Vacation is one word everyone loves. Some of us plan it to the smallest details, while others decide on the last minute on how they will spend their free time. And with thousands of possible destinations we are faced with making endless choices. But there is one choice we all have to make when it comes to our vacation: getting a sightseeing tour guide or sightseeing on our own. Generally tours have very tight itineraries in order to see as much as possible, but don't give you much time at the places you see.

As a lot of people do not appreciate that a personal tour guide could be a good solution, taking you wherever you want to go on a custom tour. Going away without opting for a sightseeing tour guide can also be done - you can travel with a book and map, as long as you are a bit flexible and allow time for getting lost or spending a bit too much at that wonderful museum.

Another option would be to take a relatively short tour of the highlights of a city and then go back to the places that really interest you. Many people find that they learn a lot more about the city that way. For example, for sightseeing in New York the double decker bus is great. You buy a two day pass and you can get on and off as you like, and it hits most of the highlights of the city. A personal tour guide can do the same thing, but will also assist you in finding the attractions that interest you the most.

How is a tour guide expected to be? Most vacationers say that patience is the most important aspect (but without showing you are trying to be patient), but they expect some other things from their tour guides, such as attention, answering all the questions, not getting impatient if they get asked a million questions or if someone wants to contradict them, caring for people, knowing what to do in dangerous circumstances, protecting the tourists. As well as that, a personal tour guide should be warm, friendly, helpful, knowledgeable, and have a good sense of humor. The “good dictator" attitude does not help at all, and at the end of the day a tour guide that acts like that is likely to lose all tip money.

But even if you decide to go with a sightseeing tour guide, you should do some research before you go on vacation. If you have time learn the basic expressions which are very important when getting around (you may get lost right when the tour guide drops you off…). As well as that try to read about the history of those places and anything that may interest you – this way you can ask your sightseeing tour guide to take you there instead of hindering you to go to places you are not interested in seeing.

Finally, we should mention that all is relative – there are successful sightseeing tours and disastrous ones, just like there are excellent tour guides and guides that are a disgrace to their profession. There are stories of people who went on a perfect organized tour and the next one turned out to be like boot camp. In the end, there is no perfect recipe for finding a tour guide, but there is a very good piece of advice: research until you are happy with your choice! Whether you like very organized trips or less restricted ones with free time to browse at your own leisure, make sure you have enough information when making your decision.