Travel Treasure Box

Family Twist, a European luxury tour company specializing in family travel, has launched a very unique, and interactive learning experience. Treasure Boxes were created to address the unprecedented circumstances created by the COVID-19 crisis. Each box contains a series of games, hand-on activities, and culinary ideas.  The activities allow your family to learn in-depth about each destination and its culture, disconnect to reconnect with your family, build shared memories, and create conscious citizens; much like you would experience on a real trip! The first two destinations available are Paris and Italy.

Four Seasons on the Serengeti

Tanzania opened its borders to tourists in June. This southeast African country, with a fascinating blend of Arabic and African influences, showcases unique topography and culture, Africa’s highest mountain, amazing animal viewing and migrations as well as the gorgeous beaches of Zanzibar. A once-in-a-lifetime experience in luxury can be had at the Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti. Their special Big Five Family Safari Package includes:

• Round-trip transfers between Seronera Airstrip and the Safari Lodge
• Hot-air balloon safari
• Two half-day game drives
• Family cooking class

Always included are three meals per day and beverages, including house wines, local beer and well spirits and a laundry credit.  This offer is available through December 2021 with at least a 4-night stay and accommodations and meals are complimentary for children ages 10 and under sharing a room with you. This Central Serengeti lodge sits at the edge of a watering hole. Thanks to infrared cameras, they can notify you on your bedroom television when animals are approaching, which means your family will never miss out on seeing elephants, herds of buffalo or troops of baboons playing in their natural habitat. Let The Family Traveler create a memorable safari adventure for your family in Tanzania to also include visits to the Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara and more.

Small Group Tours from GAdventures

For families with children ages 12 and older, G Adventures has introduced new and small group tours called the Travel with Confidence Plus Collection. Choose from 37 different trips in 27 countries including closer to home in Costa Rica, Iceland, Colombia and the Caribbean. These value priced tours have been designed for only 8-10 people (family reunion perhaps?) with departures from October 2, 2020 through December 31, 2021. They incorporate additional health and safety guidelines measures created in collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic and include trips from G Adventures’ Active, Classic and Marine travel styles. Their Book with Confidence policy allows a 14-day cancellation policy for tours in 2020 and 30-days for tours through June 2021.

African Safari Planning

Is an African safari on your bucket list? Booking well in advance is highly recommended. Let us help your family create a completely custom itinerary exploring one or more African nations for a once-in-a-lifetime interaction with wildlife, nature, beaches, mountains, local culture, history and more. We can also offer a variety of price ranges depending on your level of accommodations and length of stay. For great peace of mind one of our Africa tour operators, Rhino Africa, has instituted a flexible policy for bookings made by October 31, 2020 with a travel date of March 2021 and onward. This policy allows cancellation of activities, hotels, tours and flights up to 60 days before your departure with a full return of your deposit IF there is a Covid-19 travel ban or quarantine in place. If not, your package can be still be rebooked without penalty.  Change of season rates may apply when rebooking as some seasons do cost more than others.  Let us help you craft the perfect safari and Africa experience!

Virtual Vatican Tour

Want to see the coolest parts of the Vatican Museum? On this virtual tour thanks to Get Your Guide, your children can learn about mighty Roman gods and goddesses, discover how ancient Romans ate, and learn about one of the world’s most famous pieces of art — the Sistine Chapel. Plus, there’s quizzes and games all the way through so you can test your Vatican know-how. Happy touring!V

Flexible Travel Plans

We know you may be anxious to make travel plans for the near or even far future, but not to worry.  You can still plan and get excited about a family getaway by taking advantage of fully refundable bookings.  We are happy to work with Bedsonline, a hotel booking agency, that allows us to hold space at hotels and resorts all over the world (including throughout the United States) without any payment until closer to travel. Plus they often provide us with rates and inventory that beat many of our other suppliers! More fully refundable rates than ever before are available in addition to car rentals, transfers and activities including multi-day guided tours. We are also pleased to hear about their newest service called Local Expert Assistance…available for free! A local assistant can meet you on arrival (at the airport if you want) to help you with practical support, travel advice, translation services, finding a local doctor, adding tours and transfers and more.  This service is available in over 45 destinations and 20 countries.

