Beating Singles Toll: Group Power

Your travel mate has had to back out, but your appetite for the trip has been whetted and you don’t want to go it alone. A popular option is a budget tour geared to young travelers that doesn’t charge a singles supplement.

When comparing prices, be sure you note what’s not included. Estimate what you’ll need for meals and activities that are not part of the tour.

Look at the size of the tour group: The larger it is, the less flexibility it has. Find out if the tour is marketed worldwide: If so, you’ll make some international friends.

Campus travel agencies affiliated with hostel associations are helpful. One company is California-based Roadrunners. It began four years ago by offering minibus tours that stop at inexpensive youth hostels in Britain. Now the company covers routes across North America, Mexico, South America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

On most programs the maximum number of participants allowed is 13. While Roadrunners does not impose age restrictions, most passengers are between 18 and 35.

Whenever practical, the company uses youth hostels, with occasional nights at motels or cabins. Hotels are used on the Inca Trail adventure in Peru. On the South Africa, Mexico and Argentina programs, participants mainly use camping facilities.

Starting this year, participants can sign up for individual sections of the 24-day “Trek Europe” tour. This trip (which operates frequently between May and August) starts in London and goes to Brussels; Amsterdam; the Rhineland region and Munich, Germany; Innsbruck, Austria; Venice, Florence, Rome and Pisa, Italy; the French Riviera; Geneva; Paris; and back to London. The tour costs $1,949.

In addition to adding tours to Australia and New Zealand this year, there are new South America and South Africa programs.

Roadrunners’ “Inca Trail” tour is a 15-day journey that begins in Lima, Peru. Participants travel to the Amazon town of Puerto Maldonado and go upriver to a jungle lodge for hiking and exploring the rain forest by canoe. Then it’s off to Cuzco to relax and adjust to high altitudes before a train ride through the Urubamba River Canyon to Machu Picchu. The tour then moves on to Lake Titicaca. After crossing to Bolivia, the group tours La Paz before returning to Lima. The cost is $1,499.

“Patagonia Safari” is a 15-day camping tour that includes several easy-to-moderate hikes. The tour starts in Buenos Aires and ends in San Carlos, Chile. Then participants take a four-day camping trip and a three-day hiking trip, followed by another four-day camping trip. The cost is $1,199.

In addition to Roadrunners’ regular 16-day “Cheetah Tour” along the southeast coast of South Africa, the company is adding a 19-day “Rhino Trail” tour. This is a camping trip that departs from Cape Town and travels up the west coast to the southern tip of the Namib Desert. Participants then kayak through the gorges of the Orange River, explore the desert on foot and visit the Fish River Canyon--nearly as large as the Grand Canyon. The group wind up at Victoria Falls. The cost is $1,299. Additional nights camping at Victoria Falls are $3 each; additional nights at the hostel in Cape Town are $11.

For more information, contact Roadrunners, 6762A Centinela Ave., Culver City, CA 90230; telephone (310) 390-7495 or (800) 873-5872.