I took my first-ever package tour this past week - a whirlwind five days in Beijing - and it was both better and worse than I had hoped.

On the one hand, I didn’t get “baby-sat” nearly as much as I expected: there were a couple of fixed events, but otherwise we were allowed to pretty well create our own schedules, and were mostly expected to get ourselves to and from our chosen activities. Aside from a shuttle bus running every half-hour between the hotel and the nearest subway station, we were on our own, transport-wise.

I was also relieved to find out that those two fixed events - a bus trip to the Great Wall, and a tour of the Lama Temple - didn’t involve a huge group of us following a guide around like sheep while he talked into a microphone. Instead, we were told where and when to meet up again for the ride home, and then turned loose.

So there was a good deal more independence involved in my package than I’d ever thought possible on this sort of trip. But what about the downside?

After a couple of days, I found myself relying more and more on the tour company staff, who sat in the lobby of the hotel all day waiting to answer questions. I went to them with problems instead of figuring them out myself, just because I could. Once, when the shuttle bus never appeared at the subway station, I just stood around feeling lost. In just a few short days of having all this help and support available to me - when, normally, I travel alone and rely entirely on myself - I had become dependent. It was a strange feeling.

Up to this point, I’ve always knocked package tours without ever having tried one. So I guess it’s a good thing that I finally tried one for myself. I don’t regret this particular tour at all - after all, it would have been pretty tricky to get my hands on Olympic event tickets on my own, let alone a Chinese visa! - but I can’t see myself becoming a regular package tourist.

Any other independent travelers experienced something similar?