How to Choose the Right Travel Company: Get the Inside Scoop

Make sure you know what a company's orientation is toward travel in general. Is it ALL about the bike or the boot? This is fine if ALL you want is a good bike ride or hard hike and you desire to be surrounded by other like-minded folks. Many companies are happy to send you off alone on your bike or point you to where the trail starts. Far fewer focus on integrating the activity with the culture to get you below the surface. We like to think of our guests and ourselves as well-rounded individuals who are deeply curious about the world. We're not interested in providing you with a one-dimensional experience.

It goes without saying that Backroads is incredibly good at the bike and the hike part of the experience. We've been doing it for 33 years. But that's the easy part (besides, most of us could just stay close to home and do a great bike ride or hike). When we travel, we believe that two wheels or two feet are so much better than car, train, bus or ship at doing what travel does best: being part of a place. The bike and hiking shoes are our passport to an insider's perspective, to getting in deep, to becoming part of the genuine fabric of daily life, whether you're walking alongside monks in Bhutan or sharing the road with French farmers on the way to market. But that kind of connected travel doesn't usually happen without some serious forethought and understanding—especially if you only have a week or two. We understand this and we've worked hard over many years—decades, actually—to peel the onion and get below the surface of a place. This is where we really shine: creating travel experiences that bring a place to life, where you are not a spectator but a participant in the wonderment that is the world. It really isn't ALL about the bike (well, unless your name rhymes with "Vance").

How we approach the design of our trips is based on years of being avid travelers ourselves. When I first started Backroads, I rode every single mile myself, wrote the directions, designed the maps, tuned the bikes, bought the food, and led the trip; then did it all over again. From my garage. Now I have the benefit of having the strongest team of trip designers in the world. I enjoy working closely with our nine Regional Managers who develop trips with both a gut-level knowledge of what makes a great trip as well as a high-level knowledge of the quality of hotels, restaurants, routes and vendors. They're the kind of people you'd trust to take you to the back alley food stand, the wine bar in a dark cellar, or find the cheese-making heiress in her kitchen: they know what matters and how to create great experiences both on and off the road and trail.

It's worth saying that if you want a trip focused, say, exclusively on archaeology, Backroads is not for you. If however you want to understand the canyons of southern Utah at a visceral level, including topics like archaeology, but don't want to "miss the forest for the trees," we might be just your speed. Our leaders don't do "lectures" or hand out multi-page readings; they weave cultural depth into everything they say and do throughout the day, versus have it as an "add-on." They're more interested in how regional culture shapes current events than in providing a tome on who was born when and where. They bring their passions to their leading, whether it's wine, history, nature, local lore or songs. They're curious about what's around them. They provide background regional info every day that helps catalyze cultural conversation. It's about bringing culture to life through doing, not just talking.

Many active and adventure travel companies (most of them in fact) claim to be experts in family travel. Well, how can you be an expert when you run only a handful of trips a year? In the last decade alone we've run over 2,000 dedicated family trips. Our mantra is continual improvement. And practice does make perfect.

Backroads consistently provides the world's best family vacations by paying keen attention to the details that matter most to families and by offering the greatest flexibility—essential when traveling with kids. Wherever your travels with Backroads lead you, our ultimate goal is for you to enjoy a ton of quality fun together, grow a little or a lot, and return home with lifelong memories. And our trips are tested and endorsed by some of the toughest critics we know—our own children.

You may already know from venturing out on your own how travel can sometimes be reduced to a bunch of logistical decisions, which aren't always the easiest to navigate when you're somewhere new. In fact, when you're traveling on your own, the logistical challenges can replace the travel as the most "memorable" part of the trip; you come back with funny stories, but you didn't see as much of the place as you hoped. Enter Backroads. We're the masters of logistics, and have the breadth of operations to prove it.

