Published in English Teaching Matters. Volume 1, Number 3, December 2000.

Good Tips for Group Trips

So, you would like to take a group to Australia?! The glamour of Sydney, the city of the Olympic 2000 games. The wonders of the Great Barrier Reef and the tropical rainforests of Queensland. The stark beauty of the outback with its kangaroos, wedge-tail eagles and wild camels, the aboriginal culture and friendly "Aussies", can make a trip to the land down under an exciting adventure and rewarding holiday. However, there are pitfalls for those daring to organize a group journey to this land of marvels which would daunt even the most intrepid "Crocodile Dundees" among us. In the following article, two such aspects will be examined.

The first danger awaiting you on the long path to preparing such an expedition, lurks in the pages of your yellow pages. You might be one of the lucky ones to find an honest travel agency with an inexpensive itinerary from the start, but chances are you’ll have to deal with at least some money hungry sharks who’ll attempt to mesmerize you with fudged figures. If you are one who yearns for amiability and unconditional trust in business transactions, forget it. The first rule from the start is: be sober, be exact, be tough. My experience has been that as soon as many travel agents see a group trip to Australia coming, a small smile spreads across their faces.

You have to imagine the great potential. They stand to earn up to twenty times the commission for a fraction the work they would have to perform for twenty individual contracts with the same program. And, that would be acceptable, but the distasteful fact is that some even try to cook the figures so as to mulct more out of your group. In short, if you are careful in your selection of the travel agency, you will save yourself a lot of time and suffering. Indeed, you will save your group lots of money and consequently feel the pride which comes from knowing you did your best for them. This feeling of integrity will help to strengthen you during the most potentially unnerving aspect of being a tour guide...leading the group!

The second potential hazard which awaits you when launching a group journey is the group itself. Let’s say you’ve found a good travel bureau and have established an interesting itinerary and a good price. Now, after advertising and spending many hours on the telephone, you are standing in front of people who want to come with you to Australia. Your first impulse may be to accept all comers. Don’t do this! You have a responsibility to the group and yourself to make sure that the journey is a pleasant one and the character of the group -i.e. the characters in the group- is the most important factor for your success in reaching this goal. Without a course in advanced psychology or fortune-telling, you can usually already gauge from the beginning whether some people will be "problems". Do yourself and the group a favor and politely dissuade these people from coming. Of course, everyone gets irritable and difficult during a long trip. The group I led to Australia this summer had to spend whole days in cramped busses, cook and clean, gather firewood, endure breakdowns, share tents in the outback for many nights and deal with unsettling situations. On one such occasion one member of the group discovered a scorpion in his suitcase which promptly proceeded to crawl up his arm. Others had to chase lizards and spiders out of their dwellings.

Under such circumstances, you have to expect some impatience, discontent and even annoyance. However, if you choose from the outset to take on an obviously sullen, irascible, seriously depressive or generally negatively oriented person, you are inviting trouble. Your well-prepared journey can fall apart and turn out to be a strain for all concerned. Everyone has their bad days and you will find that the mature and positive people you’ve taken with you will be a treasure, cheering up the group and helping everyone to deal with the inevitable problems which arise when one travels.

In conclusion, just a few tips about starting a trip to Australia:

1. Don’t go in our winter! It is a foolish myth prevalent in Germany that one should travel "down under" during the "Aussie" summer. If you are planning to visit the Outback or the North the flies and the heat will be unbearable during the summer months. In addition, swimming becomes extremely dangerous in Queensland and elsewhere in the North due to the omnipresence of box jelly-fish in coastal waters, whose stings can be fatal.
2. Take a few days to relax after landing. The great time difference – nine hours- and the lengthy flight time will take more out of you than you might realize at first. Illness and conflict within the group will be most likely during this phase of the journey as the members have used up physical and mental reserves coping with the long journey to Australia.
3. Plan in enough time for the cities of Sydney or Melbourne. I have found that although participants are eager to experience Australia’s nature, they are also keen to shop and take in the cultural sights of Australia. But, make sure take them to the natural spots in between to release the tensions which these big cities can generate.
4. Let your group know that the alleged hazards posed by dangerous animals in Australia is often exaggerated. In fact, they will be lucky if they get to see a poisonous snake, spider, croc, shark or other dangerous animal!