Quest for the West w/ 8yr old boy

[djonesca]

Hi,
I'd like to take my 8yr old son to Yellowstone this summer. Thinking he'd enjoy the trip more with other boys his age, I've been looking at ABD and Tauck Bridges. Per suggestions I've seen here, I called ABD to see if any of their trips planned in June/July had boys around his age going. I was told by the agent that she cannot give out that information.

My questions are:
1. did I just get an unhelpful agent and should try calling again?
2. or, if that is their new policy, how certain can I be that a particular trip will have boys his age? The agent told me that their family trips generally have kids from ages 6-17, but it's not much benefit to my son if (for example) the only boys on our particular trip are over 12.

Thanks for any feedback from experienced ABD travellers.

Dave

 

[jenbadeaux]

Dave,
The agents cannot give out specific ages of children. The kids pretty much run in a pack regardless of gender or age. On our Southwest Splendors trip, my youngest daughter was 6(weeks from turning 7) and all the kids were delightful and included her. (The next closest in age was my 9 year old son.)
I will tell you that we are booked on Quest for the West on July 23. We have a dd7(one month til turning 8), ds10, ds12, and dd20. Another family on that same trip have a ds16 and a ds10. We met on our Southwest ABD and decided to travel together again.
Hope this helps.
Jen

 

[clarabelle]

We are doing the June 23 trip with our 14 y.o and 11 y.o. DDs

 

[Turtlemom]

Its true that the agents are not permitted to give out "specific" information about who is travelling when (I imagine there are privacy issues, and there is always the possibility that someone will cancel or change dates--so they never want to promise anything). However, if you are concerned about whether there will be other kids travelling on a given date--you can always try to chat with the agent and try to get a little more information.

I found that when I first asked about the overall number of children, then asked the agent to break them down into relative age groups (i.e. 6-8, 9-11, 12-14, etc. . . .), and then separately asked about the gender breakdown, it is possible to find out a little more information.

That being said--we did Southwest Splendors last summer, and our two girls hung out with all the kids in a group that was mostly boys. They all had a blast together! The older kids were terrific about including the younger kids and everyone got along.

I'm hoping the same will happen when we head out for Quest for the West on August 11. Given that this is probably ABD's most popular trip, I'm sure you will not have any trouble finding playmates for your son.

Best of luck!

Turtlemom.

 

[pipch]

We went to Costa Rica last year with a 5 year old boy - the next eldest child was 8 and then several were 10 and 12. On day one the 5 and 8 year old were friends and by day 3 they were all together from 5 to 15.

My son had a blast and grew from the experience.
We travel on the quest/ west experience on the 12th July and I am sure at that time there will be plenty of children on the trip.
Trust me the activities just naturally bring people and children together.