Make sure to ask whose trip you're taking. I'm serious. You'd be surprised at how many companies don't run their own trips. This is never clear in their promotional materials and there's a reason it isn't clear—they're not proud of it and don't want you to know about it. We think it's deceptive to outsource the entire running of a trip without disclosing it. At Backroads, we don't pay others to do the job we promise you we'll do.

Some companies don't run any of their own trips, relying exclusively on subcontracted services. Outsourcing might make sense for software development and assembling shoes. But it doesn't make sense for travel. We know how much effort and direct communication it takes to move the quality needle (or even to hold it steady). Imagine a guest reporting back to "the company" who hopefully gets back to "the outfitter" who might talk to the local vendor and may let "the company" know what the resolution is (or may not). Yikes—remember playing the game where each person whispers what he or she hears into the next person's ear? Well...forget about it.

To make matters worse, we know of companies that hire outside companies to operate their trips and, believe it or not, the outside company then goes on to hire another entity to actually run the trip. It will take years to change out the low performing guide let alone the poor performing outfitter.

We operate our own trips everywhere in the world. We're actually out there on the ground. We call the shots. Our leaders are on it and know what it takes to give you an exceptional experience. They know what you expect and what we expect as a company. Having worked with plenty of local teams over the years to complement our leader staff, we know how difficult it is to achieve alignment in delivery without someone on the ground who covers the distance from headquarters to field. Doing this indirectly is laughably ineffective and inadequate. Having our own staff and leaders radically improves the quality of the outcome and ensures the Backroads' standards are consistently maintained wherever in the world we run trips—no exceptions.

We also run enough trips in every region we operate in to justify the effort it takes to get to truly know what is worth experiencing. Be careful with companies that spread themselves thin, offering one or two dates in dozens of disparate parts of the world. This is an unsupportable model. And you definitely won't want to count on a local guide to represent the "promises" made when they only lead a trip or two.

Is there a history you can trust? I've been running this show from our start in 1979. We don't take calling ourselves "The World's #1 Active Travel Company" lightly. In the world in which we work (one that moves fast and often unpredictably), we are a company full of control freaks—as in quality control. As the founder and president of Backroads, I've carried a notepad 24/7, jotting down ideas for improving Backroads trips for more than three decades. It's an ethic that is firmly entrenched in our company culture. We'll never feel like our job is done because we're always trying to make your trips better.

We constantly have an eye on the small details and big ideas—both define Backroads. Small is all about you and the uniquely personal experience of each trip. Big is about having hard-wired systems and resources in place to have every detail fine-tuned and ready for flawless execution.

This might seem like an odd question but it is fundamentally important to the vibe that's on your trip. Just ask one of the many guests who have been on up to 40+ Backroads trips.

We know each other at Backroads. We create and foster a sense of community and esprit de corps that manifests itself wherever Backroads leaders go. One of the many ways we do this is with an annual staff ride, where 150 or so of us get together for a week to bike, hike and travel to places we love. Over the last five years we have gathered for trips from Budapest to Kraków, in Spain, Northern Thailand, on the California Coast, and in Northern Italy and Slovenia. In 33 years, I've never missed one of these events—testimony to their importance and lasting impact. It matters to connect with each other just like it matters to connect on your trip.

We hire leaders who make the job a career and become an integral part of Backroads. We are a family-run company and they are part of the family. We contribute to their 401(k) plans and provide health insurance. Every leader receives ongoing training, professional development and regional management—each and every year they are with Backroads. Very little of this, if any of it, exists for leaders in companies that subcontract out to middlemen operators. This is not just a summer job. Most of our leaders have been around for years. Some for 15-20 years. Our nine Regional Managers have an average tenure of 13.66 years. They all started their careers at Backroads as leaders. The results speak for themselves.

I've never been quite sure what this means, but I just have to say it. Since Backroads began, we've had over 50 marriages between Backroads leaders. Every single one of those marriages is still going strong, and many now have kids who are "in training" to be future Backroads leaders. We know—kind of unusual given today's divorce rates.

