"Our team experience was amazing"

Our team experience was amazing! Worldstrides made things easy, the team we worked with was responsive and extremely helpful.
Our tour director and drivers were better than we could have asked for!

"Our guide Ray was amazing!"

Our guide Ray made the trip an experience to remember always. He was so knowledgeable about so many facets of Costa Rican culture, history, wildlife and why Costa Rica is such a special place. He made sure all logistics were taken care of and was very flexible in meeting the needs of our group. He made it such a fun experience! We also appreciated the balance of soccer and tourist experiences, we all loved the white water rafting! Thank you for delivering a well organized and very enjoyable experience.

"Our Tour Guide"

Our Tour Guide, Reynier, was fantastic

"Scotland 2024"

The country and tours were great, the scenery was outstanding. Saw a lot of different things, good tour to see the many highlights of the country.
The accommodations were not so good. Hotels were out of the way and not convenient.

"Middle School Travel, Illinois"

Kelly Mayo does an excellent job working with our middle school travel program.

"It was great"

It was great! Very well organized.

"Amazing trip for my students and I!"

Having traveled with a show to fringe both once without and once with World Strides, I will never go on my own again. It was not cheaper/easier/better on my own and World Strides is worth every penny! Everyone on staff was WONDERFUL. Tech, performances, workshops and special events were fantastic. Preparing your show is enough work, take the help in planning your trip so that you can fully enjoy your Fringe experience!

"Zero Effort in Planning Memorable Trip"

My trip started out with a canceled flight due to a pilot’s strike. Although the strike was announced a week ahead, Explorica would not change my flight because according to them, “strikes happen all the time and it probably would be resolved ahead of time.” Well, it was not resolved ahead of time and I was left sitting in baggage on the floor (no chairs in baggage) for 5 hours while they tried to figure out what to do. The last person I talked to at Explorica was *extremely rude* and did not believe me that this airline did not have agents at the airport, that all business was done online. They had a week’s notice of this strike to figure this out before my flight, but did nothing. So I missed a day of my tour with no compensation for it. Then, 2 days later, a second flight was canceled, splitting up our group. The replacement flight was delayed twice with 3 gate changes. So on the first 4 days of the tour, I spent three of them in the airport. After that we were booked on a bus where it was nearly impossible to see out of the windows because of the dark tint…. So a sightseeing tour where you can’t see the sights. The bus also had half of the seats backwards with a table between 4 people, so there was no room for your feet. Many depressing hours were spent on this bus of despair. The people in the very first row of the bus were taking pictures and posting them for us so we could see the amazing sights only they could see. The times on the bus were so long between stops that most places were closed when arriving. ZERO of the hotels were in walking distance of ANYTHING. The hotel rooms were supposed to be upgraded, but I spent 2 nights at a hotel where the room was the size of a walk-in closet. One night for dinner I had to buy a bun and cheese from a grocery store because that was all that was open. The trip was so poorly planned that we would arrive at a city in the evening, everything was closed, and the next morning we would leave without seeing a thing. I can recall only 2 spots where the admission to a tourist attraction was covered by Explorica. The rest of the admissions were extra and had to be paid for. You would think if you were paying $6000 for a trip, it would include your admission to the tourist sights. The whole experience was a miserable waste of time and money. This was my third trip with Explorica, and after this trip I have to say I cannot anymore recommend this tour company as they put ZERO effort into planning this trip. It was boring and stressful and I could not wait to get home and for it to be over.

"This trip was a waste of $6k - 2 of 12 days were enjoyable."

I will segregate my comments into three main categories: transportation, lodging, and overall satisfaction.
TRANSPORTATION: From the time we received our air transportation information, it was widely known that Aer Lingus was having internal strife that would likely result in some employee action. To this end I address the travel accommodations of our friend, Brenda Fermanich. While true Brenda was coming from a town near Chicago, what made the least amount of sense was why she was not booked with the rest of our group out of O’Hare where we had a layover. The same goes for Angela Arb who left out of Virginia or the Carolinas and changed planes in DC. Logically if we were all on board together this would have made more sense to unite the group earlier than having some people arrive a full day head and Brenda getting stuck a full day behind because Explorica would not reschedule her flight due to the Aer Lingus strike which did occur. This was remiss and many of us spent the day on the phone with her as she was incredibly upset, understandably, since she’d done everything in her power to thwart this unnecessary delay in her vacation she also paid around $6,000 USD to take.
Eventually we all made it to Ireland, where we essentially had a day thanks to air travel, then our group was split up again and we lost an entire day flying to London. That’s 2 of 12 days wasted, and paid for by us… by me.
We had a wonderful bus and driver during our very brief stay in Ireland and upon arrival in London, our new bus was a “luxury coach” - used to transport footballers. The dark windows made it where only the people in the front four seats could see out and to see attractions? There were cooking appliances etc in the way so through the dark when we could make out figures, they were upon us and gone before we could really see them. This was the bus we would keep for the entire rest of the trip. I paid $6,000USD and saw about $25 worth of scenery around the UK plus the very crowded conditions made travel uncomfortable at best since even someone diminutive such as me, couldn’t stretch their legs out because we were sat at tables with some people having to ride backwards the entire trip! That was WILDLY unacceptable. It made my vacation annoying, uncomfortable and a waste as I saw very little of what I’d paid to see.
LODGING: While Explorica does not plan the itinerary, they do provide accommodations with hotels, etc. and the places we stopped at the “quaint” hotels, did not have lifts oftentimes resulting in people making 2-3 trips upstairs 5-6 flights of stairs to get their luggage there for ONE NIGHT. This lack of planning is outrageous! While we realize we are pampered Americans in the eyes of the world, we are not used to having no porters, etc. and climbing 5-6 flights of stairs to get to bed then dragging everything down the next morning. That was over the top. Also having hotels that have more than one location in the town was confusing and annoying for those who had to walk additional places then climb so many stairs with their luggage. What if we’d had a person who needed handicap-able access? How would they be expected to climb the stairs with their luggage? The fact is that many older people take these trips because they can afford them and treating the elderly in this fashion is unacceptable.
OVERALL SATISFACTION: We had a great unexpected day in Liverpool, retracing the steps of the Fab 4 which was delightful. Having only one day to spend in London because the trip’s air transportation was poorly planned was reprehensible. Freddy Rolland is great and can roll with whatever is thrown at him but realistically he shouldn’t have to roll with Explorica errors in judgement when scheduling. NO ONE felt like they saw much of London although he did take us to Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guard, to the area where the Royal Art Museum is located, up to Camden, and then we had 1/2 day of free time. The following morning we left London. Hardly a visit there really. No one can say they have “seen” London with only seeing that. This is in no way a criticism of Freddy, but Explorica’s lack of travel planning interrupting what should have been 2 days in London. So no, I’m not satisfied.
The meals oftentimes did not take into consideration the dietary restrictions of all members of the group and to the rescue Freddy would come and have the Explorica-paid meals try to cobble something together for us but this should be something on the site - and then paid attention to as orders are being sent to various airlines and dining venues.
Aside from the jaunt to Liverpool, Loch Ness was too short of a visit and the 8 hours in the bus dungeon was miserable.
CONCLUSION: I do not feel like 2 enjoyable days out of 12 were worth $6k. I will not be taking another Explorica trip again. It was not worth the $$$.

"Iceland Trip"

The trip provided fantastic information and sights. The course leader was knowledgeable and humorous. My only complaint was that there were no Indigenous food options except for a great salmon lunch. Also, the stipend of $15 at the airport is not enough to get a health meal. It should be raised to a minimum of $20, but $25 would provide a complete and healthy meal.