When comparing apples to oranges, don’t get squeezed…

Have you ever had difficulty making a comparison between two options? This can become particularly difficult with travel offerings, when you can’t hold the product or kick the tires before your purchase.

Recently, a family of 19 (three generations: grandparents, adult kids and grandchildren) from northern and southern California called to ask us to organize a private trip to the Canadian Rockies. The week-long holiday was designed to celebrate the grandmother’s 70th birthday.

In this family, there are four sisters, each married and with children. One of the sisters had already spent a fair amount of time speaking with a Canadian tour operator, constructing a program that included overnights in Banff, Jasper and Lake Louise, plus two nights on the Rocky Mountaineer train traveling between Jasper and Vancouver.

On first blush, the trip looked less expensive than what Classic Journeys could provide on our Canadian Rockies Family Journey. But then doubts began to seep in. They began to worry that the trip was not personalized enough for the family and the grandmother’s interests that ranged from fly-fishing to painting, photography to cooking. In addition, they were told a price and advised that it related to “gold” level accommodations (only to find out that the accommodations were really subpar). The final straw was hearing that they would have a different guide in each location, rather than someone who would get to know them and take care of the family throughout the week.

That’s when they called Classic Journeys. They gave us their criteria and asked us to turn around a suggested itinerary and pricing (complete with special inclusions unique to their interests) quickly as the departure day was fast approaching.

The first thing we did was construct a comparable program for them. This allowed everyone to make that real apples to apples comparison to see how much more they were paying for their vacation versus a similar Classic Journeys’ family program. Then we suggested how they could upgrade their hotels (Chateau Lake Louise, Jasper Park Lodge, Banff Springs Lodge) while still staying within their budget.

We also included two full time guides (their names are Trevor and Craig, but the family’s nicknames for them became the inside joke of Cheddar and Provolone). Finally, we added in some really one-of-a-kind events like a private fishing expedition on Maligne Lake in our guides’ own boats (the only private boats on the lake) so that the grandmother could fish with her grandkids.

In the end, the cost was lower than the competing company’s quote and provided the family with a much more personal and complete immersion into the Canadian Rockies than what they would have enjoyed otherwise.

Are we always lower cost? No. Can we always provide Classic Journeys’ guests with a richer more personal experience? Usually. And we can certainly let you know quickly if we have the expertise in an area to make a trip memorable for your family, group of friends, company or organization.

If you’d like to make an apples to apples comparison on your next holiday, send me an email at blog@classicjourneys.com.

Travel writers give advice on when to choose a group tour

Recently, two highly-regarded travel writers, Paul Lasley and Elizabeth Harryman, joined a small group tour in southwestern Ireland and then wrote an article about it for Westways magazine. It appeared in their May 2009 issue, and is titled “Going with the Group – When to consider taking an escorted tour”. Since they so eloquently summed up many of the frequently asked questions our guests have as they are considering traveling with us, I thought I would share it with you.

“Q: I’m an independent-minded traveler. But are there times when an escorted tour might be a good idea?

A: Before taking an escorted tour of Ireland, we were skeptical of the tour idea. But an experience in County Galway changed our minds.

A peat fire burned in the fireplace of the 220 year old thatched-roof farmhouse. “I was born in a pub,” said Frances, the woman who greeted us at the font door. She had green eyes that expressed gentleness. “Maybe that’s why I like meeting people,” she said. After she served us Irish soda bread and a soup of leeks, potatoes and carrots, our group went to see – and feed – a new lamb. We wouldn’t have thought that this kind of simple, intimate experience could be part of an escorted tour. But this encounter made us realize that escorted, or group, tours aren’t what the used to be.

What a difference 40 years makes. “Today people on escorted tours are sight-doing instead of sightseeing,” says Bob Whitley, president of the United States Tour Operators Associations (USTOA). “They’re climbing Mount Fuji instead of just looking at it.

“They’re visiting local residents in their homes. And many tours visit just one or two countries; they take in a lot of villages and explore back roads. Today’s tours have more free time built into them, so people can pursue their own interests or go shopping.”

Our experience taught us that there are times when it pays to take an escorted tour. Here are some examples.

• When you want to save money. Escorted tours can save you as much as 50 percent of the cost of paying for the trip components separately, according to the USTOA. “The cost of meals and attractions are typically included,” says Whitley. “That can add up to big savings.”