Some companies hire only "local guides"—and sing the praises of doing so. This can be helpful as far as accessing the cultural richness of a place. However, it is not uncommon for an outfitter to use local guides primarily as a way to keep travel costs down (which isn't such a bad idea if you're only trying to save money). Another reason a company may hire only local guides is because they offer too few trips to justify anything but a local guide solution. But if you travel with only local guides, your interface to the culture may not work as well as you might think. Without common cultural reference points, the local guides may be less than adept at understanding subtle cues and preferences of the people taking the trip. Ironically, the cultural interpretation might be less rich than with a leader who works with the company in a variety of cultures and can approach an experience alongside guests with a common lens.

The strong local expertise that Backroads leaders bring combined with a deep and genuine understanding of the North American service ethic is crucial to your enjoyment and connection on trip. We pair experienced Backroads leaders with local guides as needed on international trips. They are the best combination in the business; they know how to both cater to you and how to crack open the local culture in a way that's meaningful. It's neither one nor the other—it's the magic of both.

Everyone says they have "the best leaders." Well, not EVERYONE does have the best leaders. The world just doesn't work that way. "Every" and "best" don't go together. Finding out who does have the best leaders before you decide to take the trip isn't always easy. But it's critical. You'll be spending a great deal of time with the leaders. We aren't talking about a quick exchange with the barista at Starbucks or "have a nice day" by the doorman at Four Seasons. You better have a good chance of liking these folks on many levels because they honestly can make or break your experience. According to past guests, the caliber of our leaders is what sets Backroads apart from all other travel companies. With their knowledge, professionalism, enthusiasm and exceptional service ethic, they're the number one reason people return to travel with us again and again—10, 20, 30 40 times over.

Each of your Backroads Trip Leaders plays many roles during your vacation: Guide. Historian. Chef. Naturalist. Mechanic. Trouble-shooter. Interpreter. These remarkable individuals have highly developed instincts for making people comfortable, for smoothly handling the logistics of travel, and for successfully navigating a wide range of unexpected situations. They're passionately committed to ensuring you enjoy an exceptional vacation—smooth, flexible and tailored to your needs.

What does Backroads do to find, employ, and retain leaders who "make it happen" time and time again?

• Our recruiting, hiring, training and performance management programs are unequalled—really. We hire a very small percentage of applicants—fewer than Harvard accepts. They come to us with loads of talent, and we train them to handle just about anything, give them lots of ongoing support, and monitor their performance closely and rigorously.
• Not one leader last year averaged below 9 (on a 1-10 scale) from the thousands of guests and families who completed their survey and rated their leaders' overall performance. It is not uncommon to see the occasional bottom-performing Backroads leader move on and instantly become a top performer at another company, because their standards are—literally—on a different scale.

We hire people for the right reason: to ensure you have an amazing experience when you travel with us. We look for individuals who are exceptionally good with people. If someone isn't naturally really "a people person," they will not even make it in our door. Most people who think they are good with people miss our standards by a long shot. I continue to personally be involved in the hiring of each leader. We do not hire people who we don't enjoy spending time with ourselves because if we don't, you won't.

Our leaders are FUN. I mean no disrespect, but some of the leaders out there for other companies just aren't folks you'd want to spend a week with. Maybe an hour, maybe to ask some questions, but they just aren't folks that will bring out the best experience in you and your fellow travelers. Our leaders know how to read people, how to assess very quickly what each guest is seeking and then to make sure the place and the trip deliver that back to you. All while having a good time.

Our leaders have an amazing breadth of skills. It really shows. They'll be fixing your bike one minute, whipping up a gourmet picnic the next, telling you about the wildlife on the fly, generating great dinner conversation that evening, trouble-shooting the route change the next morning, and more. They take care of all the details so that you just get to take care of enjoying yourself. That's why it's called a vacation.

