It was distribution of water rights along rivers that essentially made civilization necessary, and as all of us who love ocean cruises know, many of the greatest cities in the world are perched along ocean coasts.
But you can't travel everywhere you want to go by ship.
Sometimes, you must hit the rowdy road.
It wasn't until Julie and I took a land tour to Machu Picchu that we saw the value in guided tours for us personally.
Up until then, we thought it always better to just figure it out as we went.
As a young man, that was the only way I could afford to travel, and it became a habit.
However, as we mature, the value of a pre-packaged tour becomes more obvious, especially if you don't want to be constantly worrying about the next step along the road, which is a given for do-it-yourself tours.
Collette takes the inclusive experience a step further, picking you up at your house in a limo to take you to the airport, making it truly a seamless vacation experience, door-to-door.
Cruising, of course, sets us on a pre-plotted course, and we've learned how much easier that makes vacations.
Even after I started cruising, however, I could not see the value of a land tour, despite the fact that taking group shore excursions often made ports come alive in destinations rich in history, such as Europe.
Julie and I would often arrive a few days early for our cruise to explore regions on our own (and we still do), but I quite frankly thought cruise tours seemed too expensive.
That's how most people have felt at one time.
The change for me came with watching friends go on Alaska cruise tours and come back singing their praises.
Somehow, what had been hidden from me began to be revealed.
While the land portion of cruise tours, which usually require payment for meals as you go, seemed too expensive relative to the cruise itself, the truth is they are well worth the price to those who take the plunge.
Even people who parsimoniously watch their travel budgets have returned feeling they received good value for their money.
Sometimes they might opt for an inside or obstructed ocean view room at sea to make the splurge of a Denali Explorer tour possible, but they had no regrets.
They realized that if they wanted to get the most of their time, taking full advantage of their limited time to travel and the cost of flying to a distant destination, they shouldn't cheap out when it comes to seeing everything they want.
But they're not just for Alaska. There are cruise tours all over the world.
The only question is where do you want to go on your next great vacation?
In all candor, Julie and I will probably still cheap out and tour by the seat of our pants for a few more trips, but the older we get, the more sense it makes to let somebody else handle the hassles.
"Better service leads to better trips!"
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