• When you want to avoid hassle. On an escorted tour, you don’t have to find your way around unfamiliar places. And if you have a problem with a hotel room, it’s the tour escort who sorts it out, not you.

• When you want to go to a special event. If you want to attend the Passion Play in Oberammergau, Germany, for example, which occurs every 10 years (the next performance will be in 2010), a tour will ensure that you have tickets and transportation to the event.

• When you want to travel to less-developed countries. You might feel comfortable navigating western Europe on your own. But if you’re heading to a destination that has a less-developed infrastructure, a group tour can ease the way.

• When you want to pursue a special interest. Many tours allow you to focus on one theme, such as cooking or history or art, as you travel through a place. Being with people who share similar interests can also add to the experience, as Bill Green discovered. The Los Angeles-based human resources consultant’s recent tour exploring Northern California was enhanced by the companionship of like-minded fellow travelers. “It made for stimulating conversation,” he says.

• When you want to make friends. Stimulating conversation can lead to lasting friendships. “My wife and I still keep in touch with people we met on that tour,” says Green.

We know how he feels. When we return to Ireland, we plan to look up a gentle woman named Frances.”

Thanks Paul and Elizabeth for the great checklist. I couldn’t agree more. So whether you are thinking about our Ireland trips (we offer a cultural walking adventure and a family journey), joining our Napa and Sonoma culinary tour, or you have a wish list of special events you’ve always wanted to experience during your vacation (like visiting Stonehenge privately at sunrise, observing the fjordland crested penguins with a naturalist on a private beach in New Zealand, or meeting a shepherd in Tuscany) we can help. And if you’d like to listen to a clip from our Irish guide Donal’s band in their local pub in Kenmare, just drop us a line at blog@classicjourneys.com

Sometimes a good deal isn’t…

A colleague of mine just hung up with one of our past guests. The lady, who has traveled with us twice previously to Bryce, Grand Canyon and Zion and Montana, said she thoroughly enjoyed our trips.

That’s when the call became a bit unusual…

She went on to say that she had recently purchased a tour to Morocco on-line in response to a promotional email that she received from one of our competitors. The email had arrived one evening, seemed like a great deal, and she had purchased it without speaking with anyone at the company. A true spur of the moment decision.

After purchasing the trip, she found that she had many questions for the tour operator and so phoned them several times over the course of a couple of weeks. Sadly for her, she said that no one at the company knew the trip well or could answer her questions. Feeling frustrated and a bit embarrassed, she called us knowing that we’ve operated tours in Morocco for over a decade.

My colleague, Sarah, was a bit confused as to why a guest on another company’s trip was phoning us to chat. Don’t get me wrong, we know that we have many fine competitors, and we realize that sometimes a guest will choose another company instead of Classic Journeys. (Maybe a date doesn’t work and they are not interested in a Private Journey, or they want to pursue a special interest or region that we do not cover.) That said, this was still pretty unique: a guest calling us to ask questions about their tour when they are not traveling with us!

Fortunately, many of us at Classic Journeys have been to Morocco and have been on our Morocco—Fes to Marrakesh trip. We have very good personal relationships with our head guides, Jalil and Saida, and our country manager Tarik; and we’ve spent a considerable amount of time with all 29 colleagues there who take care of our guests on tour. So Sarah was able to answer the guest’s questions completely, putting her mind somewhat at ease.

Why all this in a blog?

Sometimes a good deal isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. And sometimes that trip that is more expensive initially is actually a better value than the one with the lower initial price. That is not to say that dollars always dictate quality, but rather that tour operators with local knowledge can be worth their weight in gold.

We've carefully crafted all of our tours in over 65 regions around the world, combining years of research with careful scouting and relationships with local guides to operate exceptional trips. And if one of the reasons to go on a guided tour is to not worry about the logistics, we've done your homework for you and are there to make your trip seamless, even before you've left.

Sometimes prospective guests like to speak with other travelers who have visited a region with us, and we invite you to do that. And others like to know that well-known third parties like Travel + Leisure or National Geographic have rated us among the top of our peers, and you can review these on our awards page.