Our leaders don't just act as interpretive guides or tour directors. They put the LEADERSHIP in leading. Real leadership is about providing options versus just providing a map, about having opinions versus just being neutral, about preventing problems versus reacting to them. Our leaders are actively involved in your experience, both stewarding and customizing, so that you can actively engage in the world in the way you'd most like.

The trust and confidence we have in our leaders are commensurate with the autonomy and level they operate at. You are in good hands with our leaders; why else would you pay thousands of dollars and travel halfway around the world? Things change on the fly, and when they do, you want the right person in charge.

You may find some companies singing the praises of traveling in a very small group. That works when you've handpicked your very best friends for a private trip. Otherwise, you may find yourself going crazy with the constraints that a very small group puts on you: there's one van, it's leaving at one time and you're all in it. You're sitting with the same people every night at dinner, and although pleasant, not necessarily captivating after the fifth dinner. You may feel more self-conscious about leaving the group and doing your own thing, since the group moves more as a unit—not through anyone's intention but just through human nature. Our group sizes are small enough to still move through the world in a low-impact way but big enough to invite compelling group dynamics.

We think the optimal group size from a guest interaction perspective is between 16 and 28. That range allows us to take advantage of boutique hotels, cooking classes, trips to the local market, small restaurants and more without limiting possibilities or taking on the look and feel of a herd of stampeding elephants.

If you want the benefits of individual flexibility within a group trip, read below.

• WALKING & HIKING: Our maximum group size on walking trips is 20 with at least two vehicles for support. Since almost all walking trips require shuttles to and from the trail, by employing two or more vehicles for up to 20 folks, there is very little "hurry up and wait" both in leaving the hotel and at the end of the trail. Plus the multiple vans can move in more than one direction to provide more flexibility accessing different trailheads and hikes of varying difficulty. We also provide detailed directions for those who like to venture out on their own; hike as fast or slow as you like and choose who to share the trail with.
• BIKING & MULTISPORT: Bike routes are intentionally designed so you can bike directly from one inn to the next, allowing you to travel from place to place under your power. With route options of multiple lengths to choose from and enough riders (up to 26) of varying fitness levels and interests, you're bound to find other folks to ride with if you so choose, or travel on two wheels at your own speed. As the difficulty of a trip increases and the distances widen, we make sure that all riders are supported by upping the number of leaders and vans.
• FAMILY: Most of the parents who take our trips tell us: "As long as the kids are having fun, I'm having fun." And those of us who are parents know that our kids really like to pal around with kids their own age. An artificially small group size means, by definition, only two or three families on the trip which may mean your 15-year-old could be on his or her own. We take up to 28 guests on family trips to give everyone options for hanging out with their peers and to create a lively dynamic between and among all the families.
• CUSTOM & PRIVATE TRIPS: You call the shots. Our past experience ranges from a 1-person trip to a 425-person trip. We're the experts at customizing experiences to accommodate your interests and your group size, whether it's your extended family, a group of work colleagues, a 50th birthday adventure or more. We can do it all—and make the result a slam-dunk for you.

Finally, does the company you are considering offer discounts to big groups on their regularly scheduled trips? If so, you may find yourself on the outside looking in on someone else's reunion or worse. We encountered far too many, shall we say, trips with "less than optimal group dynamics" before we ditched this incredibly guest-unfriendly policy many years ago. Backroads doesn't entice groups to travel on our regularly scheduled trips with discounts. Instead, we provide generous private trip pricing to groups, preserving a more inclusive dynamic on our regularly scheduled departures and making all parties much happier.

It's easy for a company to say their trips are flexible but this is where the rubber hits the road—a lot of infrastructure is needed to support flexibility. For every kind of trip we run, and each actual departure, we support the uniqueness of each group and our individual guests in a number of ways. I might add that virtually every one of the following design decisions, many of which are 100% unique to Backroads, are the direct result of my personal experience leading and traveling as a guest on Backroads trips (over 250 of them), and fine-tuning the right balance of flexibility and cohesion. We ensure that an active vacation with Backroads is all about what you want and not about an inflexible formula convenient to us. Read on for the specifics.

