A few things fill me with dread: forced fun, Trump supporters and the tyranny of small talk. Unfortunately, if you join an organised group trip, it’s possible you’ll encounter all three, as I quickly realised within hours of the first day on a 12-day tour of Sri Lanka booked through one of the group travel companies operating out of the UK, Australia, Canada and the USA.
I’d signed up as part of an assignment on the rise of group travel, choosing Sri Lanka because – in more than 20 years of solo trips to places such as Georgia, India and Colombia – the teardrop island had somehow eluded me.