If we can assist with any of these requests, or you find yourself traveling with a company that isn’t helping the way you expected, just drop me a line at blog@classicjourneys.com

Guests share their feedback on Trip Advisor

A part of my daily routine that I thoroughly enjoy is reading through questionnaires our guests complete on their return home. It offers us great insight and ideas that we can implement right away on the next departure in a region.

This week, the mailbag included an email from four guests for whom we arranged a custom Private Journey to Tuscany & the Cinque Terre over the summer. In it, they let us know that one of the ladies had taken the liberty to post an entry on Trip Advisor recapping their experience with us. She wrote such a candid recap of what took place during the week that I thought other guests might find her comments helpful. So here you go!

“We took this tour in June of 2009 as a private group of 4 people (two couples). We had a fantastic trip! Classic Journeys (CJ) did a wonderful job in customizing our trip. Thanks to Julie at CJ for planning the trip.

The hotels were great, 4-5 star. Our tour guide was wonderful, knowledgeable and connected. I would highly recommend this trip to anyone wanting to see these local destinations on foot. Here are a few customizations to the trip that we made. Pre-tour: We arrived in Florence 36 hours before the tour began to explore and shop on our own and CJ added one night to our accommodations. It also allowed us some rest time (which will be needed). We went to dinner at great restaurant in Florence, L'Osteria Di Giovanni for dinner, which a friend recommended. The tour began the following midday with a Florence sites walking overview. (If you want to do any shopping or museum tours, plan to do it on your own time or allow extra pre/post day). The next day we left for Tuscany. Walking the roads into Chianti Classico Region starting with an Abbey/small village and then continued on to Greve was everything I had hoped it to be. We ate lunch in Greve at Caffe le Gogge and we would highly recommend. The hikes, which we enjoyed and were prepared for were just a little more challenging then we expected, but not overly difficult if you are in average to above average shape. You are after all hiking over hills and dirt roads (light hiking shoes highly recommended). The following days were filled with lots of walking and village overviews (very little to no time to go into museums or shops, so you must carve out some tour time and/or discuss with your guide how to fit that in if it is important to you. The hotel in Chianti, was wonderful. It is run by a very nice family, who goes above and beyond to make your stay enjoyable. We toured a local professional potter and got to watch him at work. (The town Colle was on the tour and I would have skipped it because we did not go into a museum to see how they make crystal, but did walk through the town.) We also added a cooking lesson in Tuscany with chef Massimo at his private castello. We had a great time and great food. I would add this to your tour if you can.

Next we drove to Santa Margherita, stayed at a beautiful hotel on the water. On our open dinner night in Santa Margherita, we had one of the best meals we all have ever had out of all of our collective international travels at "Da o Batti" on (via/street Ruffini 2. The best item we had there was the mussels and lasagna pesto, wow!). Don't miss this casual but fine dining experience. This part of the trip we walked to Portofino and walked parts of Cinque Terre. Lastly, we stopped in Pietrasanta and discovered that great sculptors that have their work reproduced here to a large scale, by local artisans.

Don't miss this tour. Two of the best things about of this tour were that after all the wonderful food and lots of wine consumed none of us gained weight because of the walking/hiking, (the two gals each lost a pound); and it is a romantic getaway! We can't wait to go back and Classic Journeys has the insight and resources to get you into intriguing places that you would not get into on your own. It was a trip of a lifetime for each of us. So what are you waiting for? Regards - PVB travel friends.”

That’s Jalene’s posting. If it’s sparked any questions about our Tuscany & Cinque Terre trip, our Private Journeys way of traveling, or our style of travel in general, drop me a line at blog@ClassicJourneys.com.

Lost in Wisconsin without a guide…

It’s catalog season at Classic Journeys, and that means that every year I pack up the family for a few days in central Wisconsin to attend the press check at our printer, and then drive down to Chicago for a weekend with friends and their kids.

For us, it’s the culmination of months of preparation on our annual adventure travel catalog, featuring our cultural walking tours, culinary tours and family vacations in over 65 destinations worldwide. Our whole team (tour operations, guest services, creative, marketing and sales, and accounting) comes together for several months to work on the project at various times. And at the end of it all, we spend a couple of sleepless nights at a 1.4 million square foot printing facility watching our catalog zoom along at 40,000 pages per hour on multi-million dollar presses the length of a football field. The goal is to make sure the books look their best and tell the story of traveling in Classic Journeys’ style well.


