Spending time with friends is one of life’s great joys and what better way to get together than with an adventure? When planning a trip with loved ones, it’s best to go for a private tour. Not only do you get to choose your adventure partners, but you also can be more flexible, and design a tour that works for everyone. With a private group trip, your options are totally open and the journey is yours to create! Check out some stories of great group adventures.

Beat the Heat with a Dual-Option Cycling Itinerary

Matan Vibhakar helps lead volunteer construction projects in Cambodia and wrote to help plan a group cycling trip following a week of heavy labor in the sun. After the completion of a new health center, Matan and about a dozen fellow workers wanted to celebrate by experiencing the surrounding region on two wheels. Thinking ahead to the summer weather, a question arose within the group that split interest in a cycling trip into two camps: those who welcomed some more engaging physical activity, and those who preferred to take it easy after strenuous toiling with heavy materials. We made things easy for them! A week-long bike journey was arranged with two paths; for the more active crowd, we created an option of morning and afternoon riding from point to point, and for those a bit more keen on seeing than doing when the high sun gets involved, we kept the cycling limited to the cooler morning hours while afternoons focused on visiting points of interest via the air-conditioned support vehicle.

Wedding on 2 Wheels

Barbara and Max Foster met each other while biking independently along the central coast of Vietnam. Just a few short years later, they were planning to bring their families and closest friends together on a tour of the region where it all began, followed by an intimate wedding ceremony in Hoi An and a private honeymoon extension for the newlyweds in Halong Bay. We were thrilled to have the opportunity to plan a tour with such a romantic backstory! In the end, we hosted about two dozen guests of all ages on a week-long ride through the rural countryside and along scenic beaches between Da Lat and Hoi An, included a two night cruise of the bay for Max and Barb afterwards, and even hosted a number of friends and relatives on a few of our day tours in Hoi An before they headed back to nearby airports to return home.  

Abi-Tour

German students who pass their final exams at the end of secondary education (college prep schools) have a tradition of organizing large, often quirkily-themed celebratory events with their fellow classmates after the stressful last weeks of studying. For all their hard work, they are granted a qualification known as “Abitur”, which formally enables them to attend university Noah Weber contacted Grasshopper looking to plan a cycling-themed Abitur holiday in Thailand for himself and several of his peers that they would cherish for years to come. At only 18 years old, few participants in the group had ever vacationed so far away from home before. Noah was excited and relieved to hear about how we operate our all-inclusive biking tours, knowing that we take care of all the logistics relating to cycling equipment, accommodation, meals, transfers, and other smaller details. A generous group discount also allowed even more of Noah’s friends to come along than originally expected. We wish all of these young world travelers a bright future and hope to see them again soon! 

A Taste of Home

Foodies are never disappointed on Grasshopper tours. Our local expert guides always know the best spots to hit when hunger strikes, whether it’s for a nice sitdown meal at a local restaurant or grabbing a quick snack from nearby vendors on an afternoon hike or an evening ride through a bustling city like Bangkok. Miyako Goda grew up on the Japanese island of Shikoku and moved to mainland China in the 80s with her family, where they opened a sushi restaurant.  A teenager at the time, Miyako now works full time at the successful family-run business, which has earned its fair share of loyal patrons who appreciate Miyako’s culinary expertise.

To commemorate the restaurant’s 30 year anniversary, Miyako wanted to extend her gratitude by inviting all of her coworkers and a few of their most regular guests on a culinary tour of Shikoku, foodie-heaven, exploring the various types of cuisine she grew up with -- from udon to katsuo tataki -- dishes that inspired her decision to commit to a career in the food industry. On this custom group trip designed with our team, we made sure to sample all the foodie highlights and some of the lesser-known local delicacies along the journey. As you probably know, active-adventures are great for building an appetite, a key factor in making this culinary round-robin adventure a big success!

*For privacy: names and pictures are not the actual guests