Topdeck

Topdeck Travel is a tour operator providing trips for people aged 18 to 39 throughout Europe, North America, Africa, Egypt and the Middle East, and Australia and New Zealand. According to TourRadar, a Travel Website, "Topdeck Travel" offer 330 different tours in 65 countries.

History

Early Days

The company was founded in 1973 and was originally named Argas Persicus Ltd (the name of a turkey tick, most meaningful as two of the founders had met in veterinary school), and transport was provided by Bristol K5 and Lodekka double decker buses. Later, the name was updated to a more meaningful "Top Deck Travel". From 1974 and right through the 1990s, these ‘deckers’ travelled Europe and further afield to Morocco, the Middle East, and even overland between London and Kathmandu.

In the early 1980s, the company expanded its operations into the United States where it coined the name Decker Homes for its Bristol Lodekka buses. The company also ran trips from Sydney to London from 1980, with the final stretch using a converted Sydney double-decker. Coaches were introduced in the mid-1980s. primarily for winter ski holidays. The elderly Lodekkas, some over 40 years old, started to be retired in the early 1990s in great numbers, many heading abroad for active retirement, and the focus shifted to camping and hard-top trips staying in European campsites. Later, hotel adventure trips were introduced.