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[quote=Anonymous]Bumping because we just got back from a G Adventures Family Tour with National Geographic on a 14 day tour through Vietnam and Cambodia.  We all had a fabulous time!

We're usually pretty independent and adventurous travelers, but I was in a busy season at work and didn't have time to plan a trip so we picked a tour.  Plus the grandparents wanted to come too and that decreases our flexibility--it's easy to misjudge walking distances, tour lengths or get a bit lost when you're DIYing and that just doesn't work with older grandparents in the heat.

As the family planner, I really enjoyed handing off the job and just being able to enjoy the vacation.  Our guides were always available on WhatsApp so if we wanted to do an activity that wasn't part of the tour they'd give recommendations, set up local transportation and help with logistics.  We could just send them a message and they'd respond with a restaurant or bar recommendation, or a tuktuk would magically show up, or the tour bus with AC to save the grandparents.  We felt super well cared for.  The itinerary was busy, but still left daily pool time for the kids.  There were also free windows to do your own thing if you wanted (though some families weren't comfortable being independent and just hung at the hotel).  The guides also checked us in to every flight, dealt with changing operating hours at sites, weather snafus, road closures, hotel room issues, ran to the pharmacy for meds when someone was sick, got a local hotel room for the sick person to sleep on a tour day, etc.  They took care of everything.

Our kids were huge, huge fans of having other kids to play with on the trip.  They had tons of fun on the bus and in the pool.  It was a big plus.

We learned that the National Geographic tours with G Adventures have two local guides, upgraded accommodations, flights between cities, and more included activities.  The normal G Adventures tours have one guide, slightly downgraded accomodations, more train/bus travel vs flights, and fewer included activities.

Tour sizes cap at 20 people and the family tours require everyone to have at least one kid in their group.  We had a group of 19 with 7 kids between 8-15, with most being 5th-7th grade.

In the end, I think if I'd planned the same trip myself we would have been a bit more adventurous and physical--longer bike rides, kayaks, hikes, etc.  We would have had to split up from the grandparents for these, but that happened anyways with the grandparents opting out of the most active activities anyways.

As a con to doing it independently, we would have wasted a lot more time on transfers and logistics.  With the tour we often left suitcases on a bus instead of having to go back to the hotel to get them, plus the guides had pre-purchased tickets and knew just where to go.  This really compensated for the lag that comes with moving with a group.

All in all, I'd recommend the tour to others who are interested in SE Asia.  It felt like a lot of value.[/quote]

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