CONTIKI....is it, ON OR OFF?

Contiki! I’m not sure if it’s really what I’d like to do anymore! I’m kind of thinking that I might like to travel to a loose schedule rather than a pre planned tour, don’t get me wrong Contiki sounds awesome, but I’ve started thinking a lot about next year and what I really want to do when I’m in Europe.

I’d rather travel to a loose schedule so I can if I like stay longer in a town if I like it rather than spend a limited time in a town in which I’d love to spend more time in. There is also the issue of cost Contiki requires that you pay a compulsory meal allowance for the entire tour but this only covers 1 or 2 meals per day, but that on top of the tour cost as well as spending money can actually work out fairly expensive. Plus I’ve heard sometime’s Contiki will take you to or suggest, for example a bar to drink at, a bar which can be more expensive then another bar right around the corner because Contiki get kick backs I’m not sure if this is true but I can say it’s what I’ve heard.
So I’d rather do individual city tours with my mate Sarah whom I’m going to visit so I’ll get to spend time with my mate doing city tours, discovering pub and clubs, cool or undiscovered cafes and restaurants, rather than do one large tour with people I don’t know or even worse that I don’t like!