What It’s Like Being Over 30 On A Contiki Trip

Your twenties are often some of the most confusing and difficult years of your life, but that doesn’t mean that once you enter your thirties that all of a sudden you’re carefree. Nah, of course you wish you were 20 again.

It’s not often that we feel our own age. Hell, when I was 25, I swear I felt 50 years old with how often I avoided social outings to stay in watching reruns of Friends.

And now as I hit the 35 years old mark, I’m pretty confident that I am actually 30.

I’ve got my career together, I’m living alone in a Sydney apartment (which in the current rental climate is something to celebrate), I’m the mother to two gorgeous cats, I’m single, I’m flirty and I’m thriving!

I simply must be 30, Jennifer Garner’s character said so!

Last year, as I continued to live for 34th year on earth still grappling with my age denialism, I decided to embark on a Contiki tour: a tour which famously hosts people between the ages of 18 and 35. Yep, this was potentially one of my last chances to do this sort of tour before I officially aged out of the demographic.

(FYI: Contiki actually do reunion tours for older travellers wanting to reunite with past travel companions, I’m just being dramatic! I’m so 30, right!)

As I prepared for the Contiki’s European Magic tour, which travels from London to Venice and back again in nine days of adventures, I was comforted to learn that I wouldn’t be the only single woman on a Contiki trip.

Ahead of my trip, CEO of Contiki, Adam Armstrong, told me that the tours have increasingly skewed more female, as women tend to enjoy “the camaraderie and the security of being together,” he said. “You’ve got your pre-made group of friends and travelling companions.”

While the average age of Contiki guests is people in their early 20s, the location of the trip can affect the ages of the travellers signing up. “Our age demographic often depends on where the trip goes to,” Armstrong said.

“Africa, for example, we launched before COVID, it was one of the fastest growing new destination and it skewed to late 20s and 30s in females. And then Europe is much younger, like Europe is where you take your first Contiki, and then graduate to more obscure destinations.”

As I ventured through some of the most popular European cities, I can vouch for the ages on the tour being mostly people in their early-to-mid twenties, but luckily, there were plenty of people closer to my age too. It’s a mix, which is the whole point of these kinds of tours.

Here is what I found out after going on a Contiki trip over the age of 30:

1. You won’t be the only older traveller

Yes, the majority of the people on the trip will be under 30 years old BUT there’s a good chance that there will be a few others that are closer to your age. On my trip, there was a couple around 30 and a few women travelling solo in their early 30s — it’s unlikely you’ll be the only person there that’s slightly older. But if so, then…

2. It’s actually okay to be around a bunch of younger people

My biggest hesitation around going on a Contiki trip was that I’d be surrounded by a bunch of 18-year-olds who just wanted to get pissed, and didn’t care about experiencing culture. Thankfully, I never found this to be the case as all the young people in the group were equally excited to explore and visit the sights, as they were to grab a beer stein in Munich.

And just because a person is young, it doesn’t mean they want to party all night, and if a person is older, this shouldn’t mean they want to have quiet nights. “Contiki over the years has become a broad church of people,” Armstrong said.

“You could get an 18-year-old who just wants to see the sights, and no matter what age, all sorts of people like to go out for a few drinks.”

3. You can still do what you want, don’t worry!

My other unfounded hesitation was that I’d be stuck doing the kinds of activities that younger people enjoy: you know pubbing and clubbing, then sleeping in the next day. Make no mistake, I did A LOT of that in my 20s (and who am I kidding, I still do this on the odd weekend now) but when it comes to travelling these days, I prefer to have quiet nights so that I’m healthy-not-hungover the next day.

Anyone in their 30s will know that hangovers be hitting different as the years tick by and I don’t fancy spending a day in Paris lugging around a Gatorade instead of a croissant while doing a tactical spew in the Seine instead of sightseeing.

But my tendency to not want to party never became an issue — I simply did not party because I’m an autonomous adult woman capable of making her own decisions. Each night after dinner, I would see myself back to the hotel or hostel, and typically, another traveller also wanted to call it a night so I had a companion.

4. You will feel old at some stage, but that’s okay!

During the first icebreaker game, I came face-to-face with a 19-year-old who had just graduated high school and I felt approximately 98 years old. This might happen! But guess what? I survived! I think she thought I was her adoptive parent but I had a nice chat with this young woman!

“Within a group of 30 to 50 people, you’re going to find people of your age group, or your mentality,” Armstrong said. “The probability of finding a few people you want to spend time with is high.”

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Please note that the European Magic tour was provided free of charge to Punkee, but under no guarantees to write a positive review. We only write about the experiences and products that work for us.