Taking the Low Road

Let the tour groups go ahead of you.

Don’t try to beat them. Trust me, they’re traveling faster than you, and they’ll flatten you when they finally catch up to you. And when 20 of them join you, even a spacious great hall can get a trifle claustrophobic. When they all crowd around the tour guide in the chieftain’s library, trust me, you don’t want to be there. The £15 ($20-$30 USD) entry fee you just paid will have been very poorly spent, indeed.

Allowing yourself to be crammed together with a large tour group is a sure-fire way to get as little as possible from a tour. Often these groups are given one guide from the property or site, and that guide travels with them from room to room. The guide’s job is to answer as few questions as possible and keep the group moving along at a fairly fast clip – so that the tour bus can get them to the next site on time . . . and the next one . . . and so on. If you’re with them, you’ll be hastened along at the same ridiculous pace.

Far better to hang back when you see this lot ahead of you. No one can make you join them, and it won’t take long before they’re at least one or two rooms ahead of you. Make good use of the wait time by reading all the free literature you’ve just been handed or by checking out the booklets and information in the site’s gift shop. If you’re feeling peckish, have part of your snack or lunch.

When you’re sure they’re well out of range, begin your own tour. The resident guides will be more relaxed, more willing to answer your questions in detail, and very relieved to be dealing with only two tourists instead of 20. Having them all to yourself (or at least not sharing them with 20 other tourists) will ensure you get the most possible out of the absurdly high entry fee you just paid.