Since this was our 15th annual catalog celebrating international adventure travel, I thought I might have a couple of occasions to reflect about how it all fits into my year. That said, I never thought I’d consider how this trip might be a metaphor for traveling with (or without) Classic Journeys on vacation. Until two weeks ago…

You see, normally I am accompanied by our printing salesman, Paul, who meets us when we arrive in Wisconsin. He takes us around to local landmarks, introduces us to members of his team in manufacturing, creative, quality control, bindery…the whole works. He takes us out to dinner, drives us back and forth to the plant and other meetings, and makes sure everything goes seamlessly. If you’re playing along with me, you can imagine Paul in the role of a Classic Journeys’ guide. Friendly, smart and well-connected.

This year was a little different. Paul’s wife just had a baby and so I suggested that he stay home to attend to his family. I figured I knew my way around Wisconsin and could make everything work smoothly on my own. (In the same way many of us choose to vacation on our own…)
And that’s where the story deviates from a Classic Journey.

You see, I landed only to find that the “color” of the first signatures was ready for approval (in essence the books on press were ready to be proofed) even though I was still about three hours away. That never happened when Paul was with me managing things at the plant. We worked it out, the pressmen were fantastic, and the catalog printed beautifully (even though we ate a hasty dinner of sandwiches from the cafeteria at 1:00 am). The next morning, I woke to drive myself to another of the company’s plants for a meeting with their creative team. I had directions, the address, and my iphone to guide the way. And still I found myself lost in the middle of farmlands, losing time and arriving quite late for my meeting.

Again, locals took pity on me and I was fortunate to be surrounded by friendly and helpful people at our printer. They modified their schedules to accommodate mine, and the meetings went well. But I had to laugh to myself as I drove back to my hotel. I was reminded that whenever I travel with Classic Journeys, I rely on the expertise of our guides, their local connections, how seamlessly they make everything unfold, and how there is no wasted time figuring out where we are going to go, what to do or how to get there.

And in that moment, I vowed to send a special thanks to each of our guides—from Amalfi to Zion—for everything they do on our trips…and to invite Paul on the next press check with me…

If you’ve had a great moment where you were lost…or found…drop me a line at blog@classicjourneys.com. I’d enjoy hearing from you.

8 is the new 12

When it comes to international travel with kids in tow, the age-old debate still swirls: How old is old enough for children to truly appreciate a trip abroad?

Early teens used to have the market cornered, but a writer friend of ours recently uncovered a seismic shift. In "Rules of Engagement", author Linda Packer reveals what child development experts already know: today's kids are becoming far more worldly at an earlier age. Hence her pithy proclamation: "Eight is the new 12." (You can read her whole article here from Private Clubs magazine.)

At Classic Journeys, we couldn't have come up with a catchier phrase. But we weren't surprised...we've seen the evidence firsthand for years on our Family Journeys. The premise is simple: expose kids -- particularly those aged seven to 16 -- to other cultures in a fun, engaging way, and they'll never fail to amaze you with how delightedly they take it all in. By nature, kids love to be seeing and doing, and the more exotic the destination and its daily adventures, the more eagerly they respond.


Just to put our theory to the test, I made a call to Karen Gouze, Ph.D., director of training in psychology at Chicago's Children's Memorial Hospital and associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. Sure enough, her comments confirmed what we've observed: "Children are much more knowledgeable by age eight than they used to be," she agreed. "They're exposed to a much more diverse group of people in their everyday lives, so they're much more interested in the outside world."

It's always a treat for us to witness that moment when multiple generations really click on a Family Journey. I first met Gary and Yang Sciscent on our Peru Family Journey over spring break in 2008. They live in Manhattan with their three kids ages 12, 11 and 7. We all had such a great time together that they joined my family again when we opted for our Morocco Family Journey over spring break 2009. To see our kids mountain biking through the Sacred Valley on their way to Machu Picchu made for an unforgettable family outing...as did riding camelback, Bedouin-style, over towering sand dunes this past March.

