Best first ABD for 8-year old?

[kandt]

We are going to Costa Rica this July. I found out the park where we will be doing zip lining has 2 small zip lines 1st before doing the big ones. I am hoping he will at least do the small ones. Not sure how high those are though.

I would be very interested in hearing about your trip when you get back. We are looking into doing a Tauck Bridges Costa Rica Tour next summer. I haven't found many reviews or trip reports online.

 

[nemofans]

I would be very interested in hearing about your trip when you get back. We are looking into doing a Tauck Bridges Costa Rica Tour next summer. I haven't found many reviews or trip reports online.

Tauck travel forums has a little. I found some goods tips there.

 

[WishUponAStarryNight]

Thanks, again, to everyone for their ideas. I moved up our timeline and booked Yellowstone with Austin Adventures for June 2018 . The geysers are high on DS' list of things to see. My experience with AA has been great thus far and I love that the trip is capped at 18 ppl and will have 3 guides. I think it will be a great first group tour for us and we'll get a good sense of whether this type of travel is for us (though I'm fairly convinced that it is). I'm looking forward to booking the ABD Grand Canyon for 2019, though I'm a little discouraged with some of the experiences folks on this board have had booking for 2018. It's disappointing to hear that ABD seems to have so little regard for returning guests.

 

[acndis]

Thanks, again, to everyone for their ideas. I moved up our timeline and booked Yellowstone with Austin Adventures for June 2018 . The geysers are high on DS' list of things to see. My experience with AA has been great thus far and I love that the trip is capped at 18 ppl and will have 3 guides. I think it will be a great first group tour for us and we'll get a good sense of whether this type of travel is for us (though I'm fairly convinced that it is). I'm looking forward to booking the ABD Grand Canyon for 2019, though I'm a little discouraged with some of the experiences folks on this board have had booking for 2018. It's disappointing to hear that ABD seems to have so little regard for returning guests.

Great choice! We are also with Austin Adventures for Belize in Summer 2018. I have also found them really helpful. We have been working with Jennifer Kramer there and she is really accommodating! Please report back on your trip! I would really like to do Cuba with them, too.

 

[WishUponAStarryNight]

Great choice! We are also with Austin Adventures for Belize in Summer 2018. I have also found them really helpful. We have been working with Jennifer Kramer there and she is really accommodating! Please report back on your trip! I would really like to do Cuba with them, too.

Thanks! I'll definitely report back and would love to hear about your Belize trip, too. I'm very happy that I was able to take advantage of 2017 pricing for the 2018 trip. AA seems like a great company to work with. I'm working with Mike Nibler. Of course, he asked where I'd heard of AA. He thought it was a riot when I told him it was a discussion board for ABD (I've been following the "Other Options" thread for some time).

 

[Ava]

Thanks, again, to everyone for their ideas. I moved up our timeline and booked Yellowstone with Austin Adventures for June 2018 . The geysers are high on DS' list of things to see. My experience with AA has been great thus far and I love that the trip is capped at 18 ppl and will have 3 guides. I think it will be a great first group tour for us and we'll get a good sense of whether this type of travel is for us (though I'm fairly convinced that it is). I'm looking forward to booking the ABD Grand Canyon for 2019, though I'm a little discouraged with some of the experiences folks on this board have had booking for 2018. It's disappointing to hear that ABD seems to have so little regard for returning guests.

I would love to hear about your experiences with AA for Yellowstone. I really want to do a national parks trip with my girls, either Yellowstone or Grand Canyon, and the AA Yellowstone itinerary looks perfect. My youngest is 4 now so I'm thinking possibly in 2019 when she's 6. How old will your son be on the trip? My main concern would be her being too young/small for any of the activities. I know on the ABD Montana & Wyoming trips they list minimum ages/weights for some things like horseback riding & whitewater rafting but AA doesn't have any info like that on their website that I can find.

 

[WishUponAStarryNight]

I would love to hear about your experiences with AA for Yellowstone. I really want to do a national parks trip with my girls, either Yellowstone or Grand Canyon, and the AA Yellowstone itinerary looks perfect. My youngest is 4 now so I'm thinking possibly in 2019 when she's 6. How old will your son be on the trip? My main concern would be her being too young/small for any of the activities. I know on the ABD Montana & Wyoming trips they list minimum ages/weights for some things like horseback riding & whitewater rafting but AA doesn't have any info like that on their website that I can find.

I had many of the same concerns. DS will be 7 at the time of our trip and he's small (and skinny) for his age. The AA rep told me that he'll be able to participate in all of the activities. The AA Yellowstone Family trip includes 1-3 mile hikes, 1 zipline trip, 1 rafting trip, 1 horseback ride and a safari ride. When I made our reservations, the rep requested our heights so they would be sure to have the right horses available for our ride and he told me that the ride is great for first timers. AA's other Yellowstone trips include longer hikes of 5-6 miles. While DS could handle one of those, I was concerned that 5 days of that would be too much. I love that essentially the entire trip is in the park. Aside from having a real opportunity to see most of what the park has to offer, we won't spend too much time on the road. The Grand Canyon is also on our list (and, so far, the ABD itinerary is most appealing to me), but in the end, I felt that Yellowstone was a better fit for DS at this point.

 

[Ava]

I had many of the same concerns. DS will be 7 at the time of our trip and he's small (and skinny) for his age. The AA rep told me that he'll be able to participate in all of the activities. The AA Yellowstone Family trip includes 1-3 mile hikes, 1 zipline trip, 1 rafting trip, 1 horseback ride and a safari ride. When I made our reservations, the rep requested our heights so they would be sure to have the right horses available for our ride and he told me that the ride is great for first timers. AA's other Yellowstone trips include longer hikes of 5-6 miles. While DS could handle one of those, I was concerned that 5 days of that would be too much. I love that essentially the entire trip is in the park. Aside from having a real opportunity to see most of what the park has to offer, we won't spend too much time on the road. The Grand Canyon is also on our list (and, so far, the ABD itinerary is most appealing to me), but in the end, I felt that Yellowstone was a better fit for DS at this point.

That's great to hear. My DD is tall for her age, but slim/light. I like the AA Yellowstone itinerary for pretty much all the reasons you listed; it seems like a perfect first group active tour. I hope you have a wonderful time!

 

[SingingMom]

FYI - Just returned from Spain ABD and wanted to mention that this is NOT a trip for young children. We adored it - but younger children would be extremely bored.

 

[CJinMD]

We just got back from Arizona/Utah, and my oldest is 8 - he LOVED it!!

 

[hilarys]

I am on the England/France tour right now and our group has three 8 year old girls and they are having a great time. They are the youngest going up to some that are older high school/just graduated. My kids are 14 and 12. Everyone seems to be having a fabulous time. We have two great guides that the kids love (Frankie and Adam) and who keep the kids really engaged.

 

[SingingMom]

They are the best!