ecision we had taken. Mr. Pushpendra gave us the best deal and also an itinerary for the complete travel. The vehicle provided was Swift desire which was hardly 1 month old and the driver Mr. Govardhan Singh was one of the best driver (or person) I ever met. The whole trip was just faboulous. Mr. Pushpendra entertained all our justified and unjustified demands including getting bookings done for guide, Sam resort at Jaisalmer and was always there to help. We visited all site seeing in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Ajmer, Pushkar, Martha, Jodhpur and Jaisalmer. Driver Mr. Govardhan Singh was not only our driver but also our guide. He was well behaved with a smile on his face. He was always very courteous, punctual and never in the whole tour gave an opportunity to complain. He took us to the best of food outlets and even showed some very good shopping joints. I really thank Jaipur travelling from bottom of my heart to make our trip a success and we are taking very good memories. We will surely recommend them to all our friends and if again we come to Rajasthan we will surely like to take his services.

and worst food. Response of travel agent was excellent. I need not worry and from the time getting down at Rly station till return back to station everything was arranged perfectly. Except accomodation at pagoda for one day, the entire trip was smooth and pleasant.

dgeted.

r travco in future. Since my wife is in her final trimester we requested the the travel agent to cut-short our trip skