Don’t just take our word for it- hear what some of our clients have had to say about the services we provide and their travel experience in this wonderful continent!
TESTIMONY
Ted, great overland trip! Your bus broke down in the most interesting places.
R, July 1975
Read the full testimony
Testimonials
Countries Visited: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru
“Thank you for a wonderful holiday. Greg & I had an amazing time in Peru and we made it to Machu Picchu. I thought you might like some feed back on the hotels and guides etc. Puerto Montt – he was a very good driver/tour guide and informative. The Cumbres Patagonicas Hotel was outstanding with a very good restaurant. Staff were very helpful. Bariloche – again we had a driver/tour guide and had a very good day tour. Llao-Llao Hotel was very impressive. The room looked out onto the lake and surrounding mountains. A most stunning and breathtaking view. Buenos Aires – This time we had a driver and a separate tour guide. She was able to take us to places and continue the informative tour whilst the driver looked after the vehicle. The Tango Show was a highlight of Buenos Aires. Mine Boutique Hotel – A very small hotel but had all that was required. A nice cafe style restaurant and small swimming pool. Comfortable rooms with a kettle to make your own tea/coffee. This is not found very often in overseas hotels. Cuzco – We again had a driver and separate tour guide. I highly recommend this agency. It was very well run with the manager keeping an eye on all the operations on site. Villas Urubamba – What a lovely out of the way place of serenity. We had our own cook and housekeeper who didn’t speak any English but was very helpful and a good cook. The villa had 2 ensuite queen sized bedrooms with an upstairs bunked area for children. I highly recommend this accommodation. It would be very hard to locate the accommodation if you where travelling there on your own. You drive off the main road and down a dirt road that winds around and through walled and gated residences for about 2kms. The driver tooted his horn and a gate swung open for the vehicle to enter Villas Urubamba. Urubamba was a very good starting place because of the lower altitude. We were able to acclimatize without altitude sickness, only headaches. Machu Picchu Pueblo – A large hotel with rooms dotted through the forest so you were unaware of how many people were there. The restaurant was very good with an enormous number of staff. From what I could see this was the best hotel in town. Monasterio Del Cuzco – What an amazing transformation from a monastery to an up market hotel facility. We had the same tour guide for all our tours in Peru. A very talented man. Hotel Santiago Park Plaza – A nice older style hotel with a very nice restaurant. The concierge was most helpful with places to go to and restaurants. He has been the best concierge I have come across in all my travels. The trip was a great experience and Greg and I thank you for your expert assistance.”
Chris & Greg, March 2010
Countries Visited: Belize, Mexico
“I’ve been meaning to write to you but things have been hectic since we got back – writing thank you cards, getting back to work and unfortunately cleaning up after the storm! Our honeymoon was absolutely fantastic. The only thing we would have liked different was the weather, but that can’t be helped! We love hot weather and unfortunately the coldish weather followed us around. Oaxaca was great. We loved the cooking course however it was more like a cooking demonstration. We just watched and didn’t participate. That didn’t bother us but thought we’d mention it in case you didn’t realise. I would highly recommend it to other travellers though as the food was delicious. The place we stayed in Mexico City (Condesa DF) was quite a nice hotel but the staff wasn’t fantastic. We had to leave the hotel for the airport at 4am one morning and because we had paid for breakfast we asked the evening before we left if we could just get a few sandwiches made to take in the morning instead. They said no. Maybe I was just grumpy about having to get up early :-) Lamanai Outpost Lodge was really cool. The food was amazing and the staff was great. It was absolutely freezing getting there on the boat and on the evening tours though – make sure people take warm clothes!! Ambergris Caye was beautiful. We like to stay a little away from things so it was nice to stay out of San Pedro. The hotel had a few boats back and forth during the day that you could hop on for free but other than that there were two water taxi companies. Anyway thank you again for everything. The trip was amazing and we definitely want to go back to explore more of South and Central America as soon as possible!”
Kelly, February 2010
Countries Visited: Peru, Chile
“I’ve been meaning to write to let you know how it’s going but was having trouble sending emails in Easter Island. The flights to Lima were pretty horrendous. The break in Santiago was good. Lima exceeded all of our expectations. It’s really nice how it is on a cliff overlooking the Pacific. Condor Peru were exceptional (and I don’t often use that word when travelling). They were always where they were supposed to be, their buses were clean and their guides spoke good English and were knowledgeable. The most impressive thing was on our arrival in Lima at about midnight when we decided that we wanted to do a couple of ½ day tours, and the guide arranged them within the 30 minutes it took to get to our hotel. The Amazon lodge was really nice, although very hot and humid. There was a bit of an issue with what we were going to get for the extra $100 we paid for New Years Eve dinner, but we got Louise to speak to the manager and we had free champagne all night and the prize position at the table. Cuzco was great (or Cous cous as Yvonne called it) and Machu Picchu exceeded all expectations. There have been a couple of people with tummy troubles or a little altitude sickness, but not a lot. So in summary, a good trip. Well organised. Nothing really to complain about (except that Wendy is now a felon in Chile). Thanks a lot for all the organisation. Would you please also let Condor know how happy we were with their Peruvian operation.”
