actually on familiar grounds, it is better to go around alone. going overseas wise, small flexible groups are good in terms of safety, cost and even decision making (good for people less headstrong but rather less motivated, uninformed or indecisive).
if you already got over there on your own initiative, it shows you have that motivation and the rest will work well.
ash, for the soldier shot, what's your focal length (and crop factor), distance from subject and shutter duration? it is not sharp. interesting enough, different ppl who shot in some similar locations all got the same problem, likely due to dim lighting.
and what did you mean by big gear? are u using a compact instead?