3 hours. Starting from July 10, a doctor is needed when transporting children only on trips whose duration is exceeds 12 hours.

This requirement has made travel arrangements easier. Many day trips for children can now be dispensed with without a medical professional.

Admission to the bus transporting children

A new paragraph has been added to the rules for organized transportation of children:

18. In the case of organized transportation of a group of children by buses, it is prohibited to allow on the bus and (or) carry in it persons not included in the lists provided for in subparagraph "e" of paragraph 4 of these Rules, except for the appointed medical worker. This prohibition does not apply to cases established by federal laws.

Only persons included in the list of accompanying persons or the list of children can be allowed on the bus.

For example, parents of one of the children not included in the preliminary list will not be allowed on the bus. Also, additional children cannot be placed on the bus.

However, the organizer always has the opportunity to add to the list of people who need to be taken on a trip.

Requirements for buses carrying out organized transportation of children

The latest change in the rules for transporting children today:

3. For the organized transportation of a group of children, a bus is used that meets the technical requirements for the transportation of passengers in terms of purpose and design, is allowed to participate in the established order in road traffic and is equipped in the prescribed manner with a tachograph, as well as GLONASS or GLONASS / GPS satellite navigation equipment.

3. For the implementation of organized transportation of a group of children, a bus is used, less than 10 years have passed from the year of issue, which meets the technical requirements for the carriage of passengers in terms of purpose and design, is allowed to participate in road traffic in the prescribed manner and is equipped in the prescribed manner with a tachograph, as well as GLONASS or GLONASS / GPS satellite navigation equipment.

The transfer is due to the fact that many organizations have not yet had time to renew their fleet of buses. The remaining requirements for buses are effective from July 1, 2015.

Attention! Since October 1, 2019, an additional requirement has been introduced that the bus must be equipped with seat belts. This issue is discussed in .

This concludes the review of the updated traffic rules and the rules for the organized transportation of children. discussed in a separate article.

Good luck on the roads!

In the described situation, parents can act as accompanying persons, the number allows. You are not required to take the deputy director of the school on the bus, the law does not require this.

Good luck on the roads!

Natalia, Hello.

In this case, 2 notifications should be submitted. The second notification should be submitted to the traffic police at the place where the second transportation began, i.e. in the traffic police of another city. You can do this through the traffic police website, instructions are given in.

Good luck on the roads!

Natalia-35

Hello, is it allowed in school bus transporting child athletes to competitions (in the region) transportation of skis, because skis are hand luggage?

Good day. We are planning a trip with children to another city. We will book a bus. Each child will be accompanied by their legal representative. There are 24 children and 24 adults in total. Do you need a traffic police escort? If yes, who should report the trip? Bus carrier or customer? Distance 450 km

Vladimir-348

Please clarify whether a child seat or restraint is required during transportation tourist bus by order of a child and up to what age?

Anastasia-97

Hello. If we are going to 26 children, 16 parents and 2 teachers. Do we need to apply to the traffic police?

Anastasia, Hello.

Indicate how many children out of 26 travel without their parents.

Angelica-8

We are going with a children's group to Belarus from a travel agency, 30 children + 4 teachers. Is it necessary to draw up documents with a notary if there is a written consent from the parents for each child?

Yes, who cares. Personally, I hate organized tours.

Cons of organized tours:

often they include unnecessary sponsorship trips to a jewelry store or fur coats (seen in Paris and Turkey);

you are partially dependent on other tourists in your group (they need to pee, souvenirs, they have a crying baby on the bus);

tours are usually the most popular places for excursions for which you have already paid. And if you want to go to a non-tourist place, and you are going to Versailles with a bus, you are sorry to refuse, you have already paid.

Pros of organized tours:

you don’t have to think about anything: what to do with yourself, how to get to the museum, where to eat, what to see. True, it is not a fact that all places will be good.

usually it is cheaper due to the travel agency, hotels on the outskirts or those in which travel agencies have special prices, sponsors, to whose store you will be taken on a tour, etc. Also Bus tours, like 7 countries in 5 days, very cheap.

there are very cool tours that are not for everyone, but especially for you. For example, in Ukraine there are guys who take designers and architects on tours. They plan cool and with them you can get, for example, to the workshops of famous architects, where you yourself would never get. Or there photo tours. In short, highly specialized tours that will interest you. Or very expensive and rare tours, such as a cruise near Antarctica.

