Road Scholar Skip-Gen Trips: The Gold Standard
Any grandparent seriously considering taking a skip-gen trip, especially if it is their first time, would do well to begin by perusing the trips offered by Road Scholar (www.roadscholar.org).
First of all, Road Scholar has been in the travel business for a long time, beginning as Elderhostel back in 1975, when they excelled in planning low-cost educational domestic and international trips for seniors.
In 2010 they evolved into Road Scholar, and being one of the first travel organizations to anticipate the growing popularity of skip-gen travel, they added trips designed specifically for grandparents traveling with grandchildren.
Currently they offer more than 150 trips for grandparents and grandchildren, everything from a windjammer sailing trip in Maine to hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains to a soccer camp in Seattle. They make it easy to search for trips based on interests, destinations, length, price, and activity level. Current categories include STEM; Animals & Wildlife, City Discoveries; Fantasy, Myths & Legends; Let’s Get Active; For Booklovers; Nature & Environment; Sports; and Film & Theater.
While the majority of their trips are in the US and Canada, they also have international skip-gen trips in Germany, England, Wales, Spain, Italy and England.
Interested in something challenging? How about a week of kayaking, canoeing, zip lining, rock climbing, and camping on Vancouver Island with your grandchild? Sound too strenuous and looking for something more sedate? You might want to try the five-day Boxcar Children: Storytelling & Adventures trip in California (one of the few trips appropriate for children as young as six) or the Misty of Chincoteague Island Adventure in Virginia.
What else makes Road Scholar trips special? They include recommended reading lists so your grandchild can prepare and anticipate ahead of time – a great way to not only learn but also build excitement leading up to the trip.
Wait, wait – there’s more! Road Scholar offers scholarships ($300,000 annually) based on family income.
And something very near and dear to my heart: they also offer scholarships specifically for a grandparent who may be a full-time caregiver for a spouse or other loved one. I work with caregivers professionally and know first-hand how difficult it can be to get away. Road Scholar will help cover the cost of a trip (with some restrictions), along with help for substitute caregiving costs. Thank you, Road Scholar!
Pros:
- Road Scholar trips are well-planned down to the last detail, which eases the burden of trip-planning and provides some peace of mind, especially for a first-time grandparent skip-genner. Most trips have dozens of reviews from other grandparents and the trips almost universally receive outstanding scores.
- Trips are well-balanced, with a mix of activities appealing to both generations – no small feat!
- The trips are all-inclusive, covering meals, accommodations, and activities.
- Grandchildren are grouped with children of similar ages and interests, often adding to their enjoyment of the trip, while the grandparents enjoy the camaraderie of other adults.
Cons:
- Although, as a non-profit, Road Scholar strives to keep costs down, the trips are still not inexpensive. Considering all that is included, most trips work out to be a decent deal but again, they are not inexpensive.
- Fees only include the trip itself so budgeting needs to include the extra costs incurred getting to and from the site of the trip.
Stay tuned in the coming weeks for interviews with grandparents who have enjoyed some of these trips!