I took a guided tour yesterday. I'm not really a guided tour person -- I didn't like climbing in and out of the minivan, I didn't like having someone else decide when I get to stop to take pictures, and I didn't really appreciate the day's agenda. Hey, it was an experiment, every now and then I like to try out something I might not otherwise do. It's good to look at other ways of travel. I don't judge -- if you like guided tours you go right ahead, they're crazy efficient and on good ones, you learn stuff.

I did, however, have tremendous respect for the tour's guide. The guy was a font of knowledge, an encyclopedia of facts, Latin names, historic dates, geography, you name it, they know it. And they deliver all this stuff in a consistent patter, all while staying charming and patient, oh so patient. Imagine. The mind boggles.

Here's a excerpt from a post that sums up what a good tour should leave you feeling:

Other than self-guided tours with a handset or headset, I can't remember the last time I had a professional tour guide lead me around a city, showing me the sights. The "Archeological Windows" tour we took last weekend literally opened doors to places in Zürich I had never seen or heard of.-- Guided Tour, Vacation Viernes

Here's a round up of some guided tours -- food focused, bonus! -- in New York City. I've taken the food tours at Pike Place Market, and I rather enjoyed them.

Even if I go to New York pretty regularly, I am now planning my 15th trip, I always find guided tours I have never done before. I love bus tours, I will talk about one in particular in this article, but I prefer the walking tours.--Best Guided Tours of New York City

I love this weird little excerpt from Bananarchist:

When Cynthia and I traveled through Penang, we took a guided tour of the Cheong Fatt Tze mansion led by a hilarious, dry, flamboyant, extremely intelligent Chinese-Malaysian man, who said things like, "This portrait of Cheong Fatt Tze has been consumed by termites. We've sprayed it with pesticide. We are all hoping for the best," "This house was called La Maison Bleu, parce que...c'etait bleu," and very slyly, at the end of the tour, "This tour, like all other well-planned commercial tours, ends...in the gift shop...where we try to squeeze just a few more ringgit out of you." During the tour, he also found reason to say, "If you look into any Chinese person's refrigerator, anywhere in the world, I guarantee you will find Tupperware, but not name-brand Tupperware, generic Tupperware, old take-out containers, washed out margarine tubs. Chinese people waste nothing, and I am rather proud of this."--Bananarchist

And this is another nice reaction to a guided adventure:

The Aboriginal guide was fascinating. He talked about Aboriginal culture, the importance of Dreamtime, respect for the environment, respect for each other, how Aboriginals lived off the land for 40,000 years, the extended kinship model, the need to take just what you want and not what you need. In fact, there are so many areas we could learn from the Aboriginal culture. -- Blog in Isolation

As I've said, the guided tour thing isn't really my deal, but there are times when it totally makes sense. Our trip to Southeast Asia was guided, and that was not a bad thing -- but picked a company that provided plenty of free time and never rushed us anywhere. And I had an agenda: introducing my husband to travel in "difficult" destinations. Guided tours are great for people who don't want to stress over logistics, who don't have a lot of time, or who want the added insight that having a knowledgeable guide can bring. They're also terrific for people who are anxious about traveling alone or who want to start traveling and just don't know how. While I'm not for them for me, I do think they can be a great way to go.

Pam blogs about travel and other adventures at Nerd's Eye View.