ABOUT US
Welcome to "You, Me & Friends" - Small Group Hosted Tours.
Dreaming up new and exciting trip ideas.
Researching the day by day route, schedule & activities.
Stitching it all seamlessly together.
Meeting up with our travel friends and heading away!
Like you, travel is a big part of our lives. We love every facet of it.
We are "hands-on" involved with every part of our tours, and that makes every trip something special!
Small group tours of 6 to 16
Our tours are all “Small Groups” (6-16 people) which means that it really is like travelling with a group of friends. Small groups make it easy to get to know each other. They make it quick to get on and off vans & quick to get in and out of places. We can use smaller hotels, and eat at little local cafe’s and restaurants.
Food
Generally our tour prices do include breakfasts, and don’t include dinners. Included breakfasts mean that everyone knows what to do, where to go, and what the time frame is to start the day. Non-included dinners mean that everyone can cater to their own meal size and taste pallet. Generally, our lunches are on the run, and our dinners are reserved at a place that we have researched or had recommended to us.
Not a tour guide, not a tour leader, but A Tour “Host”
Our tour “Hosts” look after you from start to finish. They are involved, and a part of every bit of the tour. They dine with you, drink with you, go shopping with you, and do the activities with you. They don’t disappear at 5pm and leave you to your own devices.
Travel distances
The rules of thumb is: drive for an hour – then have a break. Toilet stop, coffee stop, meal stop, activity stop. Getting from A to B needs to be enjoyable – not a hardship!
New places, Eclectic itineraries
While most tour companies hang their hats on doing the same itinerary over and over again, we are always looking for something new and interesting to do. A new show, a new activity we have heard of, a new part of the world to explore. Generally, every itinerary is at least partly new, with surprises and unknowns along the way (including getting lost every once and a while!).
Home pick ups
On day tours, we collect from a few central locations where you can leave your car for the day. But for anything overnight, we like to make travelling easy, so for tours 1 night or longer we pick you up from your central Whangarei or Waipu homes.
Supporting local
We aim to support local producers, cafes, restaurants, & tourist operators. We contract with them directly, and whilst we like a good deal, we don’t screw them down in price, and we aren’t interested in kick backs. We want a great experience at
a fair price with good service.
Accommodation
On our tours, we look for good central accommodation. We price the tours out for 3 star, then look to see if we can “tweak it up” as the booking progresses. That is why we generally don’t include the hotel names when we first start talking about the tours.
Fun, laughter, delight, memories, & new experiences
Some buzzwords that describe our trips:
It has to be fun, not hard work. Limit early starts, limit long drives, limit repetition.
At me and you. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, and we don’t hesitate to take the mickey out of you either.
Stuff that makes you smile with satisfaction, grin with glee, & gape with wonder.
good memories are building blocks for the soul. They help to develop your character, and become a source of strength and happiness
stuff you haven’t seen, things you haven’t tried, places you haven’t been.
Our tours are about having a bit of fun, new experiences, spending time with good friends, and making great memories. I hope you can join us!
