Arthur's Blog: Interest in Quirky Day Trips Grows

In re-reading a blog I recently composed on major trends in travel, I find that I overlooked a definite movement towards unusual, off-the-beaten-track walking tours of key touristic cities. These are the unique stock-in-trade of two tour companies marketing their wares under Vayable.com and UrbanAdventures.com. And although Vayable seems the longer-in-business of the two, it should be noted that Urban Adventures is affiliated with the long-established Intrepid Tours of Australia, and therefore is supported by the reputation and probable financial reliability of its larger partner. Go to UrbanAdventures.com and you'll find descriptions of unusual day tours available to you in more than 100 cities -- tours that get under the surface of things, tours conducted by persons passionately in love with their city or with various specialized aspects of it, tours led by graduate students out to earn extra income or by free spirits of various ages who do this out of their commitment to a particular lifestyle or topic. Go to Vayable.com and you'll find even more -- tours, say, of the creative, non-touristy areas of San Francisco where you'll be led into artists' studios or galleries of the sort you might never discover on your own. Next time you plan a visit to any major city of the world, you'd be well advised to consult Vayable.com or UrbanAdventures.com and then sign on to one of their unique introductions to that city. It will be $37 or $40 well spent.