Site & Experience Classification    

A. INTRO/General:  Large Bus Tour packages allow a tourist of limited time, minimal travel confidence, and varied budget levels to EASILY book a life-fulfilling travel experience allowing you to visit the sights & experiences that interest you most without the intense pre-trip research & planning: bus schedules, restaurants & lodging I must do as a solo independent traveler..

Intense Tour package competition creates a near-infinite mix of Tier 1 & Tier 2 sites & experiences appealing to the broadest range of tourist goals, available time & budget.

 Your challenge is to find ‘the’ tour that fulfills all or most of your expectations within your budget.

Serious Note: The more you understand my 27 Tour Factors the better your tour package choice & ultimate enjoyment.

B. Caliber of tourist sites: 1^st Tier, 2^nd Tier & 3^rd tier:   FYI: Site & Experience Classification: The travel industry often classifies travel sites & experiences as:

    Tier 1: usually globally recognized & revered sites:
               Paris’ Eiffel Tower
               Beijing, China’s Forbidden City….
               Bali's beaches & culture
               Peru’s Machu Picchu

     ANECDOTE: Mach Picchu, Peru (aka "Lost City of the Incas”): After a 1½ hr long train ride from Ollantaytambo to tiny Aguas Calientes village far below Machu Picchu & an evening walkabout, ... early next morning I rode up through the morning fog a 20 min bus ride up the steep switch-backed road to the site. 

Then, from the ticket office a moderate walk up into the site. There, on a high plateau above with the Caretaker’s Hut to your right, I gazed over Machu Picchu ruins spread out before me backdropped by iconic Huayna Picchu mountain. 

I made several self-guided walking tours videoing the entire complex AND hikes to the original entrance, the Inca Bridge, and up Huayna Picchu mountain.

    Tier 2: Tier 2 sights & activities lack global prestige, but are significant sites in their regions
                     or country and tend to be either:
    a. less popular or well-known:
        1) Belize’s Lamanai  Archaeological Reserve
        2) Italy's, Herculaneum, buried with Pompei    ➡︎➡︎➡︎

    b. difficult access & parking for a large bus:
        1) China’s Lijiashan stone-carved village
        2) Indonesia, Komodo Island: no bus parking.�

    c. too far off-the-beaten-track:
        1) Mara, Peru’s Inca salt pans: historical
        2) Lithuania's Kėdainiai preserved Old Town:

    d. too esoteric an interest:
        1) Edinburgh’s Penis Museum (Really? Really!!! �) 
        2) Checz Republic's, Prague's "John Lennon's Wall of graffiti tribute

    e. Physically demanding:
        1) China’s Huà Shān Sacred Mountain: 
        2) China's Leaping Tiger Gorge hike: 

    Tier 3: ...  is my ‘city dump’ category which includes all other sights & activities NOT in Tier 1 or Tier 2.  They are by my definition uninteresting & unimportant to most travelers whose travel time & money is not to be wasted. Some tour operators may use Tier 3 sites as 1) ‘filler sites’, 2) ‘fill-in’ awkward schedule gaps or, 3) to break up a long city-to-city bus ride.

Additional PROs/CONs:
     PROs:  May allow guide’s discretion to go-off-itinerary to unique sights, particularly if ‘running ahead of schedule’ or unforeseen Tier 1 or 2 access issues. (A good & often novel  thing!)

    CONs:  Dishonest & duplicitous tour companies may:
          a) offer just a few Tier 1 & 2 sites, then, ‘pad, fill or puff’ your itinerary with too many Tier 3 sites, activities, & ‘shop steering’ visits.         shop-steering
          b) may schedule too much 'free-time’ hoping you will opt-in to their overpriced Optional Tier 1 or 2 Excursions which you can easily book less expensively yourself.
          c) use hidden tactics you won’t notice when you research & book their package: sub-standard lodgings & dubious meals

     Anecdote: On my only cruise, St. Petersburg, Russia we were served en masse a suppossedly an authentic fish lunch. It was so terriblle that I estimated less than 5% of us ate it, ... if that.      Cruise company and guests scammed???