How Do You Like to Tour a Location?

On April 4, 2019 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Travel Tips1 Comment

There are usually options on how you can tour a location such as self-guided walking tours, group tours, or hiring a private guide. Even if you just read a guide book and walk the streets on your own, you are actually touring a location, it is just very casual. We have tried a variety of styles of touring and have probably done a combination of several styles on every trip. We don’t like being on a schedule, so we lean towards self-guiding ourselves through an area, but there are times when it requires a guide of some sort to really understand the history of a place.

Self-Guided Tours – Whether you get a map and highlight the path that you want to follow or just pick a starting point and wander, self-guided touring is a very relaxing way to see a place. You can see what you want to see, decide how long you want to spend at a certain site, and stop for a bite to eat at a place that fits your style and budget. One of the downsides is that it is up to you to make sure that you have read all of the information to truly understand the history and interesting facts about a location. Also, there are often times when informational signs are only in the local language and if you are not fluent, you might miss out on some interesting facts.
Group Tour in Amsterdam
Group Tours – These can take on a variety of types of tours from hop-on, hop-off buses, river boat cruises, or group walking tours. These tours can be interesting depending upon the personality of the guide. It is often look this way, get a couple of sentences about it, and then you are off to the next site. If you are with a group of people who are truly interested in the place and have read a certain amount of information in advance, you can often learn interesting things based on the questions that are asked in addition to whatever information was on the guide’s script. The schedule is not your own, though, and you can sometimes end up spending more time in places that don’t interest you as much as perhaps it does others. Also, on walking tours, if you have people who decide to wander off to take pictures, you can find yourself standing around waiting for the group to regather.
Private Tour in Bolivia
Private Tours – Although you definitely pay a little bit more for private attention, there a many benefits to having a private tour guide. We have found them to be highly knowledgeable about the locations that you want to see and you have their complete attention to ask them questions that are of interest to you. Since the tour is private, the guides are usually willing to cater to your tastes, physical capabilities, and even potentially add things to the tour that might not have been in the original schedule. Obviously, the experience is completely dependent on the personality of the guide. If you are going to spend several hours with only yourselves and the guide, they better have a good personality or it will be the longest few ours of your trip.
Learning from an Egyptologist in Luxor

There is no one-size fits all solution when it comes to touring a location and we have found that it often takes a mix to see a place from all of the different angles. If you are going to do a guided tour, be sure to negotiate the price in advance, especially if you are hiring a guide right at a specific site. You should also consider a tip and it should be reflective of the information that you received and the quality of the tour and the guide.

Woodford Reserve Distillery Tour in Kentucky

On March 19, 2019 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Kentucky2 Comments

Kentucky is known for horse racing and bourbon whiskey. During our trip to Kentucky a few years ago, we visited the Woodford Reserve Distillery. Located a little over an hour away from Louisville, Kentucky, the distillery is located in the heart of horse country in the town of Versailles. The tour starts with a history of bourbon in general as well as Woodford Reserve itself. Unlike some other distilleries that create thousands of barrels per year, Woodford Reserve produces a limited number of barrels per year. Even if you are not a fan of whiskey, the tour is fascinating and the scenery is beautiful.

As you wait for the tour to begin, you can walk through the museum with the history of bourbon and its relationship to Kentucky. There are displays that include a miniature representation of the distillery as it existed when it was first built. The stone distillery buildings are hundreds of years old and add to the ambiance of the tour. Seeing the large copper vats and learning about the distilling process is very educational. From how the barrels are charred to create the unique color and enhance the flavor to the “angel’s share”, which is the evaporation of a portion of the whiskey, you will learn everything about distilling bourbon.

Standing Outside of the Historic Distillery

At the conclusion of the tour, you are treated with a tasting of some of the Woodford Reserve bourbons. We are not bourbon experts by any means, but we did find the Woodford Reserve to be extremely smooth. Having gone to other distillery and brewery tours, this is definitely one of the nicest tours that we’ve taken.

Old New Orleans Rum Distillery in New Orleans

On January 4, 2019 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Louisiana4 Comments

One of the places that we visited during our trip to New Orleans, Louisiana was the Old New Orleans Rum Distillery. They offer several tours a day during the week and a couple of tours on the weekend and the cost is extremely reasonable at $15 per person. It is the oldest premium rum distillery in the United States, which has more to do with the fact that the previous distilleries all closed in the 1970’s, so when they opened in the 1990’s, they became the first to reestablish a presence once again. Now there are more than 200 distilleries making rum once again, but the Old New Orleans Distillery is not only the oldest, but probably one of the best, winning several awards.

We were greeted with a cranberry lime punch with their Cajun Spice Rum. It was absolutely delicious and certainly a great start to our tour. Then our guide, Bob, began explaining the history of the distillery, as well as rum in general, while pouring several shots into cups in front of him. He then engaged our group with a quiz where the person who answered the question correctly was rewarded with one of the shots of rum. We answered a couple of questions, but stopped answering anymore since we knew that there was still a tasting to come later in the tour. It was a fun and lively way to get the entire group to participate and learn some interesting facts.

We then entered the distillery itself and learned about the process of distilling rum. Interestingly, it doesn’t take as long to make excellent rum as it does other types of alcohol. We were shown the marks on the wall that showed how high the floods of Hurricane Katrina had reached within the distillery causing them to lose a majority of the oldest rum. Today, they keep the oldest rum on the highest shelves in order to avoid that from ever happening again. As with any distillery tour, it was informative and interesting to learn what makes them so passionate about their product. They are very proud of the fact that they take the extra step to filter the rum with activated charcoal, which makes it even smoother and enhances the overall flavor.

After the tour, we ended with a tasting of all six varieties of rum that they produce. We were certainly warm inside by the time our tour had concluded. Obviously there is the option to buy bottles of rum at a discount, but since we were traveling with carry-on bags only, we chose not to purchase anything at the time. We will, however, definitely look for them at our local liquor stores and certainly buy one of them the next time we are need of some rum for a party. If you have a few hours to spend while you are in New Orleans, taking a tour at the Old New Orleans Rum Distillery is certainly a worthwhile activity.