Worth paying more for family exodus type hols?

[Undecidedhousemove]

Reckon it's about double to book an escorted Exodus/Explore type family tour over booking indeprndently. Considering only because dh's sole adult company does my head in after a couple of days! would like kids to have company of orher children. Plus takes burden off me of sorting everything independently. Worth paying the extra??

Absolutely. We used Family Adventure Company and for Peru they definitely were not double the price! We found them very reasonable and they used characterful hotels. Our children definitely got a lot out of meeting others. Their itinerary was excellent and the children were an integral part of the holiday. We have used other more expensive family holiday companies, but found Family Adventure the best. Everyone on our holiday had travelled with them before. I would expect Exodus to be similar. You have to factor in all the transport arrangements, entrance fees and other hidden costs that are included but you will have to pay on a DIY holiday. You also get your own guide for the holiday and any problems are sorted out, in our experience, very quickly.

The only problem might be the odd child who is a pain in the backside and has parents that totally ignore the fact the child is annoying everyone else. We have had a problem where, in down time, the parents went off to read a book (they took 16 books on a 2 week holiday) and left the childminding down to my elder child. One of their children was a 5 year old. Another case was a child who refused to do what the guide said in the Galápagos Islands. The parents deliberately walked 50 yards behind and let the guide deal with him trying to touch the birds and run all over the place disturbing everything. It turned out they had 2 nannies at home! They never spent any time with their children - and it showed! However, I am sure Exodus would give you an excellent holiday and most people really do get on!

Thanks, thsts reassuring. I did calculations- forwl where we're going i reckon 1/3-1/2 cheaper to book direct as v v developing so v cheap. But tempted by tour still

These are few few more companies that run family holidays;

www.oasisoverland.co.uk/trips/family-trips/list/
www.dragoman.com/travel-styles/family-adventures/what-are-they
www.imaginative-traveller.com/activities/family/
www.tucantravel.com/holiday-types/family-holidays

It was worth every penny and not double once you factored in guides, internal transport, entrance fees etc. They were also helpful in finding different flight options and options for independent trip extensions. We also did a fairly developing country and I think we may have struggled to have seen as much as we did in the timeframe we had, whilst accompanied by a child, if we'd done it independently.

No nightmare kids on ours, unless it was ours?

We also used adventure company. I seem to recall that they worked out quite a bit cheaper than exodus for a pretty much identical trip.

It's also worth asking which trips already have kids booked on of a similar age. They obviously won't give out identifying info, but they will tell you ages. We wanted to avoid a trip populated entirely by older teens.

I'd definitely book another one. Just need to save up now!