Are you wanting to travel but don’t have anyone to go with? Are you wanting to solo travel but don’t know where to start? Or do you simply HATE planning trips? A tour with EF Ultimate Break might just be the solution you’re searching for.
Until I started my travel med tech career, I hadn’t traveled further than a few states from my hometown. I knew I didn’t want to spend my entire life in the Appalachian Mountains, so I started solo travel med teching across the US and I learned so much about solo travel!
The longer I traveled the US alone, the more capable I felt that I could finally put my passport to use and travel out of the States.
Don’t get me wrong, I had some serious reservations. Of course I did. Up to this point, I had never left the US, and now I wanted to take an international trip ALONE. It almost didn’t seem feasible until I found EF Ultimate Break.
What is EF Ultimate Break?
EF Ultimate Break is a group travel agency offering 120+ trips all over the world. EF Ultimate Break is tailored to those aged 18-35 and takes all of the stress out of planning your trip. Flights, transportation, hotels, and excursions booked for you so you don’t have to lift a finger!
In the Fall of 2024, I took the Amsterdam, Paris, London tour; my first, and only tour with EF Ultimate Break (so far). So my opinions and review are going to be based solely around that trip!
Keep reading for the things to know before traveling with EF Ultimate Break.
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Things to Know
1. Age Range
Like I said before, EF Ultimate Break is tailored to travelers between the ages of 18-35. Meaning you HAVE to be within that age range during the entirety of the tour. No 18th or 36th birthdays on tour, unfortunately.
2. Essential vs. Plus
There are 2 tour types: Essential and Plus.
I didn’t realize this, but if a tour offers both Essential and Plus for the same dates, 2 separate groups will be on the same tour at the same time with different tour directors. There may be some overlap with groups during excursions, dinners, etc., but you’re not on tour together. They’ll be doing their own thing and you MAY happen to bump into them from time to time.
If you’re traveling with a friend(s), recognize that you may not see them at all if you’re on separate tours.
Essential Tours
Essential tours are the cheaper option as the accommodations are cheaper. You’ll most likely be staying in hostels or hotels with 4+ people to 1 room and 1 bathroom (or community bathrooms).
You have the same opportunity for excursions as the Plus travelers, don’t worry!
Plus Tours
Plus tours are pricier due to the accommodations being more upscale. You have the ability to stay in a shared twin bed standard hotel room or a shared full/queen bed standard hotel room with one roommate.
**Note- Your Tour Director will assign roommates if you’re not traveling with someone. You WILL be separated by gender!
A twin bed shared room in Amsterdam. The hotels simply remove king beds and replace with twins. Very close sleeping arrangements.
You have the ability to choose your roommate if needed, so don’t worry about being separated from your significant other, friend, etc.
There’s also the option to stay in a single room by yourself, but keep in mind, this is typically more expensive.
3. Flights
When traveling with EF Ultimate Break, you have the option to choose your own flights or have an EF representative choose them for you. Each option comes with it’s own pros and cons.
EF chooses your flights
Because London, Paris, Amsterdam was my first international trip, I didn’t want the stress of booking my own flights- I had enough on my plate to worry about. You simply choose your departing and arriving airports and EF Ultimate Break does the rest. They give you ample time for layovers and transportation to and from the hotel- so easy!
EF is also responsible for rebooking cancelled flights and missed flights due to delays or missed connections.
HOWEVER
If you choose to have them pick your flights, you might get stuck with a looooong travel day. EF attempts to get everyone from the US to the first hotel around the same time, so to do so, they may push you to a later flight or have you laying over for a while.
I had 4+ hour layovers and 16+ hour travel days when getting to and from tour. There was a LOT of hurry up and wait.
Choose your own flights
Choosing your own flights gives you complete freedom to choose the flights for your travel day.
You can be as picky as you’d like with airline, layovers, and arrival time, AND can save money by booking with points.
However, YOU are responsible for booking new flights in the event of missed connections or delays.
You also may be responsible for getting yourself to the hotel upon arrival and from the hotel to the airport upon departure.
In the case of our tour, most people were arriving within a few hours of one another, so some of those who booked their own flights were able to join other’s rides for free! Text your Tour Director to see if this is possible for you!
