Backroads offers a range of deluxe camping vacations to destinations in North America where travelers sleep in roomy domed tents in plush sleeping bags and enjoy gourmet meals around crackling campfires.  If you’re an outdoorsy person who loves to travel, our adventure camping trips are perfect for you. We handle all the work of set-up and tear down; you just have to show up and enjoy it!

If you’re planning a camping vacation soon, here are 8 tips that we recommend for all our adventure campers:

• Consider taking a guide to the constellations. In many of the settings Backroads’ visits, you’ll have access to stars from a different side of the world in a dark environment with fewer city lights that lends itself to seeing lots of astronomical bodies.
• Bring out the Scout in you and learn a few good knots. A bowline, for example, will never work itself loose; a figure eight will not slip but is easy to untie. These come in handy during camping trips.
• Unpack only the items you need to use. Keep items you may need in the middle of the night within arm reach.
• Beam me up Scottie! Enjoying a campground by moonlight is a special treat. However, on evenings when the moon is less than full, it’s helpful to have on hand a small flashlight with a strong beam. If you prefer to keep your hands free, head lamps make a great alternative option.
• Meet new people. Part of the fun of a Backroads’ adventure vacation is meeting people from all walks of life, especially your fellow travelers at the campsite. You never know what fun might happen around the campfire!
• Bring a spirit of adventure! Think of all the people before you who’ve lived and camped in the great outdoors. There’s nothing quite like sleeping under the stars in the fresh air. Dare to take a jump in the lake or hike that intriguing trail around the bend.
• Keep a journal. There’s nothing like documenting your outdoor adventure for the future by journaling about your experience daily. Curl up in your tent and write away! You’ll cherish it for years to come.
• Get up early. Enjoy the sun rising each morning at our gorgeous destinations. It’s a wonderful way to start your day and the beauty of the sunset just might unexpectedly take your breath away.

Backroads offers camping trips for families, camping trips for singles and solos and traditional camping adventures. Pick from destinations like Montana, Alaska, Wine Country and the Canadian Rockies. For more information about Backroads’ camping vacations, please call us 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Pacific daily at 800-462-2848.

2013 has arrived and we know you like to travel as much as we do. So we’ve listed out some of our top 10 New Year’s resolutions specifically dedicated to travel. Lots of people make “travel” itself a New Year’s resolution, but we wanted to go deeper and make some suggestions of how to improve your travel experience in 2013.

Here are Backroads’ top 10 New Year’s travel resolutions:

1)      Travel somewhere you’ve never been – At Backroads we travel to hundreds of destinations around the globe, and we can help you find a bike tour or hiking tour to a place you’ve yet to discover. Instead of taking the same trip you do every year, be bold and try something new!

2)      Travel somewhere unexpected – Sure, everyone wants to take a Tuscany bike tour or a Provence walking tour, but consider traveling to a location more off the beaten path. For 2013, Backroads has introduced bike trips to Myanmar, for example, a country that has largely been closed to the modern world for many years. By biking through Myanmar, you will truly discover an “undiscovered” world untouched by tourism.

3)      Add activity to your trip – At Backroads, we believe half the fun of travel is the way you travel. Step out of the car or tour bus and hop on a bike, walk or even kayak down the river. Your travel experience will be so much richer out in the open air with some activity mixed in. You’ll even be able to enjoy all the gourmet dinners we provide without the guilt!

4)      Bring your kids along – Afraid to travel with your kids? Don’t be! We offer wonderful family adventures that will make a trip with the kids a great experience. Our family bike tours and family walking tours are designed with lots of kid-friendly activities, whether it’s a scavenger hunt, eating gelato in Sicily or fencing in the Loire Valley, that will entertain and educate not just them, but you, as well. Browse our family adventures.

5)      Try a solo trip – Traveling alone can be a life-changing experience and you can do it without worry with Backroads’ Singles + Solos travel program. We offer trips around the world designed for traveling solo. You’ll enjoy meeting other solo travelers on the trip and get plenty of time to explore the world on your own with the unparalleled service, support and guidance of the Backroads team. Browse our singles trips.

6)      Travel at a different time of year – Always take a summer vacation? Try traveling at the holidays to create once-in-a-lifetime memories. Paris in the spring? Yes, it’s lovely, but Europe in the fall can also be a wonderful time to travel. Mix it up this year!

7)      Try a new food – Backroads offers gourmet meals at many Michelin-starred restaurants and plenty of opportunities to try food local to your destination. It might be a little out of your comfort zone, but be brave and try a new food or dish. You just might be surprised at how good it tastes!

8)      Try something adventurous – Add some adventure to your travel! With Backroads, you can fence in Loire Valley, zip line in Costa Rica, hike a volcano in Hawaii and Sicily, visit ancient temples and the list goes on. No ho hum vacations for us! Make your travel exciting in 2013!

9)      Engage the locals – To really get the most out of travel, try to immerse yourself in the local culture. When you bike or hike a destination, you’re more likely to stop and have a conversation with the farmer selling produce by the road or chat with the couple next to you at the café. Make an effort to talk to the locals, ask them about the area and their favorite things to do. You’ll likely come away with a new world view.

