Rickshaw Family Travel
How it works & what to expect
About us
We’re an independent travel company based on Brighton, UK – founded by seasoned travellers with the aim of creating hassle-free, tailor-made adventures to our favourite parts of the world. We aim to show you the hidden gems as well as the famous highlights, and we do what we can to avoid mass-market tourism wherever possible.
We think that your holiday should have a positive impact for your family and the place you’re visiting, so we prioritise locally-owned hotels, locally-based drivers and guides, and we choose experiences that aren’t just enjoyable, but show you something genuine about the place, its people and its nature.
About our family holidays
- Individually tailored journeys
- Hand-picked, family-friendly hotels & excursions
- 24/7 in-destination support
Travelling with children is a wonderful but sometimes challenging experience, and it throws up different needs to a couples or friends holiday. Over the years, we’ve realised that there are families out there who want to experience the world just like we do, so we set about creating alternative versions of our holidays that cater for those adventurous families (like yours!).
That means more family-friendly accommodation, more child-friendly activities, shorter journey times and itineraries that tick all the right family holiday boxes.
Our family holidays are private and tailor-made – we sometimes refer to them as semi-independent, meaning we’ll look after all the important bits but leave you enough time to enjoy the places you go in your own way too. You’ll also be supported by our trusted local partners in-destination – we’ll usually arrange a meet and greet at the start of your holiday, and they’ll be available 24/7 should you ever need them.
Every itinerary, bite-sized trip, activity and accommodation we offer has been tried out first-hand been by our international family team (you’ll see lots of them in the pictures!). We also check up on things regularly to make sure standards are maintained, and that safety and sustainability is kept up to scratch.
Your personal travel specialist
From your first enquiry to your return home, your friendly Rickshaw travel specialist will be there to help you plan, make sure you’ve got all the right documentation, and answer any questions that may arise.
Our specialists have travelled extensively and recently to the destinations they work with, so they’re perfectly placed to help you plan a trip that’s ideally tailored for your family.
How to start planning
Once you’ve chosen your destination, there are a few different ways to start creating your perfect family holiday.
- Pick your bite-sized trips – these short packages cover our favourite places in each destination, and usually consist of accommodation and included experiences. Just add the ones that catch your eye to your Travel Plan, then send them to us to get started.
- Choose a full itinerary – we’ve also created a range of full journeys to make things a little easier. These itineraries combine our bite-sized trips in a way we know works well for most families. Our full family itineraries include transport, and can be booked as they are or tailored to you by your travel specialist.
- Just get in touch – our specialists are excellent at listening to your needs and creating your holiday from scratch, so just give us a call, send an e-mail or fill in the enquiry form. A specialist for your destination will work with you to get things just right for your family adventure.
Receiving your quote
Once your travel specialist has received your request or talked things through on the phone, you’ll usually receive a detailed itinerary and quote within 1 working day. Prices will be held for 10 working days* as standard, so you’ll have time to read things through and discuss with your family.
If you want to change anything about your holiday, just get back to your specialist and they can amend your itinerary and quote as needed. They’ll keep working with you until things are just how you want them.
*we can also book your international flights for you, but most airlines will only allow us to hold seats and prices for a day or two.
Booking your holiday
When you’re happy with everything, your travel specialist will send a booking form for you to complete. Any international flights will need to be paid for upfront, and for your in-destination arrangements the standard deposit will be 10% (with the remaining balance due 40 days before departure).
There are occasions where we’ll ask for a higher deposit amount, for example;
- Your itinerary includes certain high-demand or non-refundable elements, such as the Inca Trail, domestic flights, rail journeys etc.
- You’re booking less than 40 days before departure. In this case, we’ll ask for 50% upfront and the rest once everything is confirmed.
Once your deposit has been received, your travel specialist will set about confirming your transport, tours, accommodation bookings and all other aspects of your holiday. The time this takes varies between destinations and seasons, but typically it’ll take 1-3 weeks. We’ll be in touch to let you know once it’s all sorted.
You can see our full booking conditions here.
Getting ready to go
Once everything is confirmed for your family holiday, we’ll e-mail you all the documents you’ll need while you’re away. These include travel vouchers, contact details for our local partners in your destination, and lots of helpful info to help you prepare for your trip.
And don’t forget, your travel specialist is available by phone or e-mail if you have any questions before you go. We’ll also try to contact you a week or so before your departure date, just to check that you’re ready and have everything you need.
While you’re travelling
Our holidays begin with a friendly face to pick you up from the airport, and you’ll usually meet our local partners early on too – they’re available 24/7 throughout your journey, just in case you have any problems or questions while you’re away. The documents and vouchers you’ll have been sent are designed to make things as easy as possible for you, and the various guides, drivers and hotels will be expecting your arrival as you go along.
Once you’re on your travels, we’ll leave you to enjoy yourselves! Our local partners are there if you need them, and might contact you at points if something changes (e.g. a tour start time). Otherwise, you’ll be left to experience your destination and whatever unexpected treats it throws your way.
You’ll also have access to a virtual assistant called Tess – a clever little bit of tech you can communicate with from anywhere via Whatsapp. Tess is there to answer questions and offer recommendations about where to eat, what to see, and whatever other questions come to mind. Tess is entirely optional, but our travellers seem to love her!
Coming home...
Sadly, all good holidays must come to an end! Once you’ve had a few days to settle back into normal life, your travel specialist will be in touch to see how it all went. It’s a cliché, but your feedback is genuinely very important to us – we’d love to know which parts of your holiday your enjoyed the most, and what (if anything!) could be improved.
We also really appreciate when our customers leave us a review. A lot of our success is down to good reviews and word of mouth. You’ll be sent a link to leave your feedback on our Trustpilot profile.
