a room, a way of getting about, and no plan
Independent Vacation Packages With Nothing in the Diary
Independent vacation packages where the booking is a bed and a set of keys, and the rest of the week is a blank page.
The least expensive shape of holiday here, and the one that asks the most of you. Nobody has planned your Tuesday, which is the point, and also the risk.
It works when the ground is easy to move around and dense enough that a wrong turn still lands on something worth stopping for. All four of these are that kind of place, which is why they are in this band and not another.
It fails for people who say they want an empty week and then feel adrift by Wednesday. That is the commonest unhappy booking in this trade, and it is why the sixth row on every page below names who the shape does not suit.
What each page here prints before you ask
- Zero committed hours on most days, and the exceptions counted
- A written road sheet, so a blank day is not a blank map
- One number that reaches somebody in the region, for the whole stay
The other three shapes
- Nothing in the diaryBeds and transport are booked. Nothing else is, and every hour is yours to spend or waste.4 trips, from $1,780 per person
- One fixed thing a dayOne booked appointment each day. The other seven or eight hours belong to you.4 trips, from $2,190 per person
- A program with gapsA guide holds the route and the mornings. The afternoons are left loose on purpose.4 trips, from $3,120 per person
- Every hour heldA timetable somebody else keeps. On four of the five there is no alternative to it.5 trips, from $4,180 per person
The bar on each is a proportion, not a color: it shows how much of an average day is already spoken for.