Pick a tour up your alley

Tours can be terrific [“Giving Group Tours a Much Better Name,” On the Spot by Catharine Hamm, Jan. 17]. You just have to pick the company with the itinerary that suits you.

Many people are worried they won’t like the other tour members and so avoid all tours. My wise father always reminded me that making friends is the easiest thing in the world. It’s true, and isn’t that what travel teaches us? Particularly on a tour with people from our own country? Shouldn’t we learn to accept each other?

Yes, travel is about seeing beautiful or historic places, but what makes a trip memorable is an afternoon coffee at a sidewalk cafe on the Ringstrasse in Vienna and speaking with local businessmen, or enjoying a trip to a brew house in Tromso, Norway, with Germans, Brits and Aussies and listening to a Norwegian storyteller. Or speaking and joking with Muslim shopkeepers in Amsterdam or with locals on the bus or tram.

Most tours offer those opportunities to strike out on your own. They provide an overview. Nothing prevents you from going back later to explore on your own.

DENNIS BREMEN VAN

La Crescenta