Under30Experiences

Belize 2024, first time traveling solo. It was an amazing experience, the trip guide, the people, where you stay, everything was so authentic and beautiful. Feely feel like your experiencing the authentic Belize culture, food, and more. I've felt so safe on my trip!

Holy heck I've been traveling with Under30Experiences since 2015 and oh the adventures I've had.

I traveled with Under 30 Experiences twice, to Iceland in 2017, and to Thailand in 2018. Both were incredible experiences at a fair price point.

The accommodations are clean and basic, and the tours are authentic. If you're someone who is not ok with roughing it on some level, this tour group may not be for you, but if you're someone who values travel and adventure over fancy accommodations, you will be happy you booked a trip with this group. I am truly grateful for the experiences I've had and will definitely consider another trip with them in the future!!

Touring Belize with our guide was so fun! Leo is so knowledgeable and kind. He ran our trip incredibly smoothly and i loved the entire experience. My favorite part was getting to swim with sharks!

My first U30X trip was to Ireland in March, and I was initially skeptical as someone who prefers to plan every aspect of a trip and has traveled to Ireland several times before. As soon as we met our tour guide, Tom, any doubts I had vanished.

Tom and our bus driver Paddy were absolute delights, with excellent commentary (both historical and candid) and a top notch attitude from sunset to midnight (yes, midnight, Tom hung out with us at pubs nearly every night!)

We ate extremely well at local, long time beloved spots in every town we visited. I was shocked by the variety of options and cuisines - I think we only had traditional pub food twice the entire week.

The lodgings at local b&b homes were fantastic (my experience at Adare Guest House in Galway was one of the best b&b lodgings I've ever had!)

The itinerary was excellent for a "beginner's trip" to Ireland, and Tom asked Paddy to make slight detours at times that were absolutely worth it.
Spending Paddy's Day in Galway was a once in a lifetime experience, and I'm so glad U30X doesn't bring you into the craziness of Dublin on the 17th.
I only wish the trip was a couple days longer so we could have spent time in one more city - and more time with Tom and Paddy!

Can't recommend U30X or the Ireland trip enough. Don't hesitate at all - book your next trip with U30X! And don't let the name deter you, my group included people aged 27-42 :)

Awesome group travel company! This was the first time I went on a trip with them and there's no doubt I'll do it again.

I chose to go to Thailand with Under30X. They organized each day for us and included various optional activities if we didn't want to do the main ones. I really appreciated how flexible the itinerary was. In addition if you wanted to do your own thing, they let you do that as well. Also, the Thailand itinerary covered major cities and beach towns so it checked all the boxes for me.

Lastly our trip leader for Thailand, was incredible. Neeni was hilarious and made the trip even better than it was.

Found this tour group through Google and booked a 5 day Costa Rica trip on Black Friday for $600. Had to book airfare separately but this cost included most meals and activities. We stayed at a lovely hotel on the beach in the Manuel Antonio area. Our tour guide Edgardo was absolutely fantastic in every way. Group size was 16 and ages spanned from 23 to 33. Would absolutely travel with them again.

I did the New Zealand trip in December 2023. I probably won't do another group tour again, and I wouldn't recommend this trip from Under30Experiences.

Some background about me for context: I'm a very comfortable solo traveler, and this was my first time doing a group tour. I sandwiched this tour with solo travel on either side. I chose to a group trip for two reasons: 1) to give myself a break from having to plan/drive/research/choose activities, and 2) the chance to make some friends and do activities as a group.

The short is that this tour did not meet my expectations for either of my reasons for booking.

1) Not having to plan or choose activities - I had to plan a lot of my own time. The bulk of the time on this tour was free time for optional activities, most of which were very expensive. Our guide suggested activities for us for us, but it was often an overwhelming list of adventure activities that weren't particularly tailored to our interests. I found myself scrambling in the evenings to do research for the next day instead of having had time to plan before the trip. Some activities our guide was able to book for us, but other activities we had to book for ourselves. Transport was not always provided to the activities, meaning we had to walk, get a taxi, or hitchhike back to the accommodations. Rather than feeling like I had the benefit of a person looking out for me, I felt inconvenienced by not having my own car and having to fit activities in around group travel and meal times.

Side note: If you're planning to do this trip - you need to be aware that you shout budget an additional $200-800 more for "optional extra" activities. This tour does not have enough included activities to feel like you've had full days. There are some free activities (e.g. hiking, swimming) in the places you stay, but generally there aren't a lot of low-cost options. Most of the options you're offered are high adventure excursions that cost US$150-400 each.

2) Making friends - I realize that group social dynamics are always a roll of the dice. However, the structure of this trip didn't do anything to help foster social bonds. We didn't see our guide very much during the tour. Since so much of time was so much about doing our own activities, the group typically split off in the morning and mostly didn't meet up again until dinner. Instead of feeling like I was with a group of new friends, I felt like I was with a group of people who happened to be on the share a bus. There was also a lot of drinking on this tour - not "lets go to a fun bar" kind of drinking, but "lets get really sloshed on grocery store liquor before dinner" kind of drinking, which was alienating for the folks who weren't big drinkers. I didn't feel like I received any benefit from being on a group tour - I formed closer relationships with other travelers and tour guides I met in my activities outside of the tour.

I don't want to be too harsh on this trip, because it did provide other services well. The mini bus was very comfortable, and the pace of travel was good (lots of scenic stops and good instructions about when to buy snacks). The accommodations were generally well chosen. Our guide was very friendly and knowledgeable, although it took until toward the end of the trip to form that bond. The itinerary took us to some beautiful spots! This could be a good trip for someone who really, really doesn't want to drive themselves, or is a nervous first time traveler. However, New Zealand is am exceptionally easy place to travel (good roads, low crime, ubiquitous English, tourist infrastructure, etc. etc.) so I don't think this would apply to many people.

This trip was not a good value. New Zealand is a more expensive place to travel than other U30X destinations, but I can compare what I spent on this trip to my solo travel. I paid about $3200 for this trip (excluding airfare). Broken down, this tour is about $350/day before the non-included meals and optional activities. On my week of solo travel in the South Island afterward (in a rental car), I paid about $220 a day, including all my food and activities. On my own, I stayed in AirBnBs and solo hostel rooms, but I feel like that was similar comfort level to shared-occupancy hotel rooms. There was nothing I got on this tour that I couldn't have booked on my own - our group excursions were in sessions with other travelers who weren't on tours, or were publicly accessible activities like hikes or trains. There was no "exclusive access" to anything that this tour provided, or apparently any discounts or perks for being part of a group.

Bottom line: This trip did not meet my expectations. I wouldn't recommend it for people traveling to New Zealand. You can get much better value and convenience by getting a car and booking things yourself. This tour wasn't a disaster, but it didn't add anything to my trip, and I paid too much for it.

I cannot say enough good things about my trip to Peru with U30X. It was packed with activities and organized from start to finish. I would recommend this trip to anyone, but particularly those who are interested in (1) high activity and hiking, and (2) learning about the history of Peruvian and Incan culture. I will definitely be taking another trip with U30X in the future, and hopefully with the friends I made on this trip.

Awesome company, great customer service, and the travelers are even better. I've met some wonderful people on my trips to Iceland and Jordan. Group sizes are not too big or small, it's inclusive and everyone shares the love of travel.