The 2018 Go Overseas Community Choice Awards: Tours & Trips
Go Overseas
Go Overseas was started with the simple idea of creating a centralized website to provide the resources required for meaningful travel abroad.
"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page."
Traveling is one of the most powerful experiences you can have, and part of our mission at Go Overseas is to encourage more travelers to have meaningful travel experiences. Whether that's studying abroad, teaching abroad, or booking a guided tour, we provide resources that help you choose the type of travel that's right for you.
As of 2019, the Tours & Trips part of our site is the newest area of meaningful travel resources we provide. Over the past year, we've worked with tour providers to create new travel resources and encourage travelers to leave reviews from their own trips overseas. We've looked at those reviews to identify the stand-out tour providers here on Go Overseas, including across the five categories we ask reviewers to rate: Value, Support, Fun, Staff, Organization. Read on to discover the top tour and trip providers from 2018.
Learn more about how we scored programs for this year's awards by clicking here.
Overall Top Tours & Trips Providers
When you choose to travel, you have a world of options to choose from... literally and figuratively! Booking a guided tour is a great way to explore the world and connect with fellow travelers, but there's a lot that goes into making a guided tour or trip a great experience. The following providers scored highly across all of the factors we ask travelers to rate about their tour experiences, making them the top tour and trip providers:
1st
TruTravels
Review Highlight:
"The TruTravels trip was organised brilliantly, giving a mixture of social and cultural activities which allowed us to connect with the countries' history." -- Zach
2nd
Intro Travel
Review Highlight:
"I am SO glad I chose to do this trip with Intro Travel, it really was the perfect way to see everything I wanted to (and more!)." -- Lucy
3rd
Australian Surf Tours
Review Highlight:
"I would highly recommend AST to anyone who hope to have an epic surf adventure while they are in Australia!" -- Anna
Top Tours & Trip Providers: Value
Booking a guided tour is a different experience than traveling independently -- and it often includes a different level of financial investment. We ask travelers to rate how much value they got for the money they spent on their tour; this varies from person to person and based on the price of the tour, but it gives you a good sense of how well the tour exceeded their expectations. The following providers had top scores in the Value category:
1st
Rock the Route
Review Highlight:
"All in all I think that this tour is really worth the money and I would like to recommend it whole-heartedly to other young people." -- Dagobert, 26
2nd
Mountain Kick
Review Highlight:
"We had an amazing trek from Lukla to EBC. It is challenging but worth every breath, every step. " -- Martin, 34
3rd
Welcome to Travel
Review Highlight:
"We couldn't of asked for more, we had the best time and made memories that will last forever." -- Laura, 30
Top Tours & Trip Providers: Fun
We obviously think that traveling should be a fun experience -- in fact, we ask every reviewer to tell us how much fun they had overseas, for almost every program they rate on our site. For tours and trips, we ask travelers to review how much fun they had during the tour. The following providers had the top scores in the Fun category:
1st
Rock the Route
Review Highlight:
"We had so much fun as a group - also because the guides were wonderful, inspiring and innovative people. " -- Hannah
2nd
Mountain Kick
Review Highlight:
"Our guide, Jeevan, was great. Always good humored and made every day lots of fun." -- Liam, 33
3rd
Welcome to Travel
Review Highlight:
"They're not your standard tour guides, they really get involved and genuinely have fun with you." -- Lauren
Top Tours & Trip Providers: Staff
On a guided tour, staff can make or break the experience. Great staff members bring expertise, help bond the group, and open up the world you're experiencing in new and interesting ways. We ask reviewers to rate the helpfulness and friendliness of staff on their tours. The following providers had top scores in the Staff category:
1st
Walk Patagonia
Review Highlight:
"My guide, Pablo, was a great companion, it was a pleasure to trek with him. Staff in the office were friendly and helpful." -- Mario
2nd
Mountain Kick
Review Highlight:
"We had an awesome time in the country while the company and the guides made sure we’d come back and trek with them again and again." -- Martin, 34
3rd
Slotrips
Review Highlight:
"The views were amazing, the trek offered a lot of variation, both in scenary and intensity, and the group atmosphere was great." -- Patricia
Top Tours & Trip Providers: Safety
Safety is one of the most important factors we ask reviewers to rate; almost every program on Go Overseas (even those that aren't in the tours & trips category) is rated on safety. In particular, we want to know how safe travelers felt over the course of their tour. The following providers had the top scores in the Safety category:
1st
Mountain Kick
Review Highlight:
"The trek was rigorous and the scenery incredible but most memorable were the people." -- Richard, 69
2nd (tie)
Welcome to Travel
Review Highlight:
"Safe and reliable way of interacting with new people and finding out the best places to visit rather than researching alone." -- Hanan, 22
2nd (tie)
Lets Go Surfing
Review Highlight:
"The teachers are really used to first time and beginner level surfers and manage to provide one on one attention in the group classes whilst also letting you apply the knowledge on your own." -- Ainsleigh
Top Tours & Trip Providers: Organization
The level of organization on a tour can make a world of difference. A well-organized tour runs smoothly and is more enjoyable. We ask reviewers to rate the organization of both pre-trip experience and while they're on the tour. The following providers had top scores in the Organization category:
1st
Slotrips
Review Highlight:
"From the first email Miha was prompt, positive, understanding and professional and Miha turned out to be the very same in person." -- Leslie
2nd (tie)
Welcome to Travel
Review Highlight:
"Absolute legends. Great service, awesome staff, extremely good knowledge about the travel industry." -- Timothy
2nd (tie)
Lets Go Surfing
Review Highlight:
"The staff was very nice and clear in their explanations." -- Marie
How We Scored Programs for the 2018 Go Overseas Community Choice Awards
To find the best tour & trip providers on Go Overseas, we looked at every review left on the site between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2018. Any provider who received three or more reviews was considered.
To choose the Overall Best Tours & Trips Providers we looked at the average scores each provider received across all of their programs and the factors we ask students to rate. We averaged each provider's scores and weighted the score based on the number of reviews they received.
To find the best providers in each category, we averaged all review scores for each provider on just that factor. The best programs in each factor won the awards. Providers who won in the Overall Best category were not eligible to win another award in these categories.
Questions about these awards? Email us.
