How to Find a Tour on Your Own

All California is only a sort of theater, where everything goes ahead on the high pressure principle.  You can't stand still if you would, and the consequence is that you are whirled around and about, until you are apt to get dizzy.
Joseph B. Crockett, 1854

Often people ask me, ?How did you find so many tours??

My answer that it took a lot of time and trial and error. However, over time, I?ve found it easier as I?ve learned a few tricks. Here are some of those tricks:

• Always ask people on tours for their suggestions. It always amazes me how often they tell me about very unique, interesting tours I probably would not have found any other way.
  
• Contact Chambers of Commerce and Visitor?s Bureaus. They almost always are founts of information about tours. If possible, visit rather than call. You?d be surprised how many tours you can find if you start looking at their brochures and asking questions.
  
• Check out the guidebooks listed on the book picks section of this website.  Pay particular attention to books that are written to help parents plan outings for their kids (these books often find obscure tours) and check out the following books: Tours for Free: California by Jody Jill. and the Insiders? Guide (Pequot Press), AAA Handbooks and City Smart series (Avalon Publications) for attractions in the area you are visiting. These books do a thorough job of listing attractions in the area. As you read the descriptions, look for information about tours.
  
• Pick up brochures at tourist information displays at hotels, motels, and local attractions. Read through these brochures for tour information.
  
• Read regional magazines like Diablo (East San Francisco Bay), Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco Magazine.  Check out the Sunday travel sections of the Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle.  Look at the travel section of Sunset magazine. 
  
• Subscribe to my Big Blue Marble newsletter. As I travel around the world I'll let you know about tours throughout the world. To subscribe, either send me an e-mail or sign up at my companion website: www.thebigbluemarble.com.