With so many to choose from, how do you select which tour company is best for you.? To help decide if a motorcycle tour is worth it, you must consider three important factors: The Value, The Guides, and The Hat.
This is Part #2 of a three-part series meant to help educate you on three things to consider before signing a contract.
You can find the other parts at:
Choosing the Right Motorcycle Tour Company Part #1
Choosing the Right Motorcycle Tour Company Part #3
Part 2: The Guides:
One of the major advantages of a guided motorcycle tour over a non-guided motorcycle tour (AKA self-guided motorcycle tour) is that you have a tour guide/road captain. Now before you laugh and say “No sh*t Sherlock”, let me explain in more detail.
A tour guide can get you from point A to point B. My dog can get you from point A to point B (especially if B is the nearest tree). Hell, my phone can even do.
However, a GREAT tour guide does more. A great road captain is like the Idiot Savant* of the Slab, the Einstein of Everything, the Master of Moto,
They might not be able to tell you what the current price of your favorite stock is but they can easily tell you every gas, food, and bathroom stop for the next 1000 miles on your tour. For example:
- Road closed due to an emergency? The Totally Tubular Tutor on Two’s can calculate an alternate route from memory without even breaking out a map…. and the route will take the most beautiful and scenic route ever seen by humankind.
- Bike break down in the middle of Death Valley? Lucky for you, the Captain of Cruising is your tour guide. With a paperclip, Grandma’s rosary beads, a full beer keg, a stethoscope, and a half-full can of hairspray, you’re back in business. In fact, you’re better than before. Your repaired bike now has triple the horsepower and you’ll never need new tires again.
Seriously though, a great motorcycle guide makes it so that all you have to do is enjoy the ride. A great guide will handle everything else so that your vacation is just that… a vacation. No need to worry about the “hows” of your trip i.e. how to get there, how do I reserve my hotel, etc?
Having an experienced tour guide is so important to the enjoyment of your trip that you want to make sure to ask about this in advance. I can think of several situations in which you might not get the best guide available.
- Research Tour – Ask if the specific tour that you’re considering is research trip to plan a new tour route. This isn’t always a bad thing, and some of my best experiences have been on other tour operator’s research trips. For me, it’s okay as long as the operator is upfront about it BEFORE any money exchanges hands and they offer the tour with a reduced rate to compensate me for being their guinea pig.
- New Guide – Another thing to watch out for is getting a newbie tour guide. This, in itself, isn’t a bad thing but a sign to ask more questions. Make sure to ask if the trip will include more experienced staff members. The best way to properly train a new guide is on the road during real tour operations.
As Part 2 ends, I hope you will find this information to be even more useful than Part #1 in narrowing down your choice of tour operators for your next dream guided motorcycle tour.
Look forward to Part 3: The Hat next week!
You can find the other parts at:
Choosing the Right Motorcycle Tour Company Part #1
Choosing the Right Motorcycle Tour Company Part #3
*Idiot Savant – a person who is highly knowledgeable about one subject but knows little about anything else, like rocket science for example.
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