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Our Plan - You Travel and Enjoy
New Destinations Continually Added!
Dave at Godafoss, Iceland
PLAN
Why Plan?
Vacations are about family bonding and creating great family memories together. Good planning is critical or it can easily devolve into a suffer-fest as you wait around or argue about where to eat, how to get there, whether it’s open or not, etc. You may have children that cheerfully tolerate lots of inconveniences – we have ordinary kids. So that means avoiding waiting, long car rides, long walks dragging luggage up a hill, being stuck in the hot sun, not eating on time, or going somewhere that’s closed. Once traveling you can always disregard your plans to spontaneously do something you found that you like better. There is no downside to having a plan!
Elaine with last of 2 Northern White Rhinos in the World at Ol Pejeta, Kenya
TRAVEL
Why travel?
Family travel vacations are a priority for us. Growing up, it was traveling or ski vacations when we had the happiest family times. Everyone enjoyed eating out at restaurants, there were no chores to do, and we were all together experiencing the same things in our day. When traveling you will often encounter something for the first time, which means the family is problem-solving as a team the travel obstacles you face together. Because on trips we have our camera with us, we actually take family photos. Trips make you conscious of capturing moments together, and that gives us priceless keepsake photos. Life at home often seems like it is passing by very quickly with our daily activities all blurring together. Travel slows time down as we are aware of enjoying every special moment of the precious travel days, and our memories of each trip are long-lasting.
Through experience we’ve learned that the trips we most enjoy are where we do activities together, so we look for trips where we can get out of a vehicle and participate in the new world we’re in. A vacation looking through a car or train window, no matter the views, is not as thrilling or as memorable as a hike, bike ride, horseback ride, ATV, white water rafting, etc.
Sydney and Adrian crossing Buller Gorge, New Zealand
ENJOY
Enjoy a problem-proof plan!
We’ve found the list of critical elements in a good travel plan includes:
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Make restaurant reservations.
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Don’t waste precious vacation time waiting or debating. If you do come across a better place you found, you can always cancel your reservation.
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Book the earliest flight in the day.
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You are less likely to have delays, or if there is a problem you have a better chance of catching another flight the same day.
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Book a direct flight.
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Chances of problems (lost luggage, missed flight, etc.) are greatly reduced.
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Book directly with the airline or hotel.
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Ovago, Expedia, etc. are horrible at fixing a problem.
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Make sure there is some downtime of several hours every day.
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Travel is tiring, and you don’t want people getting cranky because they need a break.
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Don’t plan too much sitting or passive entertainment.
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Everyone will be in a better mood being active, and especially kids need exercise. When we reminisce about vacations, the most vivid memories of the kids and we have been around activities, not sights. They are also usually where the funny, surprising, and highlights of the vacation happen. Besides, group activities like biking, paddle boarding, hiking, ATVing, snowmobiling, visiting a zoo, rafting, skiing, or horseback riding are fun!
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Ration museums and castle-type tours.
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Ordinary kids have limited interest in history or views.
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Choose hotels in convenient locations.
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Being able to promptly rest or drop luggage is key.
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Choose a hotel with great amenities.
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Pay whatever you need for a fabulous pool, early access to an amusement park, free convenient shuttles, monkey tour on golf carts, animals to feed on-site, turtles hatching on the hotel beach, ski in/out, etc. It’s always worth it. Save money somewhere else.
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What should we do once we get there?
Great! You decided to go on vacation --what's your plan? Let us help you. We've put together itineraries for all of our adventures to share with you. These are tried and tested plans that we believe are the best things to experience when traveling to a specific destination. Enjoy!
Skradinski Buk in Krka, Croatia
About Us
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Like most people, our vacation time is restricted by full-time jobs and the school calendar. To make the most of our vacations we do insane amounts of research and planning to come up with the ideal itinerary that assumes we may never go to that destination again.
If you also want to make the most of a one- or two-week vacation, this is for you!
This is not a general information guide. This is for people, and especially families, that want the trip research and planning done for them, and want the most optimal itinerary for each destination listed.
Our extensive research is from many sources: multiple travel books (yes, we still buy physical books!), TripAdvisor, magazine and newspaper articles, travel forum discussions, travel blogs, travel company websites, official tourism bureaus, social media including Instagram, and the websites of the hotel/restaurant/activity providers.
Our curated destinations and itineraries guarantee you a safe, fascinating, beautiful, comfortable, active, and exciting vacation!
We have had a lifelong love of travel and decades of great travel experiences, and what is special about us and valuable to you is our good judgment in planning - and extremely picky and discerning tastes! All the vacations listed here are truly among the most special in the world. And while some fabulous vacations have best itineraries that are expensive (Ecuador), others don't (Maine islands).
Having our dream vacation in that country or place is a priority for us, so we’ll make other budget sacrifices in order to make it happen. But we invite you to substitute hotels, restaurants, or activities based on your budget or taste.
Our Travel Criteria
Price is not a reliable indicator of ‘best.’ For hotels, key criteria are location, amenities, and charm. Luxury for its own sake does not appeal to us – we have no interest in paying for could-be-any-place upscale décor or a butler to unpack our clothes. Where there is no hotel that is in a key location, has a desirable amenity, or a special historical or cultural charm, there’s no point in spending more than on a basic clean and cheap place. We only include truly great restaurants in our itineraries based on the food, location, charm, or history. Because we only have the standard American week or two-week vacation time frame, it’s important to not waste time in transit. Our itineraries always pick the fastest way even if it costs more (ex. cab vs. bus, closest parking lot). Every extra 15 minutes adds up, and you don’t want to miss out, rush an activity, or waste time waiting. Timing is EVERYTHING when it comes to vacations! You won’t see public transportation options on our itineraries unless it’s efficient and easy to use.
The purpose of this website is to use our forte of travel planning to encourage and help others travel.
We hope this website catches your imagination and interest and inspires you to go on your dream vacation. With a practical and realistic plan – and all the itineraries have been personally done by us - we hope you will have the confidence to travel.
Most sincerely,
The Philbrick family: Elaine, Dave, Sydney & Adrian
Duxbury, MA USA