Adults Only - worth it?

[roomthreeseventeen]

SO and I are pondering a couple different ABD trips for 2011 (Egypt, Italy, K&L), and are wondering if the atmosphere on the “Adults Only” trips is different enough to warrant serious thought about which trip we want to take.

Because SO teaches, we’re limited to summer trips if they involve international travel.

I guess I’m wondering if having NO children on the trip makes everyone a more cohesive group. The parents don’t have to keep track of what the kids are doing, are less likely to eat by themselves as a family unit for the “eat on your own” meals, etc. I like kids just fine (SO less so), but I’m wondering if maybe the trip becomes more focused on the location and the tour group when there aren’t kids to worry about.

FWIW, I'll be 31, SO 61.

 

[smep013]

Hello!

My husband is a teacher, so we are also limited to summer vacations (and during school holidays, you know the drill).

In theory, we think we would perfer an Adults Only opportunity, however, on our China Adventure, where adults were outnumbered by kids, the kids were awesome. Not one issue, and not a distraction for us or their parents. I realize each trip is different and there could be nightmare kids on our next Adventure, but to us, booking when it's convenient to us is more important than trying to find an Adults Only trip.

Now, if there was an Adults Only trip that WAS convenient for us, would we opt for that? I really do not know. There was something about having the kids be part of the experience that made China special. The choice for is would not be an automatic.

Hope that helps!

 

[TaiTai1]

If you are limited to summer travel, how many ABD trips offer an Adults Only option in the summer? My experience has been that they tend to offer the Adults Only options early in the season or at the end of the season.

We did the Adults Only Australia in 2009. It was fabulous. We love our kids and grandkids, but don't always want to travel with them.... or with other's children. Our group bonded very well, and we had a great time getting to know all the other travelers. This was a great group for going out to dinner, or getting drinks, etc. I think everyone on our trip agreed that one of the reasons we had such a great time, was because there were no children on it. The focus was more on us and what we wanted to do and what our interests were.

We are doing the Adults Only Germany Fairy Tale this coming week. I'll let you know more about that when we return! Looking forward to another child-free vacation!

 

[Bobo912]

SO and I are pondering a couple different ABD trips for 2011 (Egypt, Italy, K&L), and are wondering if the atmosphere on the “Adults Only” trips is different enough to warrant serious thought about which trip we want to take.

Because SO teaches, we’re limited to summer trips if they involve international travel.

I guess I’m wondering if having NO children on the trip makes everyone a more cohesive group. The parents don’t have to keep track of what the kids are doing, are less likely to eat by themselves as a family unit for the “eat on your own” meals, etc. I like kids just fine (SO less so), but I’m wondering if maybe the trip becomes more focused on the location and the tour group when there aren’t kids to worry about.

FWIW, I'll be 31, SO 61.

I haven't been on an adult only trip, but my experience as a single mom has been that DS hangs out with the other kids and the guides a lot and I don't really have to keep track of him. Although there are times when he likes to be with me, so he doesn't totally abdandon me. I actually get to have conversations with other adults for a change, which is nice. For the "on our own" meals, we tend to meet up with another family - sometimes another family with kids, but sometimes a family without kids. I've found the group as a whole to be quite cohesive. I don't think you can go wrong with either choice, unless you are just really unlucky and have a group of unruly kids. But my experience has been that the kids are very well behaved. On our last ABD, there were only 5 kids out of 30, so even on a non-adults only trip, you may not have a lot of kids.

 

[smep013]

I have not seen any summer month Adult Only trips for the Adventures we are interested in.

 

[Chropistopy]

I've only been on one ABD trip...the Podcast Backstage Magic trip in July. We were a group of all adults. It may make a difference that it was a podcast trip, but we definitely felt like one big group. We didn't partition ourselves off to only eat or do activities with only the people with which we came on the trip. During our free time, the group would split up but only into smaller groups. I traveled solo on the trip but never felt alone.

Not really answering your question about kids but thought I'd offer information about my experience with an all adult trip.

 

[sayhello]

That's a hard question. Personally, I prefer the Adults Only trips. My Southwest Splendors trip was Adults Only by default (no kids signed up) and the Alaska trip was Adults only. But the trip that I took this year, the DCL/ABD Med cruise was not Adults Only. The adults did greatly outnumber the kids, though. We had great kids, who were obviously seasoned travelers, including the 4-year-old. But the 4-year-old was left on the ship in the Kids' Club for a couple of the really long, intense days, and you wouldn't have that luxury on a regular ABD.

I have heard a couple of horror stories, but most of them involved the parents more than the kids (parents assuming the group would watch their kids, and just taking off without them ). Quite honestly, we had an *adult* on my SWS trip who was making people miserable with her attitudes, so even being on an Adults Only trip would not guarantee you no tantrums... Fortunately, it did not spoil the trip for us.