Whether our guests are paddling a dugout canoe in Panama, skimming along a zip line in the cloud forest of Costa Rica, or swimming with the world's smallest dolphins in New Zealand, they hit it off instantly with our awesome native guides. By taking advantage of every "teachable moment" -- yet never, ever making it feel like school -- our guides know how to make history and culture come alive. From unearthing wildlife (the weirder the better) to relating centuries-old local legends (like pouring boiling oil over the heads of ancient attackers in Tuscany's hilltowns), they capture the imagination of young and old alike.

As parents who love to tour with our own kids, we've mastered the logistics and eliminated the language barriers in each region we visit. Even planning a trip around school schedules isn't a problem, with seven multi-generational Family Journeys perfectly timed for winter and spring breaks. You can see all of our Family Journeys departures at www.classicjourneys.com/family

Drop me a line at blog@classicjourneys.com if you'd like to share traveling stories of your 8 (...or 12) year olds.

When 'affordable' really adds value

A neat side effect of my blog and our monthly enewsletters is that I've received more personal email responses from guests than I can ever remember. Some check in to see how things are here. Others give me updates on their lives. I've never felt more connected.

Yesterday, I received a note from a prospective guest. He's been receiving our catalog since 2005 and has spoken with our Guest Services team on a number of occasions about our trips in Normandy & Burgundy, the Dordogne Valley, our Swiss Alps Family Journey, and Vietnam & Angkor Wat. This email was...well...it was a little chippy, to be honest. He must have just received our enews in which we talked about our North American trips as a lower cost way to travel with us in 2009. And he challenged us to defend our North American trips as "affordable". I'd like to share with you the contents of my email back to him as his note caused an impromptu team meeting in which a number of my colleagues weighted in with their thoughts on what does affordable mean in 2009, and is that how we define ourselves and our tours.


"...our guests seem to focus on the value they are receiving from their vacation with Classic Journeys. And a great majority of them seem to quantify value by the enjoyment and experience received on tour relative to the price and expectations they have for the trip. If we can deliver an experience that is greater than their expectations, they consider that we've created value in the tour.

Now, in addition to the value we try to create for our guests, we know that many people can define "affordable" in a variety of ways. For example, one person might look at a watch and determine that a Timex is affordable, while a Rolex is unaffordable. Both keep time very well. The person paying for the Rolex is expecting a certain additional experience presumably. If you can purchase the Rolex at a price that is less than your expectation perhaps that makes the Rolex affordable. I'll continue the analogy with cars. A Lexus and a Toyota are both exceptional cars. In fact, both are award winning and made by the same company. A Toyota is less expensive and can provide years of enjoyable low maintenance driving. The Lexus is also a fine car and provides a great deal of value to the driver, along with presumably some additional experiential feeling of satisfaction. While the Lexus is much more expensive than the Toyota, if one can purchase it at a price that is less than they expected to pay for a car of its quality, then perhaps it too becomes affordable.

In the same way, we are not attempting to be (and have never promoted ourselves as) the low cost provider of cultural walking adventures, culinary tours and family journeys. Rather, we are proud that we offer an exceptional vacation for our guests. We pay very careful attention to the details, and include elements that our guests tell us are important to them: exceptional local guides, visits with interesting locals and to historic sites in a creative manner, high quality hotels and lodges, and memorable meals. We also have taken years to construct our itineraries so that we minimize the "hassle factor" for our guests and make every day of your vacation more impactful and enjoyable than it would be if you had to research and script it on your own. As a result of this careful approach to operating our trips and caring for our guests, we've been recognized on multiple occasions as a "World's Best Tour Operator" by Travel + Leisure magazine and as one of the "Best Adventure Travel Companies on Earth" by National Geographic Adventure magazine.

...all that said, we've been working to identify ways that we can lower prices, and so add additional value and make our trips more affordable for our guests. This includes an enews subscriber discount of $400 per couple on some of our North American departures and creating a deluxe camping trip in the Canadian Rockies that is priced $700 below our lodge-based trip in the same region. Is it affordable? That's for each prospective guest to decide. The key for us is in operating the trip in a manner that creates value for those guests who choose to travel with us."

I hope I provided him a well-thought out (and non-sanctimonious!) response that answered his comment about affordability. Among the things we're proud of here at Classic Journeys is our relationships with our guests. If you have any questions for me or would like to weigh in with your own thoughts on affordability and value, I'd be keen to hear them. Just drop me a line at blog@ClassicJourneys.com.