lunch with driver?

[dilacruiser]

Is it expected that you invite/pay for the lunch of the tour driver on private tours?

[betonic]

I think this is a very personal decision. I always invite the driver to eat with us but they don't always accept. I look forward to eating in the local restaurants and always ask the driver to take me to a place that is not filled with tourists. There have been many places where I've needed the driver to translate and order for me.

[Saga Ruby]

I advise my tour provider in advance that my guide and/or driver are welcome to join me for lunch as my guest. While recognizing that the guide might want to do personal business while I eat, I am hopeful that they can join me if they are comfortable doing so.

 

My interest in travel is learning local culture, food, environment, and languages. When I return home, I can have all the photos of tourist looky-loos that I want, the real adventure is in sharing a few hours and perhaps lunch with a local.

 

In Thailand, my guide asked if I were ready for lunch. She said there was a nice hotel with a good buffet just down the road. When I asked if there would be lots of tourist buses there, she nodded. When I asked what she was having for lunch, she pointed at the white-hot iron kettle hanging over a wood fire. In it were sliced pieces of plaintain. So I bought 3 bags of the fresh, delicious chips for me, the driver, and my guide and we happily munched them all the way back to Phuket.

 

Ruby

[texancruzer]

We always invite our guides to lunch :)

 

In Barbados we told our guide NO tourist traps.... local food only. We paid for his lunch and had a wonderful time eating Bajan lunch and talking while sitting in a restaurant OVER the gorgeous water listening to Christmas carols :eek: and watching the local fisherman coming and going.

 

In Rome we were running a little behind schedule due to a mix-up on our part of where we were to meet our guide...... so instead of using the reservations we had at a fancy restaurant overlooking the coliseum we had pizza with our guide in a little hole in the wall place. The owner waited on us personally and was quite chatty. Pizza, drink and a desert for 5 euros :D Much better !

 

But as the previous poster said.... sometimes they decline. I always find I am a little disappointed when they do :( but it is up to you.

[Saga Ruby]

I always invite the driver to eat with us but they don't always accept. I look forward to eating in the local restaurants and always ask the driver to take me to a place that is not filled with tourists.

 

Sometimes my guide and/or driver declines. Later I asked another staff member if I had offended a driver and she hastened to assure me that he simply would have felt out of place in that restaurant in Mumbai - I got the feeling that it involved the class system in India.

 

But 95% of the time, they join me for a meal and I learn so much about their country and their feelings about the US. It is quite revelatory.

 

Ruby

[dilacruiser]

Thanks for the responses. It sounds like it definitely enhances the meal with the driver along.

[wherewegoinnxt?]

Do you remember the name of the hole in the wall?

[NAS-KARR]

IMO No~~ ~ ~ but to each his/her own.

 

 

CIAO,

[threeofus]

I think it would be more comfortable for everyone if the driver takes a break while you are eating. After all, if he is eating with you then he is technically working - and I am sure he would like a break from the small talk and questions.

 

We would probably like our family time while we eat.

 

That is simply my opinion and I respect that others may feel differently. I might even be wrong:eek: :p

[Cruise Junky]

On our Med. Cruise in 05 we invited 3 of the drivers to join us for lunch. Only one accepted and the group paid for her lunch. I agree, they need a break, if they accept great, if not, don't be offended.

[texancruzer]

Do you remember the name of the hole in the wall?

 

 

No ~ sorry. I do know it is around to the right side of the Vatican if you are looking at the front of St. Peters. This is also the way you walk to get to the entrance for the museums etc. But instead of bending around the wall to the left to the ticket entrance.....we kept going straight. And - - there was a sign out front 5 euros - Pizza, drink and desert. Also pizzas in the front window.