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Tropical Experience Travel Services - Tours of the Philippines
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Self-Guided Tours Around the Philippines with Tropical Experience
We organize self-guided tours where accommodations, transportation, tours and activities have already been prearranged as how you like them. Then, you get to travel independently following the itinerary in a custom-built Travel Handbook we will prepare specially for you.
The Philippines is an exciting place to visit where the inhabitants are famous for their kindness and their smiles. And so several people, couples especially, wrote us with the desire to travel and make explorations by themselves, autonomously go around the country. They are generally people who already travelled with do-it-yourself formulas before: for this reason they know that sometimes it is better to have things pre-organized by people who know the place well. This is even more true if they want to see and do a lot of things with a limited available time. It is possible to travel alone in the Philippines and even made possibly better to do it with us!
To discover how to have a self-guided trip to the Philippines, write us to experiencetropical@gmail.com
While we usually propose guided tours, especially for those travelling with a group so that the tour execution will be smoother and easier. The presence of a person who deeply knows the country can be a plus in terms of understanding, asking for explanations and guests having a complete experience. If you are interested in guided tours, please follow this link.
In the meantime, you can read further explanations below.
Figuring Out If You can Travel “Alone” to the Philippines
Basically, we make the following 2 questions to help discern:
1. Did you already travel in the South East Asia or at least in continents other than yours?
We usually make this question because travelling by yourself in the Philippines could be a completely new experience and you need to be sure that you are ready. You need to be able to cope with the execution of the trip, be ready for unexpected things, unforeseen delays and generally to see different faces around you, going to isolated places where the nature gives its best shows. You should also not be anxious of social contexts that could appear generally different because of the local lifestyle.
2. Are you able to communicate in English?
In the Philippines, English is the second official language and it is quite easy to find assistance with this language. English is spoken mostly in urban centers, while it is less used in the countryside. To travel by yourself in the Philippines, you need to be able to speak English. You don’t need to be very fluent, you don’t need to hold a conference speech, but you should be able to express yourself and get the messages you receive from local operators, guides, hotel personnel and so on. If you don’t speak English and you have a different mother tongue, you can be quite sure it will be hard to find someone to speak your own language.
If you answered yes to both questions, maybe you can ask for a proposal for a self-guided tour to execute by yourself. Otherwise, ask us for our “classic” fully-guided tours of the Philippines. Always contact us through e-mail at the address experiencetropical@gmail.com.
How our “Self-Guided” tours work, with no guide
1. We define the itinerary together: communicate with us by e-mail and explain what you would like to do. You will be talking with a tour operator that has a good experience in organizing tours for people who like to have do-it-yourself trips.
2. Reservation: once we have agreed on your itinerary and its details, you will receive instructions on how to reserve. The reservation should be made in advance: since it is a not-guided trip, we need to take care of many details and carefully prepare a “Travel Handbook” for you.
3. Travel Handbook: a couple of weeks before the starting date of your tour, you will receive at your e-mail address a travel kit including a Travel Handbook, which will follow your program day by day, including explanations, specific instructions, addresses, contact information of local partners. Together with it, you will received all needed vouchers and documents for your reservations (hotels, flights, ferries etc.). The Travel Handbook will be custom-made for you, using English language.
4.Travelling: each aspect of your tour will be organized and you will transfer from one destination to another autonomously with airplanes, ferries or other reserved means of transportation. In each destination, you will find a local operator (our trusted, tried and tested partner), ready to assist you (in English language). In some cases you will have an accredited local guide, in other cases a driver or a boatman will be enough. The not-organized parts of your tour will be explained in the Travel Handbook, so that you can be oriented and advised about what to do or even where to eat during your free days. If ever the unforeseen would happen, you can directly contact the local partner. In any case, you can also find us by e-mail or phone.
How to Start to Prepare Your Self-Guided Tour of the Philippines
You can choose one of our sample tours of the Philippines, write us at experiencetropical@gmail.com and we will send a version to you, made ideal for those travelling with no guide. Or, you can check the our list of the best destinations of the Philippines and discover which ones are those that you prefer. Then, write us an e-mail and let’s build a very customized tour together.
For inquiries, you can also use the Contact Form below. You will receive an answer by E-mail as soon as possible!