Well, not necessarily. One fairly established company chooses to communicate this crucial piece of information deep in their FAQs. What exactly are their guests paying for? Do they only accept guests of equal ability? Last time we checked, the very best trails were not right outside an inn's door. So how do you get to the start of the hike? Walk down the road for three miles? Support vans deliver you to and from the best hikes and expand your hiking options. Designing walking and hiking trips without a support van is, well, a very limiting concept.

• With the Guest Information Survey we send you before your trip, we find out ahead of time if you want to prioritize the biking/hiking, the culture, the local markets or something else—and then we make sure that trip is rock solid with the right number of leaders and vans to make it happen.
• We design our routes to minimize forced shuttling—after all these ARE active trips. The most satisfying way to travel is with a sense of journey from point A to B, so our trips are designed with that in mind, whether biking, hiking or multisport.
• Sometimes you may want a shuttle though—and we've got it. Count on the right number of vans and trailers to support flexibility on the route so you can get in for a "bump" or to call it a day. We often provide several support vehicles and have enough staff to accommodate different agendas. We'll use an additional luggage delivery service if necessary to keep our vans on the route, yet still have your bags in your room when you get there.
• Tired, missing a map, need advice on extending your day or looking for a way to shorten it? Our leaders are always sweeping the route and if they aren't in sight they are just a phone call away. You can change your mind at any point about how you want to spend your day. We like to say that if you're not having fun, it's time to change course.
• When you pull up to a picnic spread at lunch along the route, you can linger to your heart's content or choose to keep on riding after a quick bite (although you may find the food is too good to pass up, even for that next hill).

It's easy for a company to say their trips allow for flexibility and spontaneity but a lot of careful thought is needed to make it a reality. At Backroads we provide "back-pocket options," multiple support vehicles, "daily snapshots," area maps, self-navigable directions, optional high-resolution self-navigable maps and, most importantly, routes that are designed with a sense of journey in mind—many of these features are unique to Backroads. Our leaders then cater to the needs of each guest, taking the "group mentality" out of group travel while still cultivating the wonderful camaraderie our trips are famous for. It's your trip—uniquely yours.

• Leaders always have "back-pocket options"—even longer routes than the three to four distance options we already provide as standard practice. So pipe up if you want to hit it hard(er).
• Our night-before "snapshots" are especially helpful for anyone who wants to leave early in the morning and skip the group "route rap," or stay at breakfast longer for an extra cup of coffee. These snapshots empower you to have control of your schedule by letting you know the two to three times during the day when something time-sensitive is happening, such as dinner or a special event, so you can operate with leisure in between those times.
• Self-navigable directions mean you can ride or hike with others as you'd like, but are not relegated to following someone else's pace. Just imagine what it means if you are forced to follow the leader because only he/she knows where to go—you'll inevitably be going slower or faster than you like.
• Area maps are provided for all guests, which suit the majority of our guests who follow our carefully selected, well-vetted routes.
• However, we also provide optional higher-resolution self-navigable maps at the highest level of detail that enable you to head off the directions if that's your style.
• All of this contributes to the Backroads ability to support a broad range of abilities like no one else can.

Each night choose who you'd like to sit with at dinner. Mix it up or continue the conversation you started the night before or bow out completely and dine solo—it's up to you, and with Backroads you can expect a nice mix and number of people to keep things interesting.

On one night of a trip, count on there being a great place to choose your own restaurant. This is typically in a small town where restaurant choices are plentiful—Yountville in the Napa Valley or St-Rémy in Provence come to mind.

Does the company list the names of the actual hotels they plan on using? If not, it usually means they aren't using hotels they can be proud of. Backroads lists every hotel we use.

