TIPS FOR SUCCESSFULLY ARRANGING AND ENJOYING TOURS

People began to understand that with the acquisition of California the nation had obtained practically half a continent, of which the future possibilities were almost unlimited, so far as the development of natural resources and the general production of wealth were concerned.
John Moody

• Don?t expect the tour content and quality to be exactly as described on this website. Tour content and quality varies between guides.
• Volunteers or employees with other job responsibilities lead most of the tours?here. As a result, you will seldom see the same guide twice on a given tour.
• Call ahead if you have a particular interest in a topic related to the place you want to visit. Some tours can make arrangements for guides to be available who share the same interest with you. In addition, some tour guides will research a topic for you.
• Call ahead to confirm tour times even if advance reservations are not required. Tour times frequently change. Occasionally tours are discontinued or cancelled.
• I have noticed that more and more tours are requiring a small fee than in the past. This is particularly true for winery and brewery tours. Therefore, be prepared to pay up to five dollars even if a tour is listed as free, or call ahead to confirm the cost.
• Don?t count on web sites or brochures to be accurate all the time. I found that approximately 5% of the time the information was different than listed on web sites and about 2% of brochures contained inaccurate information.
• As a matter of courtesy, let your tour guide know if you need to leave early at the beginning, otherwise the guide may assume that the tour is boring.
• The time lengths listed in the guide are approximate. Some guides routinely give longer tours than listed in this guide. Most of these guides will ask before the start of the tour if you have more time. In my experience, it is well worth giving these guides the extra time, since they are usually very informative and enthusiastic.
• Unexpected events occur during a tour that lengthens the tour (for example, one of my favorite tour memories involved watching an unexpected parade during the Chinatown Heritage Society Tour in San Francisco. The parade added one and a half hours to the tour. However, the tour guide used the parade as an opportunity to teach a lot of little known tidbits of information about Chinese culture). While most tours end on time, it is good to plan on an additional thirty minutes to an hour, if possible.
• Don?t be afraid to ask questions. Most tour guides welcome questions, no matter how stupid they may seem. However, be careful not to ask so many questions that they distract from the tour for the other participants.
• The number of participants in a given tour will vary. I was the only participant on about 20% of the tours listed. More than 50% of all tours listed here had fewer than 10 participants on the day I took the tour. You are most likely to be alone (or in a small group) on tours that are offered frequently during a given day.
• There is, however, no accurate way to predict how many people will be on a tour. I have found that the largest groups are on factory tours and the smallest groups are on neighborhood and historic home tours. Probably, the single most important determinant of the group size is the frequency of the tours. Tours that are offered several times a week or on a particular day are usually less crowded than tours that are rarely offered.
• I generally do not discuss the quality of the guides on a particular tour unless it is likely that you will get the same guide when you take the tour. Most tours have several different guides and there is usually high turnover particularly among volunteer guides. I do not want to discourage you from taking a tour because of my bad experience if you will probably not get the same guide. As a result, most of my listings concentrate more on the tour?s content than its presentation.
• If you have a particular brand of wine or beer that you enjoy, call the brewery or winery to find out if they offer tours, even if they are not listed here. Many breweries and wineries will provide informal tours if reservations are made in advance, particularly if they know in advance that you are a loyal customer.
• Guides will occasionally embroider the truth to make their tours more interesting and even when they provide accurate information it is often reflects their own particular interpretation. Undoubtedly, there are experts who view the same event from a radically different perspective as the tour guides. In my mind, tour guides are charged with the task of making people and events come alive. They should not be expected to be academic experts. Therefore, don?t take what they say (or what I say) as the ?Gospel Truth?.
• With the state budget cuts, the quality and number of tours of State parks has declined. As a result, tours are subject to frequent cancellation. Call the park (preferably on the day of your visit) before you go to ensure that they are giving tours.
• If your tour will be outside and it has recently rained, check to make sure that the tour is still a go. Tours are occasionally canceled for weather related reasons.
• My foremost goal for this guide is to inspire and educate my readers about the great tours available in California. I don?t pretend to be, nor do I want to be, an expert on all the topics of the tours. Therefore, some of the facts and information may be inaccurate and slanted.