Other Options...

@Calfan , thanks for the excellent write up. RE: wanting to travel with older kids/teens - have you looked at Backroads? They have family trips that are specifically for older kids and teens, I think you have to be 13+ to be on them. We have our first Backroads trip booked this fall so I can't comment on them quite yet, except that working with them during the deciding/booking process has been great.

Great to know. Thanks! Will be excited to hear your Backroads review after your trip. I am also recalling that Thomson has itineraries specifically geared to families with teens, so I will have to look more closely at those as well for future trips.
 
I think the only conundrum for us going forward for any of these trips will be that we are definitely outgrowing the family trips. On this one there were my DD 15 (almost 16) and DS 13 (almost 14) and another 15-year old boy (just six days older than my DD) who bonded really well with my kids and who they enjoyed hanging out with. There was also a 10 year old and 11 year old twins. They were not obnoxious in any way, but we are just beyond a desire to travel with younger kids and would prefer trips with only teens and up. So I'm not sure if that means we will try to do adult itineraries in future, or try to request departure dates on family trips with only teens or something like that.

I am feeling that same way with my kids getting into the teen years. I would love to hear shat you find in terms for good options for teen-only departures.
 
Great to know. Thanks! Will be excited to hear your Backroads review after your trip. I am also recalling that Thomson has itineraries specifically geared to families with teens, so I will have to look more closely at those as well for future trips.
The *only* problem I have with Backroads is that their trips tend to be really short. Like 5 or 6 days. I much prefer the ABD trips being 8 or 9 days or more for the exotic trips.

Sayhello
 
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The *only* problem I have with Backroads is that their trips tend to be really short. Like 5 or 6 days. I much prefer the ABD trips being 8 or 8 days or more for the exotic trips.

Sayhello

Yes. That could be an issue. We tend to take a 10-day to 2-week summer trip as our big family vacation.
 


@Calfan What an awesome review. Many of the pluses that you highlighted in comparison to ABD are the same for me. I love love love the fact that the tips were included. That would sell me on a family trip alone, LOL. I hate having to carry extra money for tips and would prefer that the guides be adequately paid by the company. I also love how all the meals are paid for. I'm totally with you on not liking when meals are eliminated from an itinerary. I want to pay one price and be done! My kids are adults now so I totally get it. I would have done an adult only trip with ABD if the dates had worked.

[Edited to add: totally forgot to mention the amazing gifts. Wow!!! That sounds way above and beyond. I'm annoyed by ABD's skimping on the boxes lately, LOL, but those gifts sound fantastic and what a great way to leave your customers happy.]
 
Yes. That could be an issue. We tend to take a 10-day to 2-week summer trip as our big family vacation.

Yes, I agree with you on that. One thing I've thought about with our family is doing 5 nights in a city on our own (e.g., London), and then joining a Backroads family trip (e.g., Ireland or Switzerland) for another 5 nights. But it's definitely easier to join a group from start to finish.
 


We haven't done that trip, but we had a fantastic experience with Thomson in China in 2016, and (per my post above), Thomson ran an excellent trip for Nat Geo in Peru, lol. We've got Thomson booked for Japan in 2020, and I'm confident that will be another very positive experience.

Thank you! So interesting that Thomson runs the Nat Geo trips. I’ll have to spend some time comparing itineraries....
 
@Calfan , thanks for the great info on Nat Geo. We’re going to do a custom Australia itinerary with them for 2021. 2019 and 2020 are already planned with other trips. We were between Japan with ABD or Australia with a custom tour since we couldn’t find one with exactly what we wanted. I’m happy to hear that you really like Nat Geo, they seem to be really good to work with
 
One interesting piece of information that came out of this trip is that it turns out that Thomson Family Adventures runs Nat Geo's family trips.

I assume that NatGeo takes credit cards for payment? I am sensing a workaround for the Thomson policy...

Peru is *really* high on my list (just waiting for the kids to get a bit older due to the super odd flight times), and we have been looking at TB mostly. This is definitely opening my horizons, though my kids also like to have lots of others to play with...
 
Thank you! So interesting that Thomson runs the Nat Geo trips. I’ll have to spend some time comparing itineraries....
I think I recall the rep from Thomson telling me that they also used to run the ABD trips at the beginning, but I could be wrong.
 
That is great to hear as we leave for Tanzania with Thomson in a month! One other nice thing about Thomson is that, at least in Tanzania, if the stated trip dates don't work for you, they will do a new trip for dates that do work. You can then either pay more to keep it private, or let them open it up to others which is what we ended up doing. We have had one other family of 3 join, so we will be a total group of 8.
 