If the hotels are listed in an outfitter's brochure and website, are their descriptions meaningful? Are you expected to decipher their terms "best available," which can refer equally to a rustic national park lodge or a splendid 14th-century château in the Loire? Backroads has removed the guesswork by putting our hotels into Casual and Premiere Inn designations so you know what you're getting into.

In fact, we've used our guests' ratings of hotels to place them accurately in either the Casual or Premiere category when a hotel is "on the border" between the two designations. We think our hotel rating system is far more relevant than Michelin or Travel + Leisure and other hotel rating schemes, thanks to our guests who complete our trip surveys. Admittedly it only applies to the hotels and restaurants we use, but it is updated constantly by the most rigorous evaluators we know—our guests.

It's not uncommon for other companies to book rooms only after they see what signups look like for a particular trip. The odds of getting the rooms (and therefore the hotel) at such a late date are not in your favor. The substitute hotel will almost always be of lesser quality. There just aren't that many hotels in a similar quality and size range in most of the coveted travel destinations. At Backroads we reserve all our hotels well before our catalog is published, before the website is updated and long before you sign up. That way we're sure to have what we advertise.

You may want to do some research yourself. Get on the hotel's website to peek at what they've chosen for you. Many companies only book the lowest-priced (read: worst) rooms. Some will even give guests rooms that are reserved for hotel staff and leaders. We always contract the best rooms well in advance, one category below Junior Suite, if suites exist.

In some western European countries (France comes to mind), sometimes the "off-the-menu route" we typically prefer can translate at some restaurants into hanging in there until past midnight. While we're always happy to arrange the full dinner marathon for you to enjoy—knowing that you can always sleep in—our experience has shown that imposing this on everyone is simply unpopular. So, in these cases we opt for BOTH a great meal and a great night's sleep by working closely with chefs to create truly amazing menus that can be enjoyed in what most guests consider a reasonable amount of time. We know the recipe for the perfect meal.

There is nothing like a great meal after an endorphin-filled day. Our dining philosophy is predicated on quality, fun and convenience for you. We work closely with each restaurant to make sure you have both the maximum freedom to choose as well as a great overall experience. In most of the world, most of the time, that tends to mean ordering off the menu. Not only are you able to choose exactly what you want, you are able to get to bed at a reasonable hour (if that's your wish).

If you talk to a company who says they always order off the menu, they either:

• 1) don't do trips in France
• 2) don't dine at the best restaurants
• 3) are okay forcing you to "enjoy" a four+ hour meal after and before a day that may be just a bit more active than you are used to
• 4) require you to sit in tables of two so that you aren't subject to the one guest who wants to take his or her sweet time

Some examples of what we offer when "going beyond the menu" include:

• Chef Sylvestre Wahid at Oustau de Baumanière in Les Baux (Provence) takes meticulous care at presenting both tastes and a presentation that consistently blow our guests away with an exquisite and unbelievable dining experience. The pride is obvious.
• At Château Richeaux in Cancale (Brittany), the Chef's Table is an experience to remember.
• At La Subida in Cormons (Slovenia/Italy), the chef prepares an exclusive wild game-tasting menu of small dishes that consistently receives accolades from Backroads' guests as one of the best meals they have ever experienced.
• One of our only exceptions to ordering off the menu in the United States is at Madrona Manor in Healdsburg (California Wine Country), where we go beyond the menu to experience delectable creations by chef Jesse Mallgren during the winemaker's dinner, which is a highlight of the week.
• In Northern Argentina at Estancia Colomé, you definitely don't want to miss chef Walter Gonzalez's open flame asado criollo with five types of meat, each one more delicious than the last. Not only is the food to die for, but the gauchos who assist greatly add to the festive affair.

