Audley Travel Can Help You Curate Your Bucket List Vacation

When it comes to planning a vacation, there are tons of factors to consider. You have to figure out dates, where you want to go, and which activities are a must-do on your itinerary. If you’re heading on a getaway with kids, you must also make sure your trip is kid-friendly and flexible. The problem? Finalizing all of these details on your own is no easy feat. That’s where Boston-based travel company, Audley Travel, comes into play.

Croatia / Photo: Courtesy of Kristen Prieto Photography

The company specializes in curating custom trips around the world, taking into account all the nitty-gritty details that come with planning a vacation. With the help of on-staff country specialists, Audley draws from a well of in-depth knowledge about global destinations. These specialists can help sort out all the fine details, including handpicked stays and guides, and answer questions on what to pack, how to get around, and more. In addition, since Audley Travel also has relationships with hotels and tour companies, they can arrange special cultural activities and amenities that other companies can’t.

Kristen Prieto family in Croatia / Photo: Courtesy of Kristen Prieto Photography

Kristen Prieto, an Audley Travel client, had two incredible experiences with the company. “My husband and I used Audley to book our honeymoon to Peru back in 2014, and then we recently used them again for a family trip to Croatia for my husband’s 40th birthday with our three kids, who are six, four, and 20 months,” she says. “We had a wonderful experience both times, from start to finish. They are so easy to work with, so responsive, customer service oriented, and willing to listen to everything that we wanted to incorporate.”

Kristen Prieto and her family in Croatia / Photo: Courtesy of Kristen Prieto Photography

According to Prieto, the company provided a sense of comfort, especially when traveling with her three little ones. “They were able to provide a boots-on-the-ground number to call if we needed anything. They had planned an experience for us that was really well thought out and tailored exactly to our needs,” she continues. “They want you to experience and dive into the culture, engage with the locals, and come away from the experience feeling like you’ve really learned what that place is about — like you really got to know the spirit of the country.”

Croatia / Photo: Courtesy of Kristen Prieto Photography

On her trip to Peru, Prieto shares that the company assigned them a guide who walked with them on the Inca Trail. “It was really cool because we got to talk to him about all the different customs of Peruvian culture, what his wedding ceremony looked like, what the expectations were for that, and what marriage looked like. It was really fascinating to deep dive into it with someone who was in the same phase of life that we were in.”

Split, Croatia / Photo: Kristen Prieto Photography

This summer, Prieto and her family had a similar authentic cultural experience. “When we were in Split, Croatia, we went on a countryside tour, and they took us to the house of a woman who has been making a UNESCO-protected dish for generations and generations. She lived up in the village in the mountains and we were in her actual home in the area where she cooks. We got to walk through exactly how she makes the dish that has been passed down through her family through generations — and there are very few people in the world that still make it.”

The Prietos had the privilege of savoring the dish during a full-fledged feast with the family. It’s precisely these kinds of immersive experiences that make Audley Travel so unique in the travel space, and one of many reasons why Prieto and other customers find themselves booking trips with the company year after year.