How young is too young for ABD?

[spicedparrot]

Am strongly considering an ABD vacation for our small family of three. Our daughter will be 8 next year but am concerned she is still too young. Initially we thought Ireland or Germany would be best for her age due to the easier direct flights from ORD.

Any thoughts? Should we wait a year until she is 9? 10?

 

[Cousin Orville]

It depends on the child, but 8 is probably a great age. My oldest son was 7 for his first in France where he was the youngest on the trip. There was a 6 year old who did terrific in Southeast Asia and a 8 yr old in China who also did great.

 

[RSM]

As Cousin Orville said, it depends on the child. Ours was 7.5 when he went on his first (Northern Italy and Switzerland) and he was great. He is now 12 and still remembers details of the first trip. I think you would be surprised at how well the younger kids adapt to the time changes and environment. We have been on 4 ABDs and all of the kids have been really good. Our most recent trip to Central Europe had 2 six year olds and they kept right up. You know your child best, but don't underestimate his/her ability to travel. On many of our trips, parents on a first ABD invariably end up saying that they were concerned about their younger ones, but when they see them blend in and hang with the other junior adventurer's their concerns end up being unfounded.

 

[lurkergirl]

It really does depend on the child. You know her attention-span and her interests. And the guides do interact with the kids well.

When we did the Italy trip, the early May timing made for a small group that was mostly adults. There was one 13-year-old boy...and one boy that was either 4-and-a-half or 5-years-old.

It was not pleasant. The older child was mature and kept up with the adults, the parents of the younger child were upset there were not younger children for him to play with. He was restless and bored most of the time, surrounded by couples and adults that either didn't have children or had come on the trip alone, leaving theirs behind.

The trio were going off on a European cruise after the trip, I often wonder how he handled that...so much time away from home?

 

[alagille]

What I don't think some individuals understand is that if you call ABD, they will tell you a very specific makeup of the group before you even book. i.e. 12 adults, 15 children, 9 boys ages x,y,z and 6 girls ages... We selected our trip about 120 days out based on the makeup of the existing group so that we would have a good match for our children. My 5.5 year old was the youngest on the trip by maybe 6 months but did fine.

 

[hilarys]

As others have said it really depends on the child. I was very worried about the flights but my 9 and 11 year old did fine on the long travel from San Francisco to Prague even with a 9 hour delay. I think the hardest part for my 9 year old was that on the Central Europe trip there were several days that were completely non-stop where we did not go back to the hotel until after dinner so that she did not have a chance to just chill out in quiet. She usually fell asleep on the bus rides so those days gave her a bit of a break. All of the activities were fine for her and held her interest, the overall pace was just pushing it a bit on some days. Usually when we are at the parks we are out the door very early in the am for rope drop and stay late, but try to build in time to go back to the resort to just rest.

 

[spicedparrot]

The comments are helpful...my biggest concern was not whether she would "survive" but whether or not she would "get something" out of the experience. Calling to find out the current make-up of the group is a wise idea, I'll try that!

Are there particular trips that all of you have been on that may be particularly more interesting than others? For example, while our daughter likes museums a trip of one museum after another may not be interesting to her. Seeing and doing would appeal to her more.

 

[DCPhotoGal]

We just got back from ABD Scotland with my 9 and 10-year-old girls and they both loved it! I would think that sticking with their recommendation of 8 and over would be good. I will say, however, that when my daughters were 7 and 8 years old we took them to South Africa (not ABD) and they still talk about that trip, so they remember it well and got a lot out of it at those ages.

 

[acndis]

We took our son on his first ABD at four years old. My husband had been dying to go to Greece and this was the only way we thought it would be possible! My son absolutely loved it! He participated in every activity except the Donkey Ride and kept up beautifully with the group and all his fellow Jr. Adventurers. Since then, we have been on 3 other trips (Ireland, Winter Wonderland, Cowboys and Canyons) and have Knights and Lights and Vietnam booked. It has been wonderful and we have created some of our best family memories.

As for younger kids getting something out of it, his memories of all the trips are fuzzy. He saw a picture of us kayaking in Crete a week ago and asked what trip that was. So, it's clear he did not retain a lot of what he learned when he was there.

However, he does remember the names of all of his guides and most of the Jr. Adventurers whom he considers lifelong friends. I think he got a tremendous amount out of it. He has also become a seasoned traveler and feels comfortable around many different kinds of people and cultures. However, if you ask him what his favorite thing was on any ABD trip, he will say Jr. Adventurers night.