10)   Learn a new language – It’s easier to engage the locals if you know a little bit of their language. Challenge yourself a few months before your trip to learn some key phrases in the language of the region you’ll be visiting. Not only will you feel more confident and comfortable, you may just be inspired to learn the language fluently.

Have you set any resolutions related to travel? Let us know what they are and if we can help you meet them! Give us a call 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Pacific any day of the week if we can help you stick to those travel resolutions with a Backroads bike tour or Backroads hiking tour. Happy New Year!

With most of the country experiencing record heat this summer, we’re thinking a journey into Alaska’s Last Frontier sounds pretty spectacular – and cool – right now. Backroads offers several opportunities to travel to Alaska, including Alaskan hiking trips and Alaskan bike tours. Take this opportunity to see nature at its finest and enjoy the outdoors without melting the moment you walk outside.

A few fun facts: Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area, spanning nearly 600,000 square miles, more than twice the size of Texas, the next largest state. It’s also the fourth least populated state in the U.S., which makes Alaska a wonderful place to explore the beauty of nature without the crowds.

Alaska has more than 30,000 miles of dramatic tidal shoreline; several active volcanoes, including the “most perfect (symmetrical) volcanic cone on earth;” as well as three million lakes. Sign us up!

Here are the Alaskan adventures we offer:

• Alaska Biking (Classic) – Travel a remote section of Alaska seen by few with adventures in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Prince William Sound and Matanuska Glacier.
• Alaska Walking and Hiking (Classic) – Hike along Exit and Grewingk Glaciers, boat across Kachemak Bay and travel through the towns of Homer and Seward.
• Alaska Adventure Multisport (Classic, Singles+Solos, Family) – No matter who you’re traveling with, you’ll enjoy hiking Harding Icefield Trail, kayaking around Yukon Island, visiting the town of Homer and watching salmon swim upstream.
• Alaska Family Adventure Multisport (Family – Deluxe Camping!) – This trip is new in 2012 and includes biking, hiking, rafting, sea kayaking on the Kenai Peninsula. Highlights from the itinerary will give you and your family the chance to experience everything from snow-clad mountains (in any season!) to viewing marine and wildlife, as well as simply enjoying this wilderness paradise by bike, foot, boat and even dog sled!

Remember how we said this new multisport trip included Deluxe Alaska Camping? Well, we’ve arranged for you to stay at two campgrounds: Slidehole Campground at Anchor Point and Trail River Campground in the Chugach National Forest. And when we say “Deluxe Camping,” you can take that to mean that you get to relax and enjoy your evening as we set up camp, cook dinner, clean up and more! This might just be the kind of camping you’ve been waiting for!

Alaska is on most people’s bucket lists. Why not go ahead and check it off yours this year? Call us to book your Alaskan getaway today at 800-462-2848 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Pacific time.

Written by Backroads Team Leader Dave Schifrin on his trip up the Alaskan highway to prepare to lead Alaska based tours.

Day 1:  Salt Lake City – Great Falls, Mont.
Returning Leader Training is always fun. I get to meet other Backroads Trip Leaders whom I haven’t met before and re-connect with others whom I haven’t seen for a while.  A handful of us reported to the Backroads Operations headquarters in Salt Lake City  this past Monday to learn about some new Backroads initiatives (including the new specialized bikes and Backroads cycling jerseys available to guests!). But it was the end of the week that excited me the most… the start of my journey to Alaska for the season where I’ll be leading walking/hiking tours and multisport trips for the summer.

I’m bringing a van and bikes from Salt Lake City to Anchorage, which is the hub for our three different types of trips in Alaska (hiking trips, multisport tours, biking tours).  It’s an epic drive from Salt Lake City to Anchorage, and I’m hoping to share some of that crazy experience with you.  My journey takes me from Salt Lake City to Canmore, Alberta, Canada, to drop off a trailer and bikes at our Canadian hub. From Canmore I’ll head north across the expanses of Canadian wilderness through northern Alberta and British Columbia and across the corner of Yukon Territory before driving into Alaska in a week or so.  Yep… that’s a nine-day solo drive through North American awesomeness. Just another epic Backroads journey…

Day 1 was a drive from Salt Lake City to Great Falls, Mont., for much needed sleep. I left Salt Lake in pouring rain, but the rain subsided as I entered Idaho on I-15. Idaho and Montana are just so beautiful and vast. You can just imagine buffalo herds numbering in the thousands lumbering across the prairies. While the scenery is incredible, I think my favorite part of driving the Backroads van is that everyone who passes is interested in the van and bikes. The stories that are told on the images on the van’s sides (and the bikes racked on the roof) are intriguing to everyone, and I usually get a wave or sometimes a tap of the horn from people who must be thinking something along the lines of “I want to be doing that.”

Day 2 takes me into Canada. I’m really excited to get to Canmore and meet up with some of the Backroads crew there. Hopefully I’ll get to explore Banff National Park a little bit before I continue the journey north. It’s been a must-see for me for a long time.  I’ll check in soon. Hopefully with photos and undoubtedly with interesting stories ….