Three new short adventure ABD trips announced

I’m not the right person to convince you that ABD is worth it, but for what it’s worth, having lived in London for a few years, I can tell you that the public transport system in London makes getting to all the major tourist sites fairly easy.

And a lot are walkable. Though, admittedly, I am a walker so my view may be skewed - my last long weekend there my daily step count ranged from 38,000-50,000 (the latter included a 10km run though).
 
@CrazyZeus1, I agree with you on the tipping per day, but for calculating value, I looked at a per night cost. If for no other reason, if the 3rd day on a 2N/3D ABD was included, it would reduce the avg per day cost by 30%. For a 7 night trip, including the last day would reduce it 12%. For an 11 night ABD, 8 %.

Here's what I'm looking at per night:
Germany 6200/8 = $775
N Italy 6200/7 = $885
Spain 6400/8 = $800
London/Paris = $914
Australia 8600/10 = $860
China 9800/11 = $890
Vietnam 6800/11 = $618
Backstage Magic 3600/5 = $720

Boston 2220/3 = $740
London 2000/2 = $1000
Rome 2710/3 = $900
Vancouver 2000/2 = $1000

Certainly part of the increased cost per night is due to hotel costs in large cities. My hesitation is based primarily on the fact that I am willing to pay more per night on a 1-2 week family vacation than on a weekend trip with kids. Now, Kate and I have paid more per night for weekend trips when it's just the two of us in Napa, New York, etc. So, for 2 people, it's pricey, but I could see it. But for a family of 5, I just can't justify it in the same way I can a 1 wk+ ABD. I'd be looking at $10,000 for 2 nights in Vancouver. Probably not entirely logical, but that's where I'm coming from.

That makes sense. Since it is just the two of us, Ive got Boston on the radar as well as the Rome short escape. I’d do the whole Italy trip again in a heartbeat. We’ve done a few of the long weekend ABD trips and there are some that were amazing and I’d be happy to do a repeat of the trip. NYC and Winter in Wyoming are 2 of the long weekend trips DH and I both agree we’d do again. For that reason alone, we haven’t ruled out short escapes based on price or location.

I will share some of my probably not logical, but where I’m coming from too. One of the things we value with the short escapes is the fact that ABD packs a lot in and we are basically forced to go out and experience the area because that is what we paid for. When we go on our own for a long weekend, we don’t plan what to do each day and every activity out and we tend to get lazy LOL. I’m sitting on a plane right now coming back home from a weekend trip to DC. We did exactly twothings on this trip besides sleep and laze about. We ate at an Ethiopian restaurant for the first time and went to see Hamilton. A couple of months ago we went to NYC for the weekend and did three things, Empire State Building and saw Chicago on Broadway and Harry Potter the play again. We also managed to discover a really cool restaurant called Lily’s while walking back to the hotel.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love our lazy weekend trips where we might accomplish two goals and if we are lucky discover something new and interesting along the way, but I also don’t spend much money on those. We fly on points and miles and our hotel stays are also free nights or paid with points. Could I possibly recreate some of the short ABD itineraries and do most of it for less, sure. The fact remains that I know I never will. Work demands and travel hacking our big vacations and weekend getaways already takes enough of my time that I can find the value in ABD short escapes. Those only require me figuring how to get there and not pay for it just like the longer ABD trips. I really appreciate the daily costs you provided on the short escapes vs longer trips. I actually feel better about the value I have received with our short ABD escapes and the ones we now have on the radar LOL So there you have my own logic on these but it works for us.

Haha that is a very long flight for 2 days. I've done 2 hour flights for long weekends but not much more than that. If that's the case or you can drive to the ABD then I guess it could be worth it for some people.

We’ve done long flights for a long weekend. We flew to London to see the Harry Potter play over a weekend and came back home. Since we use points and miles to fly we don’t mind doing something crazy like that for a short trip. But once agin, we did very little in London besides see the play. We managed to drag ourselves to the British museum and eat at the oldest pub in the area. We were quite proud of ourselves for getting anything done besides the play.
 
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We’ve done long flights for a long weekend. We flew to London to see the Harry Potter play over a weekend and came back home. Since we use points and miles to fly we don’t mind doing something crazy like that for a short trip. But once agin, we did very little in London besides see the play. We managed to drag ourselves to the British museum and eat at the oldest pub in the area. We were quite proud of ourselves for getting anything done besides the play.

We saw the Harry Potter play in London in June and it was AMAZING! I told my dd that I'd go back to London just to see it (and Hamilton) again!

I am the opposite of you. When I travel I pack as much as I can into a day. I exhaust people we travel with lol. I can't go somewhere, no matter how nice the hotel, and not go out and explore the city. I always feel like I'm missing out.

For this reason I know that I'd never even consider one of the short escapes. I can go somewhere and either hire a private guide (depending on the country) or tour on my own. For Buenos Aires prior to our A&K Antarctica cruise I'm hiring a private guide for a few days since we don't have much time there and I want to make the most of it. That includes the day we land (at 6:45am), where we will start touring at 11:00am.
 
My husband and I are going on the ABD short escapes Rome trip in June. I'm so excited! I've always wanted to do an ABD trip, but the expense was always prohibitive. But now that the kids are grown, we can go just the two of us. I love that it's a short escape - lower cost, and it's perfect for us because we plan to go on to Florence for a couple of days and then meet friends in Switzerland for hiking and sightseeing. Hoping that it lives up to my expectations! We have never been to Italy.
 


Just booked the London Short Escape prior to embarking on the Westbound Transatlantic Cruise in 2019! Yes, it’s pricey but we took advantage of an on-board booking discount and it will be our first time in London so we are excited to do touristy things. I think it’s quite beneficial that the price includes transportation to the cruise port in Dover.
 
Just booked the London Short Escape prior to embarking on the Westbound Transatlantic Cruise in 2019! Yes, it’s pricey but we took advantage of an on-board booking discount and it will be our first time in London so we are excited to do touristy things. I think it’s quite beneficial that the price includes transportation to the cruise port in Dover.

Sounds like an amazing trip! London has so much to do, and having luxury transport to Dover is definitely a value.
 

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