A seasoned travel advisor who knew Southeast Asia intimately thought he had nothing left to learn about Vietnam and Thailand — until he went back as a father, with two kids and a G Adventures family tour that rewrote the rulebook.
At a Glance
Vietnam and Thailand deliver exceptional value for families, with hotels, food, and experiences significantly cheaper than comparable Western destinations. Guided group tours prove more valuable than independent travel with children, offering social benefits and logistical ease that transform cultural exposure into confident, joyful learning for kids.
Edward Vanstone has been to Vietnam. He has been to Thailand. He has crossed the chaotic streets of Hanoi on foot, lounged on the white-sand beaches of the Thai south, and backpacked independently through much of Southeast Asia. He is, by any measure, an advisor who knows these destinations. So when a family milestone presented the perfect excuse to return — his brother's wedding in Thailand in 2024 — Vanstone was confident. He had this one covered.
He was wrong. And he is thrilled about it.
The trip began with a two-week G Adventures family tour through Vietnam, followed by a flight to Thailand for his brother's wedding and a week and a half exploring the southern beaches around Krabi and Phuket before looping back through Bangkok. Vanstone's children, then aged ten and eight, were along for every moment of it. It was the biggest adventure the family had taken together since the pandemic. What unfolded was part reunion, part rediscovery, and part professional revelation.
Hanoi Through New Eyes
Vanstone had chosen Vietnam and Thailand in part because he knew them. Familiarity felt like an asset when travelling with young children. What he did not anticipate was how powerfully those destinations would land on a pair of kids encountering the developing world for the first time. Hanoi, the entry point for the family's Vietnam leg, delivered an immediate and unforgettable orientation.
"The crossing of the road in Hanoi, you're taking your life in your hands," Vanstone says with the knowing ease of someone who has survived it more than once. For his children, however, the city's relentless stream of motorbikes and its dense, old-world energy was something far more visceral: simultaneously scary and electrifying. Vanstone watched his kids process a world that operated by entirely different rules and found himself reflecting on just how much that exposure was worth. "It's sort of stuck with me," he says, "how valuable it was for them to see different ways of life and the way different cultures do things, and the learnings that come from that."
Beyond the culture shock, Vietnam delivered something Vanstone had not quite anticipated at this scale: extraordinary value. The hotels, the food, the day-to-day experiences — all of it landed with an impact that caught even a well-travelled advisor off guard. "The value for money that you receive there," he says, "the hotels, the experiences, the food — from a dollar standpoint it was really something. Maybe one of the best I've seen anywhere I've been." For clients weighing a Southeast Asia trip against more familiar long-haul destinations, Vanstone now speaks about Vietnam's value proposition with the authority of someone who has tested it personally, with a family in tow.
The Revelation He Didn't See Coming
Here is where the story takes its most interesting turn. Vanstone, a veteran of independent travel through both Vietnam and Thailand, had quietly questioned whether a guided group tour was even necessary. He knew these roads. He had navigated them alone. The tour, he figured, was mostly a concession to logistics and to the practicalities of travelling with children.
What he discovered was something categorically different from mere convenience.
"I was really blown away with the G Adventures family trip experience," Vanstone says. "The value that my kids get from travelling with other kids is really unmatched." It was not the itinerary, the guides, or even the seamless movement between cities that surprised him most. It was the social dimension, the way the group format transformed what could have been a disorienting experience for two young children into something they embraced with confidence and joy. "They have other kids around to experience that with — it takes a lot of that away. So they not only gain the value of that cultural experience, but the social value that they gained in meeting people from all over the world."
An advisor admitting he was blown away by a product he initially underestimated is a rare and credible thing. Vanstone is not performing enthusiasm here. He is processing a genuine shift in how he thinks about family travel, one that is already reshaping the recommendations he makes to clients every week.
Thailand: Still Beloved, But Wiser
Thailand had long held a special place in Vanstone's personal travel canon. Returning to it as a parent, two decades on, he found his affection entirely intact. The beaches were still beautiful. The culture and hospitality remained, in his words, next level. But the south's most famous coastlines told a more complicated story.
Phuket and Koh Phi Phi, places Vanstone had visited when they were far quieter, have changed substantially. The tourism infrastructure has grown and so have the crowds. His insider tip for clients is born directly from this comparison across twenty years: move further afield. "When you just went a little further afield into Railay Beach, off down the coast from Krabi, you could find some of those more unique beach Thailand experiences that were a little more well-preserved," he advises. The infrastructure for reaching these less-trafficked spots is solid. The reward, a version of Thailand that still breathes, is well worth the extra effort.
Who This Trip Is For
Vanstone is unambiguous about his recommendation. Families considering a trip to Southeast Asia with children should look closely at a structured group tour format. The logistical ease of moving between destinations is one benefit. The social environment it creates for kids is, in his view, the more important one. For travellers seeking the absolute comfort of home at every turn, Vietnam and Thailand may require some recalibration of expectations. But Vanstone is equally direct about the flip side: "You can get very high end experiences in Thailand and Vietnam for a value that's sort of unmatched anywhere else in the world." The idea that Southeast Asia is too rough-edged for comfort-conscious travellers, he suggests, simply does not hold up against the reality on the ground.
A Pattern, Not Just a Trip
What began as a wedding trip has quietly become the foundation of a new professional framework. Since returning from Vietnam and Thailand, Vanstone has taken his family on a G Adventures family tour through Morocco — a second data point that has only deepened his conviction. The format, he now understands, is not destination-specific. It travels. It scales. And for families navigating culture shock, tight budgets, and the logistics of keeping children engaged across long journeys, it consistently delivers something independent travel cannot replicate in quite the same way.
The budget-and-time equation is also a lens Vanstone now applies deliberately with every client considering Asia. The flights from North America demand a time investment. But the value unlocked across a longer trip makes that investment, in his assessment, one of the shrewdest calculations a family traveller can make.
As for what comes next, Vanstone is already looking east again. Indonesia is firmly on the horizon, promising the same blend of beach, culture, and extraordinary value that made Southeast Asia so compelling the first time around. "We'll only get so many more of these experiences," he says of travelling with his growing children. "And I think this would be a great one."
Edward Vanstone took his eight and ten-year-old on this exact trip. If you are wondering whether it is right for your family, he is the person to ask.
