The Gilded Horizon

If you’re anything like me, you hear the words “group travel” or “organized tour” and you cringe. The phrases conjure images of giant tour buses laden with octogenarians and a peppy guide in uniform. But having recently experienced a 9-day escorted itinerary, I can personally attest that those stereotypes no longer apply to all tours. Better yet, there’s a way to make this mode of travel work for you that you may have never considered before.

As a parent of two elementary school aged children, I like to take active vacations to keep them busy, but not so adventurous that I’m risking their safety or surpassing their capabilities.

Here are soft adventure travel experiences that are exciting yet suitable for younger ages:

Golf trips among male friends has been a popular group vacation for decades and as the boomers are retiring and their children are hitting their career stride, golf resorts are pulling out all the stops to impress multiple generations in this surging market.

Overcrowding is becoming a problem in the world’s most popular destinations across southern Europe in destinations like Italy, Greece, France, and Spain. Crowds coupled with surging heat waves in recent summers can ruin a vacation, no matter how carefully you plan it. This has spawned a trend in alternative destination travel. But even the alternatives are starting to feel strained. Fortunately, Meredith has some exceptional recommendations for alternative destinations that will fill your European cup of wanderlust.

I founded Sunkissed Bliss Travel to provide thoughtful travelers and busy families with a curated travel planning solution that prioritizes meaningful connections and core memory-making. Your time is precious. When you travel, you deserve a trip overflowing with excellence.

My name is Meredith Schnepp and I recognized the need among my family and friends for personalized and intentional travel planning steeped in first-hand experience, industry knowledge, trusted partnerships with a hyper-focus on the details.

There’s a special place in my heart for Ireland. Ever since I was a child, I wanted to visit and see if what everyone says is really true. Are the hills that green? Are the cliffs that steep? Are the towns charming and the people that friendly? Does Guinness taste better over there? (Spoiler alert: yes, it does.) I didn’t have my feet on Irish soil for very long when I knew that everything I’d heard about Ireland was not hyperbole. If anything, all the praise you hear for the Emerald Isle doesn’t even scratch the surface. I’m a firm believer that Ireland should be on everyone’s destination punch card.

From the moment I started designing travel, I knew that I wanted to try Virgin Voyages. They are racking up awards left and right, shaking up the cruise industry, and I kept hearing that they are unlike any other cruise line on the market.

So when three of my girlfriends expressed the desire to take a trip together, it wasn’t hard to convince them to try a Virgin Voyages sailing with me. We sailed out of Miami on the Scarlet Lady and went to Key West and Bimini, The Bahamas. Here are some of things that set Virgin apart from the pack, or should I say fleet?

Spring Break sneaks up on families quickly. While you’re laser-focused on holiday festivities, managing children who are off their routines, and (hopefully) enjoying a few days off work, everyone gets to January and naturally looks ahead to what the new year has in store for them. Travel plans float into your mind and you ask yourself, “When is the next school break? Let’s go somewhere.” And bam! You realize that you have 8 to 10 weeks to research, plan, and book a family vacation during a peak time for travel.

This phenomenon is called “wave season” in travel. In short, you are not alone. Millions of other people (with and without children) around the world turn over the calendar page to the new year and are ready to plan their vacations for the year within the first quarter. Sunkissed Bliss Travel is here to help you plan your trip no matter when it is, but we have some tricks up our sleeve for planning spring break on a tight timeline. We’ve got the industry knowledge and insider perks to turn your “let’s take a break” vacation into an unforgettable experience that will leave lasting memories for you and your family. Whether you want to get away for the entire week or a few nights, we can help. Here are some of our favorite spring break destinations for families.

The term “bucket list” has been around for decades. The idea that you need to complete all the items on your list before you “kick the bucket” is a motivator for many adults past middle age. Since 2020 and the global pandemic, there’s been an even greater emphasis on travel bucket lists. Coming out of the pandemic, people were ready to make up for lost time and travel the world, take risks, and go places that they didn’t consider before. The industry affectionately coined this surge in travel, “revenge travel”.