Last month, I wrote a guest post about Solo Travel vs. Group Travel at Nomadic Matt’s Travel Blog.

Today, Matt follows up with some great thoughts on Good Group Travel - his experience with Gap Adventures, what people really think of tour groups, advantages with organized travel and why first time travellers should consider group travel.

Head over to Good Group Travel and join in the discussion.

TEXT: David Di Cristo

There’s something about islands. Maybe it’s the idea of a limited, knowable place with definite boundaries. Maybe it’s the idea of an isolated place, cut off from the cares and worries of the rest of the world. Whatever it is, it makes the island a powerful symbol. Avalon, Bali Hai, Treasure Island, Utopia, the desert island to be marooned on with (your choice here), islands are the very stuff of myth and adventure.

Even against that kind of competition, real islands don’t come off too badly. What about a scenic island country such as New Zealand? Accommodation in New Zealand includes a range of hotels, motels, lodges, backpackers, holiday houses and bed & breakfasts. Real places with real inhabitants that live ordinary lives. Still, right or wrong, their larger-than-life names mean paradise to the rest of the world. On the other end of the scale, Devil’s Island is equally legendary. In between those extremes are literally numberless islands, as big as Greenland or as small as you can imagine.

And why not imagine an island? Your island might be warm and sunny with year-round shirt-sleeve weather, unlimited golf and exquisite vegetarian cuisine. Perhaps you’d prefer a cool, invigorating climate with some skiing and salmon fishing. Maybe nothing but a classic South Pacific coral island with pareu-clad Polynesians will do. It could be you’re entranced by the thought of the exotic; you yearn to immerse yourself in a totally different environment, language, culture and cuisine.

Well, they’re out there. All the islands I described are real and there are thousands more, each at least a little different, some literally worlds apart. Dream up the perfect island for you, then start looking. It’s out there, I promise, and you can get there from here.