If you have your heart set on a river cruise or safari, but don't know the difference between tour operators providing them, get started here.
Name: StrideTravel.com
What it does: Its meta search engine lets you discover and compare tours across all types and genres from more than 400 operators such as National Geographic Expeditions, Intrepid, G Adventures, Viking River Cruises, Abercrombie & Kent and Road Scholar. The site has more than 9,000 tours in more than 130 countries.
What's hot: Stride is incredibly thorough. It anticipates what you might want to know and provides the info for you: the size of the tour, lodging level, level of physical activity, ratings and reviews, full itineraries, available dates, pricing and more. Stride is popular with baby boomers, but there's something for everyone, with a wide variety of tours based on interests, budgets and, of course, type and style of travel. I was most interested in family tours to the Galapagos and budget safaris in Namibia, but if you're interested in small-ship cruises in the Antarctic or seeing Alaska by rail, you'll find tours too. Membership; some tours offer a $500 gift card for booking through Stride.
What's not: The first time I saw the site, I passed it up because it seemed flat. I'm glad I took the time to get to know it better. That said, I hope that in future renditions, it finds a way to illustrate more of the adventures the tours provide. Video features would be great.
