Happy 2019 from Travelstride!
The world is wide, the possibilities for exploration and unique experiences nearly endless. In this New Year, we hope you have the chance to travel to a dream destination - or revisit an old favorite. Whatever your travel resolution, you can discover the perfect way to make it happen on Stride.
Perhaps you’ll finally take your family on that luxury safari in Kenya. Or maybe it’s time to check an overland trip through Australia off your bucket list. Or it could be that your dream adventure involves a refreshing glass of wine aboard a river cruise through Europe.
All this and more is available to you - get started browsing now, or read on for some top tips to fulfill your travel resolutions this year:
1. Don’t worry. Everyone gets overwhelmed with planning.
January provides a boost in energy for most of us. The New Year provides a nice “reset” mentality as we think about our goals for the year. When it comes to travel resolutions, the destination dreams or type of trip, like a safari, usually come pretty easy. But then the reality sets in as you begin to research the travel options - and it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the logistical planning that’s involved.
The challenges of executing our exciting bucket-list trip ideals set up roadblocks before we ever leave home.
Often by the time February rolls around, wanderlust has turned into wander-dust
It’s easy to say “I want to go on an African safari”. The next step though is where it starts to feel like an uphill, mentally stressful, climb.
Here are just some of the questions that can cause roadblocks: What country or countries are the best ones visit? Should you stick with the best known safari destinations such as South Africa, Kenya, or Tanzania? Or maybe you should try something a bit different, like Namibia or Botswana? Would a gorilla trek in Uganda be a better fit? What are the safety considerations?
And even when you’ve decided on a destination or theme, how do you begin to choose the tour operator? Even word of mouth from trusted friends or family members is iffy. How do you know if their experience or interests will match what you would look for in an operator?
A quick google search reveals that hundreds upon hundreds of tour operators, travel companies, and agencies. Finding the right one may seem like a daunting task.
Between budget considerations, time constraints, the pressure of securing visas, accommodations and transportation - planning a multi-day and/or multi-country trip is an intense and complicated undertaking.
2. Use a trusted source
Relax! Stride is here to help you answer all the above questions, and make finding the right tour company or travel experience for your specific needs and interests a simple, easy, and dare we say fun process.
Stride is the best place online for searching and comparing thousands of expert planned, authentic multi-day trips around the world. You can read real traveler reviews, and Stride’s editorial take, on tours and travel companies, allowing you to make the most informed decision.
No matter the destination or activity, we’ve got the company and trip for you. On Stride, you can quickly narrow down your choices using our comprehensive filter options until you’ve found that one, perfect trip with your ideal travel provider.
If you are having trouble and still experiencing too much choice overload, our new TripFinder feature provides a great way to automate the process, with just a little help from you. Tell us where you want to go and a few travel style preferences such as lodging level, and the TripFinder will generate the 3 best trip choices for you to select from.
Stride provides you with all the basic trip information: base price, physical level, inclusions, and the itinerary breakdown.
We’re here to take the worry and frustration out of trip planning. Leaving you to concentrate on fun stuff like choosing which shoes to bring and brushing up on your photo skills.
3. Expert-Planned; Not Inflexible
What does it mean to travel on an “expert-planned” tour? Is it an off-the-bus, on-the-bus extravaganza with limited options and time, visiting a canned tourist loop of major sites, jostling among other tourists clicking cameras and looking war weary from the crowds and over-stimulation that comes from rushing from one place to another?
Not usually - in fact this is the kind of experience most modern tour companies actively seek to avoid!
While you may travel by bus, and you may visit a tourist site here and there (because, one simply can’t join a tour of the highlights of France and not visit the Eiffel Tower), the approach is to make these visits exclusive, special, and full of rich cultural context.
If you’re worried about not having any free time, most organized tours are very careful to provide plenty of free time for you to explore on your own. And if you’re just not feeling the best about being around the same group of people day in and day out, some tours - particularly walking and cycling tours - allow you to go at your own pace during the day, meeting up with the group and guides in the evenings.
Does “expert-planned” mean you have to take an organized guided tour with a number of other people? You might be surprised to learn that it doesn’t always!
While group travel and organized tours can be a satisfying way to go (and worth giving a shot even if you don’t think they’re for you), expert-planned travel goes far beyond the classic tour package.
If you’re the kind of traveler who has a strong idea of what you want and don’t want from your next travel experience, using professional custom travel designer could be the perfect fit for you. In 2018, Stride introduced a Custom Tour option, which has been extremely popular with travelers using Stride.
When you use this option, you get to have input over the itinerary and the agent does all the grunt work of securing accommodations, transportation, tours, entry into various attractions, and flights. It’s the best of both worlds!
Independent minded travelers who don’t necessarily need or want all the bells and whistles that come with working with travel planner to create an itinerary have another option in the form of Self Guided / Independent tours. These also tend to be more budget friendly than the Custom Tour option.
The Perfect Trip to Fulfill Your Travel Resolution
Social science research has shown consistently that money CAN bring lasting happiness, when spent on experiences and not on things. We’re more than happy to support this trend!
Your travel resolution - whether it be adventure focused, such as trekking the famous Inca Trail or visiting rural China, or a more relaxing trip sailing down the Danube or walking the quaint Maritime towns of Eastern Canada - is worth investing in.
And all of us at Stride can’t wait to help you make it happen!
Remember, a journey of a thousand smiles starts with a single click. Resolve to achieve your New Year’s travel dreams today.