@Calfan we returned from our trip to London / South Africa / Botswana last week. If you have any questions about Botswana let me know! I can say that it is a country unlike any other we've been to. It is so remote and untouched and incredibly beautiful. The people are warm and friendly and the game viewing is amazing. I am smitten with the country and would go back in a heartbeat. Just two things you might find helpful: i) I experienced motion sickness (I have never had motion sickness before) on 2 of the internal flights (between camps we stayed at and on the return to Maun); the return flight to Maun was especially hard on me -- if I went back I'd for sure take something before the flights and ii) be aware of the luggage restrictions and follow them carefully -- our internal airline made people who took hard-sided bags re-pack into duffel bags at the Maun airport before they could board the internal flights (the luggage compartments on those tiny planes are, you guesses it, tiny!).

Where in Botswana are you going?
 
I assume that NatGeo takes credit cards for payment? I am sensing a workaround for the Thomson policy...

Peru is *really* high on my list (just waiting for the kids to get a bit older due to the super odd flight times), and we have been looking at TB mostly. This is definitely opening my horizons, though my kids also like to have lots of others to play with...

Yes, Nat Geo takes credit cards for deposit and balance payments.

I think I recall the rep from Thomson telling me that they also used to run the ABD trips at the beginning, but I could be wrong.

My Thomson rep also told me that Thomson helped design ABD's first trips.

@Calfan we returned from our trip to London / South Africa / Botswana last week. If you have any questions about Botswana let me know! I can say that it is a country unlike any other we've been to. It is so remote and untouched and incredibly beautiful. The people are warm and friendly and the game viewing is amazing. I am smitten with the country and would go back in a heartbeat. Just two things you might find helpful: i) I experienced motion sickness (I have never had motion sickness before) on 2 of the internal flights (between camps we stayed at and on the return to Maun); the return flight to Maun was especially hard on me -- if I went back I'd for sure take something before the flights and ii) be aware of the luggage restrictions and follow them carefully -- our internal airline made people who took hard-sided bags re-pack into duffel bags at the Maun airport before they could board the internal flights (the luggage compartments on those tiny planes are, you guesses it, tiny!).

Where in Botswana are you going?

Go glad to hear your feedback on Botswana! We chose it because it is more remote and has fewer tourists. We are doing this itinerary with Natural Habitat Adventures:

https://www.nathab.com/africa/secluded-botswana/itinerary/13-day-itinerary/

We will be visiting Victoria Falls (which I realize is in Zambia/Zimbabwe), the Linyanti Private Reserve in Chobe National Park, the Santawani Private Concession in the Okavango Delta (Gomoti Tented Camp), Pelo Camp also in the Okavango Delta and the Moremi Game Reserve. I am beyond excited. I've been dying to go back to Africa since 2001! Thanks for the heads up on the motion issues on the internal flights. I did not have any issues on our internal flights on our previous trip to Africa, but I have found that motion is affecting me more as I get older, so we will make sure to have medication with us. Thanks also for the reminder on the luggage. Natural Habitat has provided very specific guidelines for baggage, which we plan to follow.
 
https://www.classicjourneys.com/iceland-adventure-tour/

I'm very much considering this tour with a friend for next September

I'm also requesting a Natural Habitat brochure for our family vacation in 2020. Those look really nice. Have you traveled with them before?

We have not, but I know people who did their Churchill Polar Bears trip and raved about it.

If you are thinking about Iceland, you might want to look at Nat Hab's 'Round Iceland itinerary:

https://www.nathab.com/alaska-northern-adventures/iceland-nature-adventure/

This one is under serious consideration for us for 2021.
 
The *only* problem I have with Backroads is that their trips tend to be really short. Like 5 or 6 days. I much prefer the ABD trips being 8 or 9 days or more for the exotic trips.

Sayhello

Interesting perspective!
We are looking at Backroads Iceland trip for Spring Break 2019. To fly internationally and not have kids miss any school, the 5 to 6 days are perfect. We’re just not sure if we are athletic enough to do a back roads itinerary....
 
Interesting perspective!
We are looking at Backroads Iceland trip for Spring Break 2019. To fly internationally and not have kids miss any school, the 5 to 6 days are perfect. We’re just not sure if we are athletic enough to do a back roads itinerary....
I took a Backroads trip to Nova Scotia, and I survived it! :) Although it was a Walking/Hiking trip and did not involve bicycling. But I was never that athletic!

Sayhello
 
I took a Backroads trip to Nova Scotia, and I survived it! :) Although it was a Walking/Hiking trip and did not involve bicycling. But I was never that athletic!

Sayhello

Did you enjoy your Backroads trip?

This itinerary is hours and hours of snowshoeing in 30 degree weather. We haven’t quite decided yet on a trip but limited options during Spring Break and Iceland is on the bucket list
 

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