In each of these cases, and in others where we go beyond the menu, the lasting impression is always, "Of course, why would I even want the regular menu?" What was just enjoyed is so much more and is another reason why traveling with Backroads gives you experiences you could never find on your own. Going beyond the menu almost always costs more than the regular menu, requires enough guests to justify the chef's effort and is something we spend a great deal of time getting just right. If anyone tells you "we ALWAYS order off the menu," you might want to dig a little deeper. Backroads ALMOST always orders off the menu unless there is an opportunity to offer something better. We promise you that these rare exceptions will stand out as the most memorable meals of the trip, and will make it obvious why we chose to "go beyond."

Do you understand what the travel company's policy is regarding them cancelling the trip you signed up for? It's not uncommon for us to get folks signing up for a Backroads trip because their trip with another company was cancelled a few weeks prior to departure. We know of one company whose policy is that they can cancel a trip due to low enrollment and force you to choose another trip/date or you potentially lose your money. Hard to believe but true. Make sure you read the fine print. Not only will we guarantee trips with very low numbers of guests, we virtually never cancel a trip less than three months out (in the last three years it's only happened twice), and it's always done in close consultation with the guest. We also will not charge a small group surcharge if only a handful of guests ended up signing up for your trip; why penalize you? We're happy to run trips with as few as five guests and in fact have run many trips with fewer than that when that was the guests' desire.

If you're thinking about taking a camping trip with another company, inquire if you're expected to set up and take down tents, gather firewood, cook gourmet meals and help with the dishes. With Backroads, the answer is: our dedicated Camp Chef, Kid Coordinator and Camp Assistant and leaders handle all of that (and more) for you. When you arrive at camp you'll find your sleeping bag and pad laid out and your luggage at your feet. Wine/beer are provided at meals, and the Camp Chef performs culinary magic with everything from broiled salmon and roast chicken to fresh salads and rich desserts.

Ask if the outfitter is using their own bikes or "local bikes." For the most part, local bikes fall far short of the mark. We use our own titanium bikes everywhere in the world. Every part of our bikes have been evaluated and chosen with our guests in mind. Our leaders all trained to maintain them, plus our full-time mechanics move between trips during the season to service our entire fleet of nearly 4,000 titanium bikes.

Ask yourself whether you want to spend your vacation on a trip where the PRIMARY motivation for choosing that particular company is price. This applies to both ends of the price spectrum. The motivation behind being the cheapest and the most expensive, when that's the primary focus, tends to create an interesting outcome both in the people it attracts and how the trips are designed. Travel isn't like purchasing a shirt off the rack. It's a multi-faceted and highly personal experience (as it should be), and we believe it deserves a quality orientation to get the right result. At Backroads, price is ALWAYS secondary to quality, value and ultimately an extraordinary experience.

We always start from a position of what experience is most meaningful? What has the most value? How would we like to travel with our closest friends and families? Is the take-home value high? Will the experience be "worth it?" Is this event or activity an appreciated and meaningful part of a trip? We always want you, our guest, to get your money's worth and time's worth. At the end of your trip, we'll ask you whether we succeeded and how the trip can be improved for future guests. Just as your experience on the trip will have benefited from the improvements made thanks to previous guest feedback, your opinions will join the thousands of other guests' answers to be reviewed and acted upon. This is how we've gotten our trips to where they are today.

We are confident that no other travel company comes close to matching Backroads in all of these important areas, all of which directly affect the quality of the experience of your trip. If a company fails in one place, it can ruin your trip. We understand this fact and we have spent decades fine-tuning the Backroads organization to ensure that your trip is successful.

Many companies have copied the Backroads' marketing presentation to attempt to sell themselves as similar to us. But copying the marketing and actually DOING what we do—replicating the company culture that drives Backroads and the quality you experience on a Backroads trip—is quite another thing. Remember you are buying the delivery of your vacation, not the marketing of it.

If you have any questions at all, just give us a call. I'd be happy to personally talk with you about any of this at length. You can probably tell I feel strongly about making sure you know what you're getting when you sign up for a trip with Backroads. With all due respect for other companies, we've done our best to let you know how we personally work (and don't work) at Backroads. I wish you the best travel experience possible, whatever you may choose.