TOEFL, iBT, Independent Writing, The best way to travel is in a group led by a tour guide. - rewrite -

Writing Topic

Consider the following statement. The best way to travel is in a group led by a tour guide. Do you agree with this idea? Support your response by including specific reasons and examples.

☆Note

There are many topics in the TOEFL writing section that have the superlative―”best”. Let’s be careful of the article before the superlative. Some topics have “the” before the superlative as in this case, others have nothing before it as follows: What invention do you think is most important in the last one hundred years? “The” and superlative as in “the best” means that the thing is on top of all the others and nothing else is comparable to it. Superlative without “the” or superlative with the article “a” as in “Name a most important invention in the last 100 years” means the thing is of its utmost level in a particular quality and there are others of the same level in it.

☆Hints for Points

Agree:

1.    safer

2.    efficient…no bother for arrangements and booking, the guide knows good places to visit

3.    inexpensive in the end

Disagree:

1.    not enough freedom and flexibility

2.    unnatural…places and things set aside exclusively for tourism

3.    less interaction with the locals

☆Essay Structure

♦Sample essay structure 1

【Introduction = Outline】I cannot disagree with the idea that the best way to travel is in a group led by a tour guide.

【Point 1】A guided tour ensures safety and satisfaction. 

【Point 2】A group tour is cost-effective.  e.g. popular sightseeing spots for an inexpensive tour fare

【Point 3 / Counterargument-treatment】A group tour lead by a tour guide allows little freedom and not very dramatic, but it helps avoid a disaster.  e.g. getting lost, rip-off artists, involving in a crime

【Conclusion = Wrap-up】Considering risks associated with traveling alone without a guide, I do not have much problem in saying that the guided group tour is the best way to travel.

♦Sample essay structure 2

【Introduction = Outline】A guided tour must be a best, but may not be the best.

【Point 1】Traveling means much more to us than merely taking a sightseeing tour.

【Point 2】A guided group tour is an attraction which is a win-win product of the tour industry in the developed world.

【Point 3 / Counterargument-treatment】Taking a solo trip is in fact very popular.

【Conclusion = Wrap-up】The best way to travel varies depending on what the traveler is in search of, and I believe we like a solo trip deep in our heart.

♦Your Sample Essay Structure

【Introduction = Outline】

【Point 1】

【Point 2】

【Point 3 / Counterargument-treatment】

【Conclusion = Wrap-up】

☆Essay for Ideas and Expressions

The traveler in one of Dave Mason’s beautiful songs, Mystic Traveler, does not seem to join a guided group tour because the lyrics go “He is an unraveler,” and “when he takes your heart, you are not alone.” Even though this song is said to be about Jesus, it also seems to hint that there is more or less the kind of deep experience we expect in traveling, or else, the writer of this song would not have had to use this analogy as Jesus already has one, a good shepherd. Whether this traveler is Jesus or Joe in the street, he is not a consumer but the stranger the interaction with whom reveals the truth and merges the souls of those involved with him in eternity. Few travelers in guided group tours would manage to do it.

To travel is an action. People have traveled for many reasons since ancient times. We may travel to find something new, a new land, a new friend, or a new self. We may travel to see the world, to visit the places of our ancestors, or to test ourselves. We might also travel for fun. Traveling very often seems to mean much more to us than merely taking a sightseeing tour. When I hear the word traveler, I think of an explorer of reality seeking meaningful interactions with people or nature outside of the person’s daily life. The word travel seems to me to connote an action driven by a dire need for something essential in one’s inner life. Perhaps deciding how to travel could be compared to an action that is on the far end of something mental, deciding how to eat. It is a fundamental decision based on what you need from the action. Then, saying that the best way to travel is in a group led by a tour guide might be like saying that the best way to eat is in a group at a full-course dinner prepared by a well-seasoned chef. It must be a best, but may not be the best.

A guided group tour is an attraction which is a win-win product of the tour industry in the developed world. Tourists who want to enjoy themselves away from home and work, experience something exotic, and make some good memories choose a guided tour for convenience and safety, and they usually go in a group because of the spirit of “The more, the merrier.” The tourism follows the rule of the economy of scale. Booking for transportation, accommodation, and attractions such as local theaters and restaurants in large numbers lowers the costs. Tour guides entertain the tourists and safely bring them home. It is probably the most popular style of travel as a leisure activity, although it is not certain that people think it the best way to travel because it usually provides no more than it promises like other mass product.

Perhaps I am too romantic, believing that people want more than a package tour out of traveling, some special experience on their own. However, taking a solo trip is in fact very popular. About half a century ago, Makoto Oda, a Japanese student from Tokyo University who was then at Harvard, traveled around the world alone with a return air ticket and 200 dollars, and wrote a travelogue, Nandemo Miteyaro, I’ll Go and See Everything, which became the best-seller in Japan. With the best-selling travel guide series, Lonely Planet, a large number of people travel without a guide across the world every year. Travel agencies have started providing various kinds of tours to meet various demands of both experienced travelers who are fed up with package tours and people who are from the beginning interested in specific destinations which happen to be out of the network of the industry. For many people, a guided group tour is not the best choice.

The word travel encompasses a broad range of activities related, either directly or indirectly, to our existence, while a guided group tour is a relatively new activity for fun. The best way to travel efficiently for sport can be in a group led by a tour guide. However, the best way to travel varies depending on what the traveler is in search of, and I believe we want to be a mystic traveler deep in our heart when we say, “I’ve got to hit the road.”