That is, you can enjoy the tour if planning makes you hysterical and if you don't care too much about what you see on the trip. Paris and okay, it doesn’t matter to you what exactly you see (you will see the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre 100%). Or if you find a unique tour.

If independence and quality are still important to you, it is better to do everything yourself.

Pros of self-guided tours:

what you want, then you do - visit the places you want, plane or bus - choose yourself, choose the hotel yourself, everything is up to you.

sites for selecting tickets, hotels, restaurants, establishments and entertainment give complete freedom (tickets.ua, tripadviser.com, hotels.com, anywayanyday and hundreds of other sites).

a guide (book) often tells everything you need, and if you choose it correctly, you can do without a guide on the bus, as in an organized tour. The Internet, again, knows everything.

you can get into tourist places, which you will find out about on some local site, and not in tourist mass-market places, where the quality is calculated on the fact that you will never return, and others will arrive tomorrow.

many interesting routes are not the subject of organized tours. Hell, we would see the Scottish northern castles, we would climb the very high point Great Britain, would visit Glasgow, Edinburgh, Oberdeen, Inverness, Loch Ness, Isle of Skye in one organized tour. And on its own it is quite real.

Cons of self-guided tours:

you have to plan a lot and rely on yourself. Often this means buying tickets to the museum on the Internet, otherwise there will be a huge queue (Uffizi, Louvre);

you can get into a bad hotel with bedbugs (Paris :)), travel agencies usually choose trusted hotels, because reputation and all things;

some places can only be reached with a group, or it is easier to get with a group or an organized tour (in some collections, group-only excursions, cruises, etc. are most often an organized tour).

a bit harder to find a guide. I don’t know, somehow we never had the practice of ordering a city guide from the Internet without recommendations. It is always either a blogger-guide whom I read long before the trip (London, Stockholm), or on the recommendation of friends (Tallinn).

In short, an independent trip is usually easier and more pleasant to organize for yourself in simple places (cities and countries in Europe and the USA). It is easier and safer to take a tour to exotic countries, as I understand it.

It's not the same for everybody. Last year my friend and I were looking for where to relax, looking for options where we can surf (I have dreamed of trying for many years). The newbies themselves did not know how. At first we wanted to get there ourselves, find a rental of boards and try it ourselves, but in the end we decided to choose a paid surf tour. And you know, we never regretted it at all! chose the surfvan camp at your own risk - thank God. everything went very well)))

Answer

Better solo travel. Get out of your comfort zone, improve your languages, ride local public transport, rent from locals, eat with locals, go to different places, watch what group guides don’t show, get into stories that will be interesting to tell. Take risks and discover new things. And you will be happy!

Traveling alone is definitely better, and here's why:

Self-planning is a way to travel on any budget. No one in the chain between you and the computer has their own margin for food, flights, housing and all that.

Self-organization is zen. No one but you is responsible for jambs, delays and failures. And since there is no point in blaming yourself, you will only have to accept the universe with all its surprises.

Complete freedom of movement. Nowhere and never will you feel so many emotions as at the Bangkok train station without scoreboards and signs.

Hold on, friends.

1) If it European city then, of course, self-travel. Book a hotel on one of the many sites, upon arrival, buy a "city name_card" (in many European cities such cards are sold for a period of one to 3 days, they usually give free travel on public transport and free or partially discounted passes to museums), up to the suburbs have public transport, you can take an audio guide there, and if you arrive before the opening, then walk through the sights in front of all the tourist crowds. Good things about such a trip: you don’t depend on anyone, you walk wherever you want, you eat wherever you want, you merge with the city, and not with the guide’s herd. But for this: you need to plan in advance what you will visit tomorrow, after tomorrow, etc., do not spare your feet, because there is a lot of walking, it is advisable to know English.

