As a seasoned solo traveler and avid trip planner, it never occurred to me to travel with a tour operator. So when Scholarly Sojourns reached out about partnering together on a whisky-focused trip to Scotland, I was skeptical. But after going on the life-changing trip, I’m convinced that traveling with a tour operator has lots of benefits.
First, some background. Scholarly Sojourns is a tour operator focused on incredible experiences combined with a scholarly aspect, like castles, literary or historical periods, wine and whisky, and so on. The small group tours are led by an expert in the field, like a professor or certified professional. (A tour operator creates packages and sells them, while a travel agency just sells pre-packaged tours.)
Scholarly Sojourns invited me to partner with them on a custom trip through Scotland focusing on whisky. I designed the itinerary and gathered the attendees. They dealt with all the planning and logistics. (Our Whisky & Wonders of Scotland tour was custom, but Scholarly Sojourns offers similar whisky tours.)
Tour operators are often more expensive than figuring out travel plans yourself. So here’s why it’s worth it to travel with a tour operators.
Editor’s Note: This post and others about the trip are not sponsored by Scholarly Sojourns. Our partnership was strictly for the trip itself, and all the articles written about the trip are my own personal opinions inspired by the experience.
6 Reasons to Travel With a Tour Operator like Scholarly Sojourns
1. All the hard work is done for you.
Anyone who’s planned an extensive trip in a foreign country can tell you how much work it is to figure out hotels, restaurants, and things to do. But when you travel with a tour operator, all that work is done for you.
And not only does the tour operator figure out — and book — all the nitty gritty details, everything has been vouched by someone with a lot of experience. Let’s be honest: when you book a hotel you’ve never stayed in, in a city you’ve never been to, the hotel and its neighborhood is a risk. But with Scholarly Sojourns, they knew the best hotels in each area and booked us accordingly.
And it’s not just hotels. Our tour director knew which areas of Scotland to stay overnight in as we criss-crossed the country. He knew which restaurants were the best in each place, not because of reviews, but because he’d personally been to most of them. He knew which distilleries offered the best experiences. His expertise gave us the best possible experience at every turn.
2. You get access to experiences no one else does.
Because Scholarly Sojourns has built relationships with many places, we were able to have experiences that would have been impossible without them.
For example, the first night of our tour ended with a whisky pairing dinner at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society Vaults, an exclusive members-only bar and restaurant. We’re not members, but Scholarly Sojourns has a relationship with them.
Even at distilleries on Islay, where our Scholarly Sojourns director has traveled more than 70 times, we were able to get special experiences. All of the whiskies we tasted were upgrades from the usual offerings, and one distillery even stayed open late so our group could stop by.
3. When something goes wrong, there’s an expert there to handle it.
As any seasoned traveler knows, traveling is not without its hiccups. But when you travel with a tour operator, someone is there to handle the issues with expertise and experience.
For us, it happened on our way to Islay. The island of Islay is notoriously difficult to get to, with weather regularly delaying or canceling the ferries and flights. And sure enough, the ferry was delayed when we arrived at the Kennacraig Ferry Terminal. After two hours, the delay turned into a cancellation.
When we heard the news, everyone started to get tense — we had the next two days packed with plans on Islay! But our Scholarly Sojourns tour director jumped at the issue, making dozens of phone calls to figure out how to get us there. Because he was handling all the issues, we were able to relax without stressing.
Our tour director was able to get us on the next ferry as foot passengers, but without our bus we’d have no way to get around Islay. So he continued to make more calls to find us transportation, exhausting every resource he knew on the island. Luckily, our bus was able to squeeze on the ferry (the last vehicle on!) so the crisis was averted. But I knew we were in good hands even if we hadn’t gotten so lucky.
4. It’s less stressful. Like a lot less!
Obviously had we not been traveling with Scholarly Sojourns, the issues with the Islay ferry could have been disastrous. But my confidence in our tour director meant that instead of stressing for three hours, I was able to just be bored waiting for the ferry. (Which is by far a better scenario!)
But it’s not just the travel hiccups that are stressful. On Islay, we stayed in the tiny town of Port Ellen. Because so many closures happened during Covid, only two restaurants currently serve food there. So our tour director called each spot, found out how many tables they had available, and divided up our group accordingly so that we could all have a nice meal.
We also ran a pretty tight schedule on Islay, visiting 7 distilleries in just two days. It’s easy to linger at a distillery, taking pictures, enjoying whisky, and shopping. But our tour director constantly had his eye on the time, and would gently nudge us to move on so we wouldn’t miss our next reservation. We didn’t have to stress about the time, because traveling with a tour operator meant someone was there to do it for us.
5. Scholarly Sojourns thought of everything before we even needed to.
Not only did our tour director think ahead about dinner on Islay, he would check us in at the hotels on the phone before we arrived at each place. So we could walk straight into our rooms when we got there. That’s when I realized all the little things that Scholarly Sojourns was doing for us before we even recognized it.
Like all the snacks and drinks that they stocked our bus with. We spent a lot of time in our bus driving around Scotland on our trip, and often needed drinks and snacks because we were hungry or bored. (You know how road trips are!) Our tour director packed our bus with water, whisky, and snacks — even introducing us to local favorites.
There are dozens of other little examples of things Scholarly Sojourns thought of before we needed to. And I’m sure there are two dozen more things I didn’t even realize! The point is, when you travel with a tour operator their expertise and experience comes into play in ways you probably will never think about.
6. You get WAY more bang for your buck.
When I first started recruiting friends and family to join me on my Whisky & Wonders of Scotland tour, many people balked at the cost. And I admit, it wasn’t cheap. But having been to Scotland four previous times, I knew how difficult it was to get around the country and how expensive it was to hire a driver. Not to mention how much planning and work the logistics required. So I knew it was a good deal.
Now, having gone on the trip with Scholarly Sojourns, I understand everything included in the cost. And it’s more than meets the eye at first glance. We ended up getting more than we paid for, and our group agreed.
Yes, the price included hotels, all distillery tours and tastings, entrance to castles, a driver every day, all breakfasts, and multiple whisky-pairing dinners. And of course the legwork in arranging all that for 16 people. But it also included inside information about Scotland throughout the drives, roadside whiskies, expert advice at every turn, snacks and waters on the bus, someone to handle any issues, several bar tabs, and more. There were so many little things, it’s hard to list them all out.
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I love planning trips and figuring out the details of a new destination. It’s literally one of my favorite hobbies! But even I have to admit how much more convenient and less stressful it was to travel with Scholarly Sojourns. And while I can’t vouch for all tour operators, I will definitely travel with Scholarly Sojourns again!
Obviously if you’re planning to travel with a tour operator, make sure you vet them. Do your research online and elsewhere to make sure they are legit. And it never hurts to double check your hotels or itinerary. As with all travel, be cautious and aware. But also trust and have fun. That’s what makes traveling such an amazing experience.
Related :: 10 Days in Scotland, A Guide to Whisky in Edinburgh, What to Know Before Going to Islay
