Experience with Earthbound Tours
 

Hi,

My healthy and vigorous 83 year old mother is interested in taking a Earthbound Tour to Europe. The itinerary looks doable but I don't know Earthbound Tours. 2 specific questions: Do they book quality hotels and meals? Do responsible, conscientious, and experienced people lead its trips? I ask because I want to have peace of mind that someone would be attentive if something happened during the trip (lost luggage or some other normal travel mishap) or my Mom ran into a health issue (I do not expect any health issues - far from it. But "just in case.")

Thank you very much.

Rubin

Can't find them on the web, any clues?

Excuse me. It's Earthbound Expeditions. Here's its webpage
http://earthboundexpeditions.com/

It appears to be very small operation in the business of organising trips for "partners" (e.g. Public radio stations, arboretums) rather than the general public. The trip I looked at charged an extra fee for groups of less than 28, which is a bigger group than I would choose, plus there is a high single supplement. If you are willing to share the supplement is waived, but only if there is someone to share with. I wasn't wild about the fine print, either.

I would look elsewhere.

I just looked at one of their tours being offered by my local Public Radio station. $4499 for the tour, $949 single supplement, 'special' airfare $1870 - nearly $8000 for 11 nights in southern Italy including breakfasts and 12 other assorted meals . . .

Uh -- no

What about Road Scholar? Tours specifically for those over 50?60?

Recommend looking into Tauck Tours - high quality at a price but with very hands on personal service. Although the single supplement is high it's worth it. Your mom would be well taken care of. An item to consider would be the added cost of travel/medical insurance which Tauck offers (as most tour companies do) at time of tour purchase which would include any pre-existing conditions.

I've taken a land and River cruise with them and was well taken care of during both as a senior solo female traveler. Their staff is plentiful and well trained to look out for all their passengers.

If she is healthy and vigorous, maybe she doesn't need a tour at all. Has she been to Europe before? Where does she want to go?

(@travelchat - it is usually better to buy travel insurance directly from an insurance company.)