Hire A Local Tour Guide

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Meggan: Hey everyone, and welcome back to Travel Tip Tuesday with the Travel Mug Podcast. Of course.

Jenn: Woo woo. Yay.

Meggan: I am Meggan joined as always, and really couldn't do this without Jenn and today. We wanna talk about hiring a local guide and the advantages of that.

So as our listeners know Peter and I are getting ready to go to Cuba. That is if Sun Wing doesn't suddenly stop flying out of Halifax to Cayo Santa Maria because man, they are an unpredictable airline. , but I must digress.

Jenn: Woo. What a rollercoaster.

Meggan: Oh, it is not cool. Just keep us in your thoughts, everybody.

Jenn: Yeah.

Meggan: But as I was thinking about our trip to Cuba, I was reflecting back to when we went to Cuba in 2019 and a day tour that we did into Havana from Varadero. So before the trip, we did some research. We knew we wanted to finally make it to Havana, as we had previously stayed in Cayo Coco, and it's not really feasible from there.

So, Varadero it was, and we learned you could actually hire a local guide who speaks English and it was actually a personal tour, so us the guide and a personal driver. And it was in an old fashioned car, which Cuba has plenty of.

Jenn: Mm-hmm. .

Meggan: So I got in touch with our hotel in advance and they actually arranged the whole thing for us. So that was really convenient. So at the hotel on the day of the tour, the gentleman at the hotel who had arranged it for us, met us in the lobby on the morning of uh, introduced us to our guide and our driver and off we went. I could tell right away that the tour was gonna be great. She sort of turned around in her seat and was chatting with us.

So I could tell it was gonna be sort of interactive and it was amazing. Probably the best we'd done in a Caribbean country. And I would have to say it was because of the personal nature of it.

Jenn: Nice.

Meggan: Um, So we weren't shoved in a tour bus with, you know, awful people, sch flubbing about. And we gained like so much knowledge about what we were seeing, but also lots of burning questions that we have about what it was actually like to live in Cuba.

Jenn: Mm-hmm. .

Meggan: And I guess I bring all of this up because it was such a great experience for many reasons. And the advantages are great. So you're supporting local. First and foremost, we talk about, you know, supporting local a lot on this podcast, and that's exactly what this kind of tour is. Secondly, were we able to ask so many questions, so not just what a guide at the front of the tour bus wanted to tell us.

Jenn: Mm-hmm. .

Meggan: And we learned that our guide actually walked 60 minutes every morning that she did a tour to make it to where she had to meet the driver for then, you know, to go and pick up the people they were doing the tours for. So we realized like just how important this kind of support was. She was of course able to tell us the history of the area, the architecture and the buildings in Havana, their significance.

She offered a great recommendation for lunch and we really just felt incredibly safe with her. Although, you know, we've never felt unsafe in Cuba. That's one of the huge advantages of going there. Plus she spoke the local language, so that was just kind of another level of comfort, cuz of course, you know, asking for a beer in Spanish isn't gonna help you when you're stranded in a city.

You know, that's all you know, , and that's not helpful. I'm sure they can point you in the direction, but what if you needed something different? So really, I, if you're going south or really anywhere, I'm sure this is possible in many places. And you aren't sure though about a local guide and you've booked with a travel advisor.

They often know people, I mean, they themselves have done trips or bookings in the past, so ask them for advice. There's always the internet to do research. That's actually how we found out about this particular tour type. I would like never, ever do a bus tour again if I could do this everywhere we went.

And again, supporting the local tourism industry that was. the biggest part of it for us. So, Jenn, have you ever done anything like this while traveling?

Jenn: No, not really. We had one lined up for Italy, which we didn't get to go on. But that would've been lovely. The only. One that I've really done that wasn't like a bus tour, was like a fun kitchy muggle tour in London. It was a walking tour, but it was super fun. Yeah, they kind of brought us around different spots in London and showed us stuff from the movies and stuff that inspired Harry Potter and. It was very cool. It was a small group, so that made it nice. But yeah, I love the idea of a private tour, obviously because then you're never waiting for people, which is the large downside to bus tours. There's always a group that doesn't come back on time and they're very annoying. But yeah, I'd love to do that. Cuba if slash when we ever make it there, I think my dad and stepmom did. , basically the same idea tour as you and I know that they really enjoyed that experience.

Meggan: Great. And another one I wanted to mention actually, just even off the top of my head is when we were in Ireland as well, we actually did a in Northern Ireland we did a black cab tour. So we also had someone who literally picked us up in a, a black cab and we did a tour and talked about the troubles, you know, the Northern Ireland issues that they went through and are still to some degree going through and again, A guide, it was Peter and I and it was incredible. So those are the kind of things, and it sounds, you know, when you talk about personalized things, people think, well, I would never be able to afford that. But there are companies out there that offer these tours and because it's a company, they can actually sort of, it's not an outrageous price. I remember that one being like 45 euros.

Jenn: Yeah.

Meggan: And we. No, and we were with him for probably two or three hours. So it is possible, it's not just for sort of, you know, the rich, you can fit it into your budget.

Jenn: Yeah. Love that.

Meggan: I know well everyone happy planning. And that's it for this week's Travel Tip Tuesday. So as always, you can find us on social media at Travel Mug Podcast on our website, travel mug podcast.com, as well as our YouTube page. I don't know if we really talk about that enough, but you actually, I don't think we do.

Jenn: You can look at us.

Meggan: I know you could see us. I mean, we're a delight to listen to. But looking at us would be even more delightful. So if you would prefer to watch our episodes, check us out there at Travel Mug Podcast and leave us a review if you enjoyed the episode or share the episode with the Travel Loving Pal that you think it could benefit.

We always love the feedback. So until next time, take care. Bye

Jenn: bye.