Geoffrey, January 2010
Countries Visited: Argentina, Chile
“I am forwarding this letter I sent to Marcella, for you to know what a wonderful guide she is. She made our holiday in Buenos Aires, and you are very lucky to have her working for you. All the tours and hotels you booked for us we couldn’t fault. Thank you very much. I would certainly recommend you to anyone thinking of taking a holiday in South America. “
Rosalind and Malcolm, January 2010
“Thank you so much for the brochure. It has just wetted our appetites again for the trip. We intend to travel to South America in 2011. Please keep us in mind as we will definitely be with you if you are going. You can lock us in. We want to do the 35 day South American trip or longer just so long as it takes in the jungle and the snow. Hope 2010 is successful for you and looking forward to catching up soon.”
Carol and Alan, January 2010
Countries Visited: Chile, Peru
“I’ve been meaning to write to let you know how it’s going but was having trouble sending emails in Easter Island. The flights to Lima were pretty horrendous. The break in Santiago was good. Lima exceeded all of our expectations. It’s really nice how it is on a cliff overlooking the Pacific. Condor Peru was exceptional (and I don’t often use that word when travelling). They were always where they were supposed to be, their buses were clean and their guides spoke good English and were knowledgeable. The most impressive thing was on our arrival in Lima at about midnight when we decided that we wanted to do a couple of ½ day tours, and the guide arranged them within the 30 minutes it took to get to our hotel. The Amazon lodge was really nice, although very hot and humid. Cuzco was great and Machu Picchu exceeded all expectations. So in summary, a good trip. Well organised. Nothing really to complain about (except that Wendy is now a felon in Chile). Thanks a lot for the entire organisation.”
Geoff, December 2009
Countries Visited: Costa Rica, Cuba
“Puerto Moins Costa Rica, weather P…ing down, Ha ha I will try and entice it to head over to the Gold Coast where it will be appreciated. Havana… Guide met us at airport no problems nice guy Mirval is his name he delivered us to the Hotel about midnight explaining everything along the way. Hotel really straight out of the 1950s but had all the mod cons we appreciate so that was great. Next morning Mirval was waiting exactly on time for our street walking tour. Mirval explained that it being a Friday the cigar factory would be closed on the weekend and as we were leaving Sunday would we like to do this first although it wasn’t on our itinerary. Of course we wanted to and what an amazing thing to see and hear about we were very impressed and of course Ralph did make a purchase or two. Mirval then explained how we must remove all traces of the labels and not mention where we had been in our onward journey as said purchases would be confiscated. Vital info that came in very handy. Our street walking tour was really really good lots of info about everything and really great things to see. Mirval did not ask for any extra for taking us on the cigar tour and did not hurry us at any time although he was with us for most of the day. (hope you don’t get an extra invoice Ha Ha) We did look after him anyway. We had to leave the Hotel at 4.30am to catch our flight to Cancun, Mirvil was there to put us in a taxi to the airport. Thoroughly recommend taking the time to go to Havana if anyone else asked, especially if any of your clients are antique car enthusiasts. I swear the taxi we had was the same make and year that my grandfather had… Leaving this arvo for Panama, weather forecast …the Captain wont tell us he just asked that we all cross our fingers and toes and that he is from Norway and what’s wrong with a little rain and to compensate he is shouting us all as much champagne as we can drink.”
Marg & Ralph, November 2009
“Just a quick note to say how much we enjoyed the South America trip that you put together for us. It is a fascinating destination and we came away feeling much more knowledgeable about the area and with a great admiration for it’s peoples and keen to go back again sometime. The itinerary worked very well for us and the local guides that were used were so fantastic – very well organised and knowledgeable – they added so much enjoyment to the trip. After being there we particularly enjoyed the gradual acclimatization to altitude that the itinerary allowed. Made Machu Picchu so much more enjoyable. The only bad bit we had was getting into the airport at Rio and that was due to the weather which was well outside anyone’s control. So I think that counts as a very successful trip.The Santa Cruz on Galapagos was a very good suggestion. It was very comfortable and the crew were great – they worked very hard to make the cruise enjoyable for us. The naturalists were excellent. We enjoyed Ecuador – that was a nice addition to the trip. We also appreciated your warning about LAN and how they might try to ignore our international baggage entitlements. They certainly did try to charge us excess baggage but with your timely advice we stood our ground and “argued” with them for a while and then they agreed that we were entitled to the 2 x 23kg and all was good. It was much appreciated to be ready in advance for that.And of course Ted & Judy – it was fantastic to have them join us for the latter half. They were great company and also helped oil the wheels of the trip. Once again thank you for your efforts in putting the trip together for us – you did a great job! The Premium Economy (Business) class seats were certainly worth the money too – that was also a valuable piece of advice that helped to make the trip so enjoyable.