2) If this is a trip around the country, then the question is in the budget. Everyone writes about tours like huge buses filled with time-oblivious women, sober men and their squealing offspring (hello, typical Turkey). Of course, such a journey is comparable to a descent into Hell. Another case: a driver-guide in a good car for a small company or family (assume that you don’t drive / are afraid to get confused in the maps / can’t cope with driving on unusual terrain / take a break from the steering wheel and calmly look out the window) - this, believe me, is very well and helps to know the country from the inside. However, this is a tour, not a solo trip.

3) There are concept tours, that's another story altogether.

4) Destination: The difference between East and West is great, if you are not going to experiment by placing yourself in the condition of a newly hatched chick, then it is better to use a tour operator.

Better water or beer?
Here is the same thing. You need to ask yourself a few questions, in the spirit of "what do I want to get from the trip? what resources do I have (time, money, etc.)?", and accordingly, based on the answers, it will be clear what is better in this case.

If you want to lie on the beach for a week in Turkey, because the budget is limited, too lazy to organize, and besides, you don’t know languages ​​​​and are afraid that they are needed (actually not) - then why not buy a tour.

And if you are interested in walking around Venice, then vice versa - there is no point in contacting the company - you will overpay for the tour, and the hotel will most likely be offered to hell knows where.

There is no single answer to this question. Depends on direction and what you want.

Usually an organized tour, especially if it covers several countries or cities, allows you to free your head from organizational issues and put all your strength into the perception and development of what you see. For relative comfort and efficiency in terms of time, you pay here with standardization and a somewhat incubator approach.

Traveling on your own is more fun because you can completely tailor it to your needs, interests, budget, and pace of learning. However, this requires a lot of time, emotional and physical costs, which are rewarded interesting discoveries and adventure.

Some companies offer a combination of these two approaches, and this is probably the most advantageous option. Last year I had a chance to go on a two-week trip to Vietnam with the world famous company Intrepid. We had organized basic things, such as transfers between cities and overnight stays in hotels. Everything else was optional - additional excursions, entertainment, going out, dinners, and so on. And we ourselves put together the most interesting and relevant program as if from Lego, while there was enough time and opportunities to explore the area on our own.

For me, independent travel is preferable. Sometimes you start to prepare for half a year, and this is already a great pleasure. I buy a bunch of books, a map, watch historical films, read reviews from other travelers. Finding a place to live is a special pleasure. When traveling around Europe, we ignore hotels, we book accommodation on airbnb.com We always take country houses near the area we want to explore. Having a good kitchen is so important! It is very inexpensive to live in a real medieval house! But about the cost of independent travel, I do not agree with those who write that you can save money on this. Traveling in a rented car across Europe will still cost at least 2 times more than a package tour, although it is worth it.

I am always for independent travel, because it assumes that unforeseen circumstances will arise that will need to be resolved, you can run into some kind of adventure, and so on, in general, everything will not be monotonous.

Agreeing with all those who have unsubscribed, I will add that if you are just starting to travel abroad, you are not very fluent in the local (where you are going) language and not very good at the topic where to learn-buy-live-be, I would advise you to go a couple of times with a group. You take a closer look, learn the basic things that relate to travel, etc. And then you can already go to an independent level. I traveled with groups for several years, and then it so happened that I went to Ireland "wild" - with a plan, a hotel reservation, a paid excursion to the cliffs. After this trip, I realized that I would not go with the group anymore))) This is such freedom! But it requires at least minimal preparation of the traveler :)

Depends on what you want from this trip. I will write about excursion trips, because I am not a fan of beach holidays.

When buying a ticket through a travel agency, you, of course, overpay, but you don’t bother with the route (you just pre-select from several presented), accommodation, excursions, guides, and mode of transportation. Sometimes you don't even bother with food. They just pick you up at the airport, put you on a bus and take you to where they planned. You just have to relax, listen to the guide's stories and buy souvenirs. And another bonus: most often groups go to museums faster than individual visitors.

When planning a trip on your own, you take it all upon yourself. You need to shovel a lot of information about the city or country where you are going to find out where and why you should go there :) You buy air tickets, look for housing, find out how you can get to this housing. If transfers are provided, you also need to buy train / bus tickets. But there are pluses here: you go wherever you want, you do not have to listen to the guides' ranting (if it depresses you) and make sure that you do not lag behind the group; you are the king and god of your journey, everything depends entirely on you; you can go to super-interesting, non-pop places; you lie down and get up at your convenience. And it's also much cheaper!

Personally, I went on tours and on independent trips. I love this and that. I mostly travel on my own, but when I have extra money and I don’t have the strength to explore the country on my own (previously waiting for travel planning), but I want to go on vacation, I go to a travel agency

I see a lot of opponents of the organized tour and I will put in my two cents in defense of the tours. Firstly, an organized tour is often cheaper, this applies, of course, to well-known destinations. Let's say a direct flight, accommodation, transfer and insurance come out cheaper than if you collect everything yourself, all thanks to charters from the operator, and by the way, a big plus is often a direct flight. Secondly, no one will keep you in the hotel, they will bring you, they will tell you what's what, and then do what you want, travel around the country yourself, this is already like an independent trip. In fact, the operator does not organize your trip, he simply comfortably delivers you to the place and picks you up, and then you are free to do whatever you want.

When a few years ago my sister (two of our families) and I decided to go to Koktebel, my sister first of all went to the nearest travel agency for a ticket (it was easier for her).

There she was picked up a ticket with a rest in one boarding house, but they offered strict terms of stay in it: either 6 days or 12 days. And we wanted to go for 9-10 days.

I myself found this boarding house on the Internet, found out the prices and the phone number. We contacted the owner of this establishment by phone and found out that places can be booked for any period (only in advance). So they did. We ordered (for those days that we needed), bought a train ticket ourselves, drove ourselves and rested ourselves.

After that, I thought: “But the khan will be the whole tourism business if everyone arranges their own vacation via the Internet.”

And this is partly true. Over the past few years, several travel companies have closed in our city. And those that remain survive at the expense of the organization budget travel like a two-week trip to the Crimea by bus and back for 12 thousand rubles (my husband traveled on such a ticket this year). Participants of this journey were collected throughout Nizhny Novgorod region(the bus was traveling from Nizhny Novgorod, visiting all cities, picking up travelers from other cities).

It is very difficult to organize such a trip - so that it comes out inexpensively and in an organized way. It is necessary to adjust both transport and housing to fit your needs. Without a certain experience in this matter, it is quite difficult (if you order housing, you won’t buy a train ticket; or you buy a train ticket, but you won’t pick up housing by a certain date; I once had to buy a private house in the Crimea for a month, because the hostess did not want to rent it for two weeks in mid-August, and I desperately needed this particular house, because only it had both a bathroom and the Internet at the same time, and it was in mid-August, because I went to the Crimea for a certain event).

Recently opened in Belarus tour operator, which just deals with the organization of individual travel, based on the desires and requests of travelers - openeurope.by. Moreover, offering significant savings thanks to their knowledge and connections:

This is what the modern traveler needs. Not a ready-made tour, in which you will be forced to rest as intended by the ticket. And help in organizing an individual trip.

(I once wanted to go to Europe like this, but without all these tedious bus excursions, I just wanted to walk around a foreign city, but I didn’t find such a “free” voucher, not tied to terms and dates and without excursions. At the same time, organize such a trip on your own I did not dare - I have no experience of traveling around Europe, and I do not know languages.)

There are several similar travel agencies in Russia (traditional travel agencies have separate services), but there are still few of them.

And it seems to me that it is precisely such travel agencies for individual travel that should take the place of bankrupt travel agencies that are accustomed to mass sales of the same type of vouchers, which is why they experienced great difficulties when the interests of Russian citizens changed drastically.

Of course, adapting to each individual tourist is more difficult than selling tours to everyone at once. But now and the time is such that requires an individual approach to each client.

If you don’t change to meet the demands of the time, you will lose.