Last year we had all of our 2020 international trips posted on our website by the end of March. So you may be wondering where the 2020 trips are - and by the number of emails we're getting asking that question, you are not the only one. rSo here's the answer. While there are still a few trips we're waiting to get costs for or new trips that need a little more work on writing up the itinerary, they're basically ready to go.
We'll be offering 96 trips (give or take 1 or 2). In addition to the new international trips we've already mentioned (Viet Nam, Portugal, Ireland, Cornwall), we're adding a new Nepal trip that combines trekking, culture and wildlife and will be rated a 3. We're also adding 5 new domestic trips, including a revamped version of the New Mexico trip we offered a number of years ago, hiking and sketching in Arizona, and a trip to Death Valley that includes Joshua Tree National Park. We'll be bringing back a some trips we've offered previously (Bulgaria, Everest Basecamp, Turkey, and Dolomites). We'll also be letting a few go, including Glacier National Park and Machu Picchu and we gave up on adding a summer Iceland trip. The rest are repeats of this year's offerings. Also in 2020, with the exception of the New Zealand trip, there will be an AGC guide on every international trip as long as there are 8 or more women on it.
So if we know all that, why aren't they are on our website?
Because we're getting a new website! If you have ever been involved in a website redesign (and for your sake, I hope you haven't), you know how often it doesn't meet deadlines. Our deadline was March 1, and that has been pushed back to mid-May. We believe the wait will be well worth it and when it's ready, all of our 2019 and 95% of our 2020 trips will be on it.
If you're looking for trips, there is a new search feature that will help you quickly sort out if we're offering one you're interested in (e.g. hiking in Europe in Spring that is a level 2) and which trips have good birdwatching opportunities or a day of whitewater rafting. You'll also be able to see if there is still a single supplement or a discounted room configuration available at the time you register. And finally you will be able to see if we are offering the same trip on different dates.
If you're a participant, all your trip information will be in your own portal. And not only your current trip, but going forward all your past trips will be there too; so in 2022 when you're looking for that participant list from the trip you took 2 years ago, it will be there.
For the Adventures in Good Company office, it will mean a much tighter integration between the website and the back end software system we implemented three years ago. This in turn means that posting new trips or offering a second departure of a current trip will take much less time. And we will be able to start posting 2021 trips much earlier.
Will the wait be worth it? We think so! And we think it's a perfect part of our twentieth birthday celebration.
Of course, no matter how much pre-launch testing we do, there will be bugs and incorrect information, and we'll be relying on you to let us know so we can get it fixed.
In the meantime, we've posted an updated spreadsheet with dates, rating, and prices (except for some that aren't available) that you can download here, if you want an excel spreadsheet, or here, if you prefer a PDF.