4. Payment Plans
One of the great things about EF Ultimate Break are the payment plans. You’re able to book your trip months out and slowly chip away as you can afford your trip. This takes the stress out of paying in full!
5. Travel Protection
EF Ultimate Break offers travel protection for $179 per trip. Should you take it?
As someone who has booked THREE EF Ultimate Break trips and only got to go on ONE thanks to the pandemic, I say absolutely YES!
The first 2 tours I tried to book to Iceland BOTH got cancelled due to the pandemic. Because I bought travel insurance, I was fully reimbursed!
Not only does the travel protection cover you for cancelled trips, it also covers cancelled/delayed flights, baggage protection, accidents and illness, emergency evacuation, and trip delays.
This isn’t something you want to skip out on because life happens!
6. Extending Your Trip
EF Ultimate Break likes to advertise their trip extension option, and there are a few ways you can go about this.
#1- You can go on consecutive tours. A number of tours line up back-to-back, so you have the option to stack trips. EF Ultimate Break will take care of your flights and transportation to get you to your next tour.
#2- You can begin your tour early. This just means that if you decide to fly into your tour destination a few days earlier than your tour start date, EF will accommodate your new flight for an additional $75 fee.
*Note- You’ll be fully responsible for transportation, hotels, etc. for the duration of your stay NOT on tour.
#3- You can extend your tour. This means you can either extend your trip in the same city, or travel somewhere new after your tour ends, and EF will provide you with a new flight home.
*EF can only fly you out of the same continent where your tour ended. For example, if your tour ended in Amsterdam, they’ll fly you out of Paris, but not Tokyo.
**Note- You’ll be fully responsible for transportation, hotels, etc. for the duration of your stay NOT on tour, excluding your final flight home.
Booking and changing flights during your tour is tricky and may not always work out, so have any extra travel booked as early as possible!
7. Excursions are Excluded
Your flights are booked, you’ve paid for your trip and you’re excited to finally experience the excursions and adventures advertised for your tour. Until you’re asked if you want to ‘add on’ the excursions.
The bigger excursions are NOT included and are hundreds of dollars, keep this in mind!
8. Emergency Contact
EF Ultimate Break has a 24/7 Emergency phone number you can call any time, from anywhere. So in the case of an emergency, you always have someone to contact.
9. You Don’t HAVE to stay with the group
While the tour is planned out so you don’t have to plan your own trip and adventures, you don’t HAVE to participate in them. Everyone on the tour is an adult and quite capable of doing their own thing.
A few people on the tour I went on were only seen when we were hopping on the train to our next country.
So if you want to plan your own activities and only want to take advantage of the transportation and accommodations provided for a tour like this, that’s perfectly acceptable! Just be sure to keep your Tour Director in the loop!
10. Hotel Location
While there’s no stress for picking out hotels and accommodations on a tour, you also lose the freedom to choose where you’re staying.
The hotels we stayed in on my tour were 20-30 minutes away from the action. This made it difficult to stop back at the hotel for a quick break or to drop off bags.
Plus, our hotel in London was in a sketchier area; I didn’t feel comfortable walking around the area outside of our hotel alone. I was disappointed in EF for this.
11. Tour Discounts
EF Ultimate Break is always running sales on trips, so keep an eye out for Semi-annual and Black Friday deals!
Returning travelers can also get money off their next trip with EF. The more you travel with EF, the more you can save!
12. You Look like tourists
Traveling in a large group (30+ people) makes you stick out like a sore thumb. As someone who typically enjoys solo traveling, I didn’t particularly enjoy the feeling.
13. You will learn to solo travel
If you’re going on a tour alone (you don’t know anyone else on tour), you have the perfect opportunity to safely learn how to solo travel internationally.
You should 100% participate in the group tours and excursions, but don’t be scared to adventure on your own too. There is plenty of free time, so use it wisely!
Use public transportation alone, go to a museum or show, or simply explore solo! You can always call your Tour Director with questions or help!
I wish I knew some of these things before I toured with EF Ultimate Break. It would’ve taken a little of the stress out of the anticipation leading up to the trip.
Hopefully you find this information helpful in calming your pre-trip anxieties, and you can confidently book your first (or next) EF Ultimate Break trip!
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