Do you find Overseas trips more worth the ABD price?

[Momof3greatkids]

After reading some of the posts lately, I have realized that one of the reasons I am not doing an ABD trip this year, is that the price of American trips seems so high, compared to my ability to do the trip myself. I realize the hassels are removed, but I keep thinking I could do that for so much less. For example, I would love to do Yosemite or MidAtlantic, but I keep thinking $9000 for a trip to DC or a National Park. Yikes! The overseas trips seem more reasonable to me, because they can translate when needed, navigate around the country, handle emergencies, etc. What do you think? Are the overseas worthier of the $$$?

 

[Momof3greatkids]

 

[sayhello]

So far, the 2 trips I've done have been Domestic trips, and I've totally thought they were worth the money. (Southwest Splendors and Alaska). Yes, I could have done them myself for less, but I loved the ease of having everything arranged for me, having someone else worry about the transportation and the luggage, leading the hikes, worrying about alternative arrangements if something falls through, etc, etc. I felt the same way about the Princess land tour that I took before my Alaska cruise 4 years ago. Just because I *can* do it cheaper does not necessarily mean I *want* to do it cheaper. Sometimes you get what you pay for. After years of arranged-by-myself vacations, shlepping myself & my luggage all over creation, not being able to watch the scenery as I drove, staying in inexpensive hotels, I *LIKE* doing it the ABD way.

There are still some places I'd do on my own. I'd have a very hard time justifying Backstage Magic, because I *grew up* in LA, and can't see paying that kind of money to go home. But it *does* include a lot of activities that you just can't arrange yourself, so I may break down some day & do it.

I spent 2 weeks on Maui arranged by myself, but Maui is very self-contained; you can drive from one end of the island to the other & back in a day. There's an association of excursion vendors, so it is *very* easy to arrange activities there for yourself. I still *might* consider a Hawaiian ABD, but might not. It would really depend on what kind of activities were included.

I'm doing the Med with ABD this year, and absolutely would not consider doing it any other way. I want to have someone who knows the language, knows the customs, knows the lay of the land, knows where the bathrooms are, for goodness' sake!

Ack, sorry, I'm rambling. I think what I'm saying is that it *is* worth it for Overseas, but I also see it as worth it for domestic areas I'm not familiar with, also. As a way to really *enjoy* my vacation and relax. I *can* do the vacation myself, for cheaper, but it's not as relaxing. And I want to relax on my vacation.

Sayhello

 

[WeLoveABD]

Well put SayHello! (I grew up in LA too--in Torrance, went to West for HS). We did a family trip that essentially followed the route of an ABD (up to Yellowstone--and to Moab and Grand Canyon). We came upon an ABD group in Moab, and I wanted to join them then and there--for all the reasons mentioned by SayHello (driving, worrying about where I was going rather than appreciating where I was etc). But it is costly; this is why we've done only the overseas ABD to date, but have been considering Alaska.

 

[kristilew]

I think, like so many things, the answer is "it depends." It depend on how you travel, and who is in your group, and what kind of traveling you've done before.

We did an ABD to another country, Peru, as well as one here in the US, Southwest Splendors. The cost of the trips for our family of 3 was only a few hundred dollars different.

We thought that the Peru trip was so much more "worth it." And for many of the reasons already stated: the hassle factor was nil, we didn't have to worry about the language differences or safety, and we covered way more ground than we would have otherwise. We felt that we got great value for our money.

We had a great time on the SWS trip, but also kept looking for anything that made it "more" than we could have done on our own.

Having said that, either trip was worth it in terms of educating us on a better way to travel. Since these trips, when we have gone to new cities, we have engaged a guide for a day. We've learned to look for the "sneak routes" to avoid lines and to get tickets in advance. We have booked nicer hotels because we discovered that it makes a huge difference to our overall trip enjoyment.

And that's where the "depends" comes in. If you hate to research, and don't want to spend the time to craft an ABD-esque trip on your own, then it's worth it, even here. But if you are the kind of person who can pretty easily figure out what goes into the US trips, or who can look at an itenerary online and figure out a way to copy it, maype not so much. If you've never done much "luxury" travel, like we hadn't up to the Peru trip, it's worth it just to set a standard, imo. Or to find out if you even care about that kind of stuff.

Finally, one other thought: if you have anyone in your travel party who is high maintenance - for whatever reason - you might be better off letting Disney worry about things like food and potty breaks and constant entertainment.

Whew - very rambling, and not sure I helped. The short answer to your original question, in my own experience, is Yes.

 

[Pakey]

We have traveled to Europe with AbD and on our own. For us, money is not the issue; I don't think you will find that AbD charges an unreasonable amount for a guided tour with above average lodging and meals included. There are pros and cons to doing a guided tour and money is only one of them.

Pros: 1) Money, AbD is a good value for what you get. 2) Stress free travel. For this, I mean getting into certain venues more so than getting around because I did not find getting around on our own (or finding bathrooms) to be very difficult but avoiding long lines at museums/monuments/etc. was nice.

Cons: 1) Structured travel 2) Group travel 3) Generic food offerings

So our decision is that for Europe and South America, we will travel on our own in the future, to other places (we are going to Egypt later this year) where the political climate is a bit scarier, we will do a guided tour.

 

[glassslipper2004]

We've done ABD both overseas (Viva Italia) and domestic (Southwest Splendors). I agree with much of what the other posters have said, and I do think there is more "value added" to the overseas trips. It would just be a lot harder for me to put together the trip in Italy than the trip to the Southwest. I still enjoyed having Disney put the Southwest trip together, but I didn't need it as much as with the Italy trip.

Both trips were great - but the Italy one was extraordinary. Even so, as one of the other posters has said, once you have been shown some of the ins and outs of travel by Disney, you might choose to do it on your own afterwards. For myself and my family, however, group travel has turned out to be well worth the down sides (waiting for the group, generic food) and if money were no object, we'd do lots more!

 

[airbear]

Our first ABD is coming up this July. We are doing Southwest Splendors and yes the price is high. I will admit that I am gladly paying for the convenience of having someone else do our vacation planning. I don't have to worry about driving directions or dragging my luggage around. I'm hoping the extra money will be worth it. We'll see once we go on our trip.

 

[Turtlemom]

We've done 3 domestic trips (Hawaii, Southwest Splendors and Quest for the West) and we're signed up for our first overseas ABD Bella Italia. I'll let you know what I think of the domestic/international issue in August. However, I must say that, in addition to all the points made by prior posters, there is an advantage to group travel as well.

We have thouroughly enjoyed our travel companions on each of these trips. Having other kids around for our kids to hang out with made it much more fun and exciting for them, and made us smile watching all the kids bond. And I actually enjoyed hanging out with the group in the lodge or at the pool at the end of the day. Also, I cannot say enough good things about the adventure guides. They really set the tone for comeraderie and fun. So for us--it was a definite "worth it!"

 

[Momof3greatkids]

Everyone, thanks so much for the discussion. There where a lot of good points made by all. "Value added" are the exact words I was searching for and could not come up with it. I do believe overseas does have an added value because most Americans need more help getting around another country, and group travel can provide that. I think we are going to do Yosemite on our own this summer, mostly because we want to do whitewater rafting and rock climbing, which is not offered by Tauck or ABD. However, I know I am going to miss having everything taken care of by Disney, and my son will miss the other kids along.