Iceland Opening

Iceland, with its wide-open spaces, is ready to welcome travelers again beginning June 15. But they do want to know you are healthy. Travelers from the United States will have a choice on arrival at Keflavík International Airport. The first option is to provide personnel a clean bill of health obtained by U.S. health authorities. The second option is to get a coronavirus test (free for all during the first two weeks of Iceland’s re-opening). The last option is to go into immediate 2-week quarantine. All visitors to Iceland will also be required to install a tracing app to their mobile device, one of the most vital tools in reducing transmission in Iceland during this crisis. The head of Visit Iceland explains that they “expect that visitors will be able to move quite freely and without extensive restrictions when traveling responsibly around the country. Obviously, we still have certain restrictions in place to ensure safety where you may expect larger crowds and in certain service areas.” Flight schedules are still pending.  Other countries with organized and planned openings for tourists in June include Mexico, St. Lucia and Greece.

Viva Espana

For many of our families, Italy is their first Mediterranean experience. Everyone loves and is already familiar with the food and wine, culture and history. When you want to experience more of the Med…we recommend Spain. This country’s highlights are very similar to Italy with its great weather, excellent food and wine, art, culture, Jewish history, diverse cities and sordid history. For a first trip, Barcelona and Madrid is ideal in a week to 10 days with time for nearby day trips to places like Girona, Toledo and Segovia. Just three hours by train divides these two very different cities with varied histories, culture and even language. Barcelona, the seaport capital of Catalan, mixes the classic with the modern with an emphasis on all things Gaudi architecture, the Olympics, beaches, etc. Madrid, the capital of Spain and located in-land, showcases monumental architecture, a royal palace and some of the world’s best art museums. Our families are also enamored by the Andalusia region in the south with 500 miles of coastline, white-washed villages, forests and the area’s Moorish influences. Not as easy to get around the mountainous terrain, but highlights include Sevilla, Granada for the Alhambra, Gibraltar and the beach towns in and around Marbella. For more details check out https://www.spain.info/en/.

The Kiwi Experience

New Zealand also makes our list as one of the most beautiful places on earth. Two separate islands (plus many smaller ones) with varied biodiversity and plenty of coastline make up this island nation. The country is best known for its adrenaline packed activities like bungy jumping, luging, Zorbing (rolling down a hill inside an orb), skydiving, paragliding, white-water rafting, and jet boating. But you don’t have to be an extreme athlete to enjoy New Zealand. There are just as many ways to be laid-back and indulgent: take in the wealth of Polynesian and Maori culture that forms the backbone of an increasingly multicultural society, explore the filming locations of The Hobbit and Game of Thrones, hike through glowworm caves, experience life of a working sheep farm (there are more sheep than people here!), soak in the geothermal hot springs, tour top wineries or check out the strong historic and architectural reminders of a colonial past. The North and South Islands are both easy to explore on your own by car or RV with a customized itinerary from The Family Traveler.  There is a ferry service between the islands or inexpensive flights to get around.  Families can also choose a group tour (many with active adventures included) or a cruise that sails around most of the country.  For more details check out https://www.newzealand.com/int/.

Carbon Offsets from Intrepid

In January, Intrepid Travel launched a partnership with Offset Earth, a subscription service that not only offsets carbon emissions by funding CO2 reduction projects, but also plants trees with nonprofit organization Eden Reforestation Projects. Intrepid will match subscribers tree for tree, thus doubling their offset contribution, and the trees will be planted in Kenya’s Kijabe Forest.  This initiative is another example of Intrepid’s “climate positive” business model. It not only offsets its carbon output, but also removes additional carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The Australia-based company offers small group and responsible travel tours (including Family Adventures) to destinations around the world.