About SVI

Steve is a native of Los Angeles and graduated from Beverly High School in 1969 and the University of Southern California in 1973.  After spending a year at sea during college he fell in love with seeing the world.  Steve got sober in 1980 and established his first travel agency in 1982.  After a couple years of sobriety he and his brother created SOBER VACATIONS INTERNATIONAL in 1987.   Ever since he has been taking people in the recovery community to beautiful places all over the world and developing a close nit community amongst his clients.  He has traveled with over 30,000 clients to more than 150 destinations and continues to be inspired by new places to see and new experiences he wants to share with the people around him.

Steve is a passionate baseball fan and is obsessed with everything Dodgers.  His son Max, who also works for the company, shares this same obsession.  You can count on there never being a trip during baseball playoffs!

The son of a travel agent & airline executive, Max took his first flight at 5 weeks old to Maui and has been a man consumed with wanderlust ever since. Max is a 3 time National Champion Speaker. He founded his first company at 19, Extant Theatre Group, before transitioning into Film & Television. It wasn’t long before the family business came calling and Max has been helping to build Sober Vacations into the brand you know today.

Max lives in West Hollywood and is married with 1 daughter, 2 cats, 1 dog, 19 fish, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Sober Vacations International

In the summer of 1987, our president and founder, Steven Abrams, faced a dilemma. He was a well-seasoned vacationer, highly experienced in the travel industry. Newly sober, however, he worried about the temptations typically associated with travel. Counting on the principle of strength in numbers, he decided to reach out to his fellow friends in recovery to organize a group trip. The response was overwhelming.

Over 200 vacationers embarked to Ixtapa, Mexico, in May of 1988.

Alcohol-Free Camaraderie and Community

After that first trip, Steve realized that many individuals in recovery were seeking a safe environment in which to travel. Sober Vacations International (SVI), a specialized travel company dedicated to providing alcohol-free vacations for sober individuals and their loved ones, was now formed.

“It isn’t the availability of alcohol that matters,” he explains, “It’s the availability of people who understand.”

The concept resonated with hundreds of travelers. By 1989 (and only our third trip), SVI had enough vacationers to book an entire Club Med destination. Nestled in the pink sand beaches of Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas, the group soon christened their location “Sober Village” and the name stuck.

SVI: Largest of its Kind

Since our inaugural visit to Ixtapa, SVI has hosted over 30,000 vacationers and organized over 150 trips, making it the largest company specializing in alcohol-free vacations. Over 85% of our clients are repeat travelers; many have journeyed with SVI annually for nearly 30 years.

To support this remarkable growth, Max Abrams, Steve’s son, was brought on as VP of Marketing and Development in 2010. Today, SVI has now grown to average six trips a year, with at least one destination to a designated Sober Village. SVI destinations span across the globe: from Alaska to Africa, Puerto Vallarta to Prague and numerous spectacular locales in between. Sober Vacations also offers recreation-based trips throughout the United States, including snow skiing in Utah, golfing in Scottsdale, and white river rafting in the Grand Canyon.

Sober Doesn’t Need to be Somber

SVI actively dispels the misconception that getting sober means giving up enjoyment. As Steve explains, “Sober Vacations is a celebration of life and sobriety.”

Visitors to one of our Sober Villages typically take part in a variety of activities, including scuba diving, water skiing, sailing, wind surfing, tennis, yoga, and volleyball. All our vacations offer multiple 12-step meetings. Fostering an environment of support, fellowship, self care and most importantly – FUN – is SVI’s primary focus.

Join in the Fun! Contact SVI today!

To learn more about Sober Vacations International or inquire about one of our breathtaking destinations, contact us at info@sobervacations.com or call 1-800-762-3738.