#smarttripsit

I have never been the type of person to enjoy a planned trip. I despise being told where to go or what to do; I like to be in control. That being said, sometimes a pre-planned group trip is the best option.

The main company that runs group trips that leave from Florence is smarttrips (https://www.smarttrip.it/en). Most, if not all, of the people, are study abroad students so you are guaranteed a chaotic, fun time catered towards young people. 

Pros of Planned Trips

You don’t need to stress about booking accommodations or transportation, they do it for you!

You get opportunities that you may not get if you plan your own trip. For example, I got to go rafting while I was in Croatia.

You get to party with your peers. On my Smart Trip, we had an optional booze cruise that almost everyone signed up for. We spent the day sailing around Croatian islands drinking into oblivion. It was so much fun getting to do this with people my age, which was made possible by taking an organized trip. 

Cons of Planned Trips:

You have to take a bus. The bus I took was ~17 hours (including stops) and it was awful. Although flying has its own set of cons that I won’t go into right now, I cannot stress how bad a 17-hour bus ride is the day after a booze cruise.

Limited free time. I signed up for a lot of activities, which meant I did not have much time to eat. Between rafting and the pub crawl, we had about 2 hours to acquire food, get ready to go out, and relax. On top of all of that, we found out very last minute that we needed to stock up on booze early for our booze cruise since Easter was the next day, and nowhere in Croatia would be selling alcohol. 

Ultimately, you are at the will of the tour organizers. You do not get any freedom on where you stay, sometimes even what you eat.