I guess this is a long way of saying that I *prefer* the Adults Only trips, but if I really wanted to take a trip, and the only one that worked was not Adults Only, I'd still go. When you take this type of Group trip, it's really all a crap shoot. So far, it seems the majority of folks who take these kinds of trips are pretty cool.

Sayhello

 

[CocosMeme]

We do the adult only option because I am a retired teacher and enjoy traveling now at the times that I could not while teaching. We went on Viva Italia adult only and it was fun. The group was very easy to bond with and everyone got along well. We broke off in small "pods" for the dinners on our own, but usually because of where each couple wanted to go. We even had a surprise side trip one night that the guides could not do with the kids along - we were taken to a really nice bar on the Via Venito and were treated to a free drink on disney! DH does not drink so he got a non alcoholic punch. It was so much fun we are going on southwest Splendors adult only in 2 weeks. I love kids but it is nice to be with grownups on vacation. I travel with my kids and grandkids often.

 

[corky441]

I've been looking over various ABD trips & dates for 2011, and I'm leaning to the "Adult Only" ones for DH & I.

Due to the fact that I manage the office for a marina & waterfront restaurant, I'm the exact opposite of most travelers. I need to travel in my off season, which is late Fall thru early Spring.

I'm thinking that due to my time constraints, that most of the trips I might take would probably have few to no children anyway, but for where we are in our life now, a child free tip is more to our liking.

Right now I'm giving serious consideration the the Viva Italian trip from October 13th - 21st, 2011.... anyone else???

 

[Pakey]

My husband and I did the adults only Knights and Lights tour. I am not opposed to doing a tour with children but given the choice, I'd probably prefer not to.

Our tour felt very adult. The tour was full. There was one solo traveler, one mother/son duo, one mom with her 2 daughters, 2 best friends who left their husbands and children home, and the rest were couples. Age range was from mid 20's to ???. Some couples really chose to distance themselves from the group and I barely knew their names; however, if we wanted to spend free time with others, there was always somebody interested in doing the same things we wanted to do.

 

[Diskidatheart]

My DW and I went on the Viva Italia Adults only trip this past May. I can't compare it to a trip with kids, but I would certainly prefer to do adults only if I had the choice. If it was a trip with kids or no trip at all, I'd still do the trip. From my understanding, the itinerary does not change at all except we didn't have any movie nights. I think there could be more wine flowing on the adults only trips and you didn't have to worry about if you said something inappropriate in front of kids (you know, the occasional swear word). It's not like the trip was a scene from Animal House, but it certainly wasn't Mary Poppins either. We had a great time and met some wonderful people on the trip.

 

[TDC Nala]

I would do just the adults only tours if I could. Unfortunately there are none for Egypt, and they were removed from some of the other tours that interested me.

Egypt will be the first non-adults only that I do, so we'll see how that works out.

The last one was a rather small group..my friend and I, two sisters, a mother and daughter, and five couples.

 

[beachcat]

Patti and I did the adults-only Knights and Lights Trip. The itinerary is slightly different on the adults only trips. For instance, a night boat trip down the Seine River instead of movie night at the hotel for the kids. Also no treasure hunt at Versailles. More of a adult tour and luncheon at Versailles.

I enjoyed the adult interaction alot more in the British pubs also. One group of adults went pubbing almost every night.

 

[sssteele]

We'd love to join you. Tell us more!

 

[beachcat]

Hello Sam and Joan

How about some Spitfire beer at The Anchor Pub in London then ride the Eurostar to Paris, drink their wine then ride the Eurostar to Rome and do the Viva Italia ABD. I am ready to go now.

RDH

 

[beachcat]

I've been looking over various ABD trips & dates for 2011, and I'm leaning to the "Adult Only" ones for DH & I.

Due to the fact that I manage the office for a marina & waterfront restaurant, I'm the exact opposite of most travelers. I need to travel in my off season, which is late Fall thru early Spring.

I'm thinking that due to my time constraints, that most of the trips I might take would probably have few to no children anyway, but for where we are in our life now, a child free tip is more to our liking.

Right now I'm giving serious consideration the the Viva Italian trip from October 13th - 21st, 2011.... anyone else???

Viva Italia 10 -13-2011 is on the list

 

[Lynn G]

We did an adults only trip to Peru, and the one thing that we know was different was that we learned that on the kids trips, alpaca and guinea pig are not even mentioned as food sources and we would not have had the opportunity to try them.

 

[DisneyOrange]

I think adult only trips sound like a blast.

 

[shellabell]

I'll be doing the adults only Backstage Magic starting Tuesday. We did it last December and really enjoyed it!! The guides said that the tour really isn't any different adults only, but I have a low tolerance for kids so we did adults only again.

 

[corky441]

I understand how an adult only trip works best for us also.
Tomorrow I am booking an adult only ABD trip to Italy and I know this is the best way for us to travel at this point in our lives