At Goway, we want to get you ready for a triumphant return to travel. Part of that is giving you all the info about which destinations are trending and why you should book ahead. Another part is explaining the details behind how Goway labels vacations.
Goway creates in-depth vacations for globetrotters. If you look at a typical trip page on our website, you’ll notice that most trips are labelled as either private-guided or tailor-made. By using private-guided and tailor-made as our baseline labels for vacations, we can craft highly-personalized, immersive travel experiences for every kind of traveller. The vacation as listed on the website is always just the jumping off point. Your collaboration with a Goway Destination Specialist is what creates a 100% unique vacation and brings it to life.
Goway provides both private-guided and tailor-made vacations incorporating deluxe, first-class, and moderate accommodation levels, as well as numerous styles of transportation, including private car, minibus, rail, coach, ferry, self-drive rentals, motor homes, and of course airplanes. We have fly-in safaris, boutique small-ship cruises, and traditional cruises along the world’s best routes. In short, we do everything.
In the introductory blurb for trips on our website, you’ll find the trip type and accommodation level listed in full-caps off the top. But what exactly is the difference between the two? Can a tailor-made vacation be private-guided? Are you not able to tailor aspects of a private-guided vacation? Let us explain.
What is the difference between a private-guided and tailor-made vacation?
A private-guided vacation has a dedicated private guide each day
A private-guided vacation with Goway is all about the private guide. Each day as you head from destination to destination, you’ll have an expert professional take you around and help you to navigate the environment as well as understand the cultural and historical importance of the location. Your guide not only speaks the local language, but understands the customs and cultural practices of whichever destination you’re in. If you’re visiting the Greek Islands on a private-guided vacation, your guide will speak English and Greek and be able to explain the importance of Delos to Greek history and myth and how Apollo and Artemis were born there. They’ll also be able to give you advice on good restaurants on Mykonos or introduce you to little hidden gems that most tourists miss.
On some trips, you’ll have the same guide throughout the entire vacation. On others, the guide may change each day depending on the location. Sometimes you’ll have both a driver and a guide, while other times, the guide might do double-duties behind the wheel. It depends on the trip and destination, but the one constant is that you’ll have a private guide on each tour that you take.
Take a vacation to England, for example. You may head on a walking tour through London with your guide and learn about the city’s history. You may then meet a separate driver to connect to Bath, where you’ll meet a new guide for a private tour of the city’s Roman ruins and bathhouses. The next day, you may go on a cycling tour through the Cotswolds in the company of a guide that is also your cycling leader. Afterwards, this guide may drop you off at your accommodation in Stratford-upon-Avon where you’ll meet another guide the following day who traces Shakespeare’s legacy throughout the town. You may have a new guide each day, but the private and expert advice is a constant throughout your entire journey through England.
A tailor-made vacation incorporates many elements on a personalized itinerary
With Goway, a tailor-made vacation is all about you and your specific travels needs and dreams. It can incorporate private-guided tours, but it doesn’t automatically include them. The itinerary can be made from scratch or based on the suggested itineraries available on our website. You and your Goway Destination Specialist will make the trip that’s right for you.
If a trip is listed as tailor-made on our website, the trip details are simply a suggested itinerary. You could book an Egyptian vacation, for example, and enjoy a private tour through Cairo and to the pyramids. But then you’ll fly to Luxor and begin a cruise along the Nile River to Aswan and your daily excursions to temples and tombs may be a part of a larger tour group with other passengers on your cruise vessel. Once you get to Aswan, you may book a private excursion down to Abu Simbel along the border with Sudan to see its massive temples. You’ll then fly back north to Cairo and connect to the Sinai Peninsula and Sharm el-Sheikh for several days at leisure at a beachside resort. This sort of tailor-made vacation to Egypt incorporates several tour types and travel styles within one itinerary. It’s tailored around your interests and not limited by specific conditions like accommodation level or tour style.
Trips to The Islands of Tahiti and the Maldives are also good examples of tailor-made vacations. The majority of your time in both destinations will be at leisure to enjoy the warm sands and waters at your resort. But on Bora Bora, for instance, you may book a private-guided tour through the mainland to head up the mountainsides and explore small villages. Similarly, in the Maldives, you may book a snorkelling excursion out to see migrating humpback whales. These individual tours may be private-guided but the majority of your stay is at leisure, so the trip is classified as tailor-made.
Tailor-made vacations can combine a variety of travel styles. You can combine private-guided day tours, small group excursions, hop-on and hop-on bus passes in large cities, rail trips across long distances, cruises along famous rivers, and even car rentals between destinations. The only limits are your imagination and the availability of inclusions in-destination.
Now that you understand the difference between private-guided and tailor-made vacations with Goway, what are you waiting for? Book your post-pandemic vacation today and get ready to get back out there and explore the world your way.
20 May 2021, 6:33 p.m.
