In a country made up of around 15 million Theravada Buddhists, I was trying my hardest to slip into a meditative Buddhist state of compassion as the swish air-conditioned bus I was travelling through Sri Lanka on filled with inane chatter and a touch of travel bragging. As someone who loves to explore off-the-beaten-track destinations, mostly solo, and almost always on local buses and trains — where daily life unfolds at a slower pace — I was feeling slightly nervous that I’d signed up to spend 12 days trapped inside a minibus with nine strangers.
Throughout the tour, I had to bite my tongue numerous times and found out later that others in the group did too. That’s the thing about throwing a group of strangers of varying ages together (my group ranged from 31 to 49 years old), from a handful of different countries — you’re not always going to have the same outlook on life, values or interests. So just what is the appeal of group travel in your 30s and 40s?
Eager to see what the astronomical rise in popularity of group travel is all about, I joined Flash Pack’s ‘Inside Sri Lanka’ trip. Since its launch in 2014, Flash Pack has conducted thousands of group tours, and over the past few years, since battling COVID they’ve revealed 100 per cent year-on-year growth with 60 per cent of their total trip sales coming from US travellers. Similarly, G Adventures estimated annual revenue is currently hovering around £424 million ($532 million) per year, while Intrepid is also growing at a rapid rate boasting an ambitious growth strategy to ‘become the world's first $1 billion adventure travel company by 2025’. This is some serious business.
As someone who’s never joined a group trip, the concept is quite alien to me, even more so since the cost of the 12-day Sri Lanka tour comes in at £2,300 per person. That doesn’t include flights, alcoholic drinks, most lunches, and an extra nightly cost if you don’t want to share a bedroom. The itinerary saw us take a whirlwind tour of the country which included climbing to the top of Pidurangala Rock, cycling around the ancient city of Polonnaruwa with its Buddha monolith rock carvings and ornate temples, a brief stop in Kandy, an outdoor yoga class, a train ride to tea country, a safari in Yala National Park, a night in Galle Fort and a couple of night’s relaxing in Kosgoda, all the while staying in mostly four or five-star hotels and moving on to the next destination every one to two days.
Whatever you want you can probably get it, every need is catered for — it’s pretty impressive.
Along the way, absolutely everything is taken care of, right down to being handed toilet paper at public bathrooms, and hand sanitiser whenever required. ATM stops, mountain-top chilled towels and refreshments, and impromptu gin and tonics were all thrown into the mix along the way. Whatever you want, you can probably get it. Every need is catered for — it’s pretty impressive.
For the 12 days in Sri Lanka, we had our very own driver, the very efficient Shantha, and his smiley right-hand man Sachintha who ensured we never had to lift our luggage for the duration of the trip. Backpacks and suitcases were seamlessly transplanted from bus to bedroom and back, at every destination — an aspect of the tour that felt indulgent, but made travelling much easier than my usual solo experiences. And this is where the appeal lies: joining a tour is undoubtedly the easiest way to travel, plus you get to see a huge amount in such a limited time frame — it’s perfect for anyone who is time-poor, cash-rich, and curious about another country.
If I’d been travelling the same route solo, and by public transport, I wouldn’t have seen all of the places in the timeframe that we did. Sure, I would have liked to spend a few leisurely days strolling around the awe-inspiring ancient ruins of Polonnaruwa rather than half a day, and yes, I would have loved to have spent a couple of days hiking through the cloud forests and tea plantations of Haputale, but I’m very aware that most people’s holiday days are limited. It means a tour like this is the ideal way to make the most of limited annual leave.
Flash Pack highly promotes the friendship-making aspect of joining one of its tours, too. Its Instagram account muses how they’re, “On a mission to create one million meaningful friendships across the globe”. A quick scroll through their feed shows inspirational quotes about being single and travelling later in life. They’ve tapped into a growing market, and boy does it work.
For me, the first few days of the tour were kind of awkward as people figured one another out. Like most environments with a mishmash of personalities, the loudest voices dominated the conversation, and a few outdated opinions irked others, but by day six something clicked into place. During the scenic train journey from Kandy to Nanuoya, where we chugged through verdant tea plantations past waterfalls and village life, I had one of the most beautiful conversations of the trip with two incredible women. In fact, I enjoyed the company of all the women on the trip and one of the guys from the UK. With these people, when the small talk faded and we talked honestly and openly, the travel experiences I adore started to uncoil, and from there on in, it was mostly smooth sailing.
When the small talk faded and we talked honestly and openly, the travel experiences I adore started to uncoil, and from there on in, it was mostly smooth sailing.
For most of the people in the group (four guys, six women), this wasn’t their first Flash Pack experience. Many had done numerous trips, while others had tried different tour providers like G Adventures or Intrepid. I gleaned that the upmarket feel of Flash Pack’s tours was the main appeal, along with the ease and variety of the trips on offer. The company currently offers 51 tours, to countries like South Korea, Colombia, Rwanda, and Albania. For the women in my group, the appeal of travelling to places where they might usually feel unsafe as solo travellers was a big draw.
At the helm of our tour and the real highlight of the entire trip was one of the sweetest souls I’ve possibly ever met. Our group tour leader Suranga, or Razz as he likes to be known, has the patience of a saint, a truly addictive smile, and a nothing-is-too-much-trouble attitude. Every day I was in complete awe of his patience, his knowledge, and the love and passion he has for his beautiful country.
On day eight, just over halfway through the trip, we visited Yala National Park, bordering the Indian Ocean, and learned how male adolescent elephants leave their herd at about 13 years old, going on to live a solitary existence. I related to them, hard. As much as I absolutely adored being driven around, never once having to think — aside from which cocktail to order — I’ll most likely return to my solitary travel experiences.
Flash Pack is a great concept and a lucrative business model, but personally, I adore the random travel experiences I encounter when travelling alone. Such as when I met a local family on a bus on the road from Medellin to Jardin and was invited back to their home for dinner; or the time I rented a shed for the night with a fellow backpacker in Hampi, India because every room was taken due to it being Gandhi’s birthday; or drunk red wine with a random Airbnb host while reminiscing on life and love.
But, I’d go back to a Flash Pack trip in a second, if only for Suranga, Sri Lanka’s finest utterly joy-sparking guide. Along with the girls I met on the trip (all of whom I’m still in touch with), he was the real highlight — I just hope Flash Pack knows how lucky they are to have him.
