Actual Travel Days vs Advertised Travel Days

If 1st day's afternoon tour's hotel check-in AND is an "advertised tour day', that seems duplicitous, IMO. If the last day is mainly an early departure day AND included as an advertised tour day THAT also seems duplicitous.

OTOH, if a tour's 1st day is a morning check-in followed by an afternoon of tour sites or necessary travel to tomorrow's tour sites, then that seems like a legitimate travel day. If the last day is mostly site visit(s) &/or travel back to the tour's start point for a late afternoon departure then it may be a legitimate travel day.

Grok, XAI's AI agent, suggests that everything you do from home departure to return is in some specious way "a travel experience." I find the transparently self-serving & disingenuous. Not a slight at GROK, but rather the industry's duplicitous heavy marketing slant.

I would inherently TRUST the Large Bus Tour that makes 1st & last day activity descriptions VERY clear. BUT, sometimes, phony advertised travel day vs legitimate advertised travel day is just too close to call.

Example: MAYASITES TRAVEL SERVICES: 7 Night 8 Day Tour of MAYA OF THE CARIBBEAN COAST, YUCATAN PENINSULA AND HIGHLAND RAINFOREST: "ITINERARY: A legit 1st Day Travel Day & a non-travel 8th 'departure day.
       Day 1: At 8 am your driver & guide will pick you up at your hotel (any hotel between Cancun & Tulum) and take you to spectacular Tulum.
       Day 8: Private transfer to the Villahermosa airport for departure.

Based on the above, you must check the itinerary closely to see if the 1st & last days are legitimate travel days or just advertised as 'travel days' to make the tour look longer & thus a better deal.