ABD Guide Question

[kaceyisme]

I was extremely pleased to find out that we will only have 18 people on our Peru trip leaving next week! For the experienced ABD travelers here, does that mean we will only have one guide?

 

[OKW Lover]

I seriously doubt it. There is so much the guides do before/after the actual day of touring as well as handling the details during the day that I doubt any ABD trip could be done with only one guide.

 

[kaceyisme]

Thanks for the answer! I thought I had read somewhere that if you had fewer people, they reduced the guides to just one.

 

[sayhello]

Thanks for the answer! I thought I had read somewhere that if you had fewer people, they reduced the guides to just one.

You did read that somewhere, it *is* an ABD policy. From the ABD FAQ (bolding is mine):

We will make every reasonable effort to operate the vacations as advertised; however, we reserve the right to curtail or modify the itinerary, or to substitute activities, hotels, meals or transportation as we deem necessary. We further reserve the right to reduce the number of Adventure Guides to one, and to modify other services to accommodate a smaller group, if a minimum number of Guests is not reached. Similarly, we may marginally exceed the stated group maximum size if necessary to accommodate a family. Please also note that during certain holidays and peak periods, some activities may be disrupted or unavailable. None of these modifications or changes shall affect the land package price.

But I don't think 18 is low enough to qualify for that. I've had as few as 14 people on an ABD, and we still had 2 Guides. I think there would have to be a seriously low number for there to be only one Guide. Peru is definitely one of the trips that needs a lot of logistics, so I can't imagine them doing 1 Guide with 18 people. My Scotland trip last summer had 19 people, and we had 2 Guides. Same with my Greece trip the year before, which had 18 people. I'm not sure what the cutoff number is for 1 Guide (and it may vary by trip) but it does not appear to be 18. 18 is not a particularly low number for an off-season, Adults Only trip.

Sayhello

 

[anonymousegirl]

I was on the August 2 Peru trip and you definitely need 2 guides. I think you will have Rudy Chaco as one of your guides. He is awesome. Tell him Lori with the 12 stitches (watch out for those bushes at Sol y Luna!) says hello!

 

[kaceyisme]

I was on the August 2 Peru trip and you definitely need 2 guides. I think you will have Rudy Chaco as one of your guides. He is awesome. Tell him Lori with the 12 stitches (watch out for those bushes at Sol y Luna!) says hello!

Glad to hear that you had a great guide, and I will pass along your greetings if he is still there. I hope that you are completely recovered from your battle with the bushes!! It sounds like something that would happen to me, so I'm glad you passed along the warning!!

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

I think you need to get down to 10 or less to have 1 guide.