Taking a younger child does mean that you have to enter the trip with a different attitude. The guides are not babysitters and neither are the other kids on the trip. We were always careful to keep our son with us until it was absolutely clear that it was appropriate to send him with the kids/guides.

You also can't have the expectation that they must learn something to appreciate the cultural/historical aspect of the trips because for my son at least, that is not overt. However, it's clear to me that those experiences have been very positive for him in the way he relates to the world and other people.

So, to sum up a long post, JUST DO IT if you think you and your family would enjoy the trip. For our family, it's been worth every penny we've spent.

 

[Cousin Orville]

So... JUST DO IT

Good advice!

 

[spicedparrot]

All these comments are most helpful. Thank you. I was also considering Tauck Bridges, but the price is roughly equivilent and really, you never read anything negative about ABD.

I'm curious - for those of you fortunate to go on many of the tours do you think any would be better than others for our first time? I'm having a hard time deciding. Again, we are a small family and my daughter will only be 8 next year.

I'm considering England/France, Ireland, Scotland, Germany and perhaps Norway. The Austria/Germany/Czech tour looks interesting as well.

Thanks!

 

[Bobo912]

I've taken 5 ABD and 2 Tauck Bridges trips. I haven't seen any significant difference in the quality or service provided by the two companies. If I had to rank them, I think I would make one of the TB trips #1. Some of the ABDs were fantastic. Some just good. And sometimes mistakes are made. Nobody is perfect all the time. The price may start out similar, but if you don't book ABD early, the price will increase, sometimes by as much as $1000 pp. And the guide's gratuity is included in the price of the trip for TB. For ABD, you probably add around $500 in gratuities for your family of 3 for the 8/9 day trips you mentioned. Just some things to consider.

We did the Costa Rica ABD when my son was 8 and Alaska at 9. Those were great for kids who enjoy outdoor activities. I haven't done the other trips you mentioned, but we did Ireland this past summer. There is a lot of highway time on the bus, where there is nothing interesting to see. For the longest ride we watched a movie (or in my case, fell asleep). Most of the kids on our trip were teenagers, but there were a few younger kids. I think the younger kids enjoyed the activities at Dromoland (not included in the price of the trip) and the ghost tour, but they seemed pretty bored with the historical tours.

 

[acndis]

I would agree with Bobo on Ireland. It's a great trip but the most "adult" we have taken.

It's not on your list but I would recommend Greece. It's fabulous for all ages and the perfect mix of educational and fun.

We also just did Arizona/Utah and my son loved it. It's just fun from start to finish.

We are headed to London/Paris over Christmas so I can't tell you how that is yet but it sounds like a lot of fun!

You really can't make a bad choice. We've loved all of our ABDs.

 

[Bobo912]

I would agree with Bobo on Ireland. It's a great trip but the most "adult" we have taken.

It's not on your list but I would recommend Greece. It's fabulous for all ages and the perfect mix of educational and fun.

We also just did Arizona/Utah and my son loved it. It's just fun from start to finish.

We are headed to London/Paris over Christmas so I can't tell you how that is yet but it sounds like a lot of fun!

You really can't make a bad choice. We've loved all of our ABDs.

I second Arizona/Utah. DS was 11 when we took that trip. He loved it and so did I.

 

[carpenta]

I'll third Arizona/Utah.

 

[hilarys]

I'm considering England/France, Ireland, Scotland, Germany and perhaps Norway. The Austria/Germany/Czech tour looks interesting as well.

Thanks![/QUOTE]

The Austria/Germany/Czech tour is the only ABD we have done but the activities were great for kids. There was only one day we went to a traditional museum tour and the kids went off to the children's museum during that time. Definitely take a look at all the trip reports from this summer to get an idea of the activities but they are definitely younger kid friendly. My kids were never bored - just physically tired from the pace and the jet lag.

HS

 

[LovesBelle]

This is a really helpful thread and I am glad you asked the question. We are thinking of taking our kids (ages 7 & 9, now, so they would be 8 & 10 next year) either to Italy or to the England/France trip. I've been reading as much as I can on these boards about both, and Italy really sounds kid-friendly. I am secretly hoping for England/France, though, but I just haven't seen any trip reports involving kids so I don't know if it would be too much museum time.

 

[quinnc19]

Would love to have some more 8 year olds on the June 15-22 Arizona/Utah trip!

 

[Hlee]

Is your 8 year old a boy or a girl?

 

[quinnc19]

Girl turning 8 during the trip: )

Is your 8 year old a boy or a girl?