Postcards from India

HI Mark,

Just wanted to say a HUGE thank you to you and your team for your help last Wednesday. We did get home the next day after a stressful 24 hours. Although the stress was relieved a bit once we got a nice cold Kingfisher in our hand!

I would be grateful if you would extend our gratitude to the Delhi office, especially Filbin Francis who was a star, getting us to and from the airport and checked back into the Almondz! We'd previously met Filbin in Varanasi and didn't think our paths would cross again, little did we know. Putting a positive spin on it we got to spend an extra night in Delhi and revisited a fabulous restaurant we'd discovered at the beginning of our adventures. (Indi-que)

As for the tour....what can we say. It was a fabulous experience, one we shared with people from all corners of the world and we thoroughly enjoyed nearly all aspects of it.

We salute Satendra Sharma, our India tour guide, for marshaling the 27 strong group every day. He was a great guide who was highly organised, professional yet great fun to be around.

He did a fantastic job of getting us to all the sights on time and filling our minds full of knowledge on each place, we have the utmost respect for the man as his job wasn't the easiest dealing with 27 very different personalities!

We had a fabulous time with him throughout the tour and every day revealed a new and exciting highlight. Our personal highlight was Varanasi and the Ganges boat trip, Sat went over and above arranging an evening trip to the ghat for those of us who wanted it.

Although Holi and the Taj Mahal are close seconds.

Also a big shout out to Ajay our Nepali guide and his "little boss" who also carried out a fabulous job showing us the highlights of his beautiful country.

The sights and experiences we had throughout the tour were amazing and these two guides are a credit to your company!

Regards

The trip was immensely enjoyable and informative, great fun in entirety due to the people we met along the way - particularly guides/ drivers who were excellent. We discovered many new things that could enhance this tour and broaden the scope re: tea and other cultural, environmental and natural history suggestions

A great holiday. Some very minor changes would enhance further the tour groups experience, please contact me if you wish. Thank you to all all our guides and such a wonderful experience.

Hi Cherylyn
You're right! It was a fantastic holiday, and an eye-opening experience.

We did complete feedback forms for both the Golden Triangle and Captivating Kerala sections of the tour, but for your information I am repeating some of the points we raised:
• The "meet & greet" at Delhi and Kochi airports (including the transfer arrangements) were truly excellent - your representatives (Raj and Anurag plus their helpers) did a fantastic job
• The admin arrangements by you were also excellent (take a bow Cherylyn!)
• The coach driver for the Golden Triangle (Singh) was truly amazing in his skill - he deserved a medal (we gave him an extra large tip!)
• The guide for Kerala (Alec) was THE BEST - he cared for us, he kept us informed, he was knowledgeable, and he made side trips to show us extra things
• The hotels were all to a pretty good standard, but two of them (Travancore Court and Eastend) were alcohol free, which was a pity.
• Whoever designed the Kerala section with two days of relaxation at the end at the Lake Song resort, deserves a medal - it was perfect.
It was a great holiday!

Regards

Sarah, we are back home and had a wonderful time.

I'd like to give you some feedback, if that's okay with you.

Arrival at cochin airport was seamless, with your representative eagerly looking for us with his sign. he put us right into a cab and we got to the hotel easily.

Travancore Court Hotel is in a good part of town, has a nice lobby, gift shop, and restaurant. The staff was lovely, however, upgrading to another hotel is Cochin would be my suggestion. The bus that took us around (and the drivers) were top-notch.The Kathakali performance was fun, especially since we got to watch them put on their makeup.
Munnar was great and the Eastend Hotel was perfectly fine. Probably one of the best to be found in Munnar. Nice garden, rooms comfortable and cheerful, good restaurant. Tea plantations were interesting, but we were not able to go to the tea museum because it was closed so our guide (Alex) had to hunt around for other things for us to do. He came up with a visit to the Dam and to the Elephant Camp and took us to see a spice garden, and the local market, all of which were interesting.

Next day, on the way to Karakom, he pointed out lots of things of interest all the way. The houseboat overnight was great fun. The boat was comfortable and the food was good. The bathroom was a bit yucky, but it is, after all, a houseboat. We were comfortable and the scenery was fabulous. We slept well.
Lakesong was fabulous. Very beautiful. we arranged yoga classes and a cooking class with the chef and sous chef while we were there. also took advantage of the ayurvedic spa services. Rooms, landscape, food, etc. was all wonderful.

The best part of the whole trip, and the thing that really made it a great success was our guide, Alex. It would not have been the same without him. He was very knowledgeable, kept things moving along, was very protective of us, and made sure EVERYTHING was taken care of for us. I can't compliment him enough. You should make sure you give him a raise and hire him for all your Kerala tours next season!

I thank you enormously for all your help with putting this trip together.

The Tour experience was culturally interesting and historically informative with Yusuf's touch of making us feel secure and well entertained. His sense of humour was delightful. Thank you!

Our holiday with on the go has been absolute fabulous, we have made many wonderful friends.

Visiting the Tea Plantations was so much more than finding out about tea production. It was also finding out about a whole lifestyle from the time the plantations began. In addition each tea plantation taught us something different. Our whole thinking about tea has changed in the course of the tour and we are more aware of the whole 'tea' taste.

The wide variety of other visits in the tour ensured there was a balance of fun, historical content and an increase in knowledge. the inspiration of the Everest Museum, the beauty of the sunrise from Tiger Hill, the incredibility of the engineering behind the toy train alongside the sheer wonder of the animals in the Garumara National Park fed our thirst for enjoyment and knowledge.

Everyone along the way was friendly and helpful. Our driver Kumar was excellent and between him and Gurmay ensured we had a holiday we could only have dreamed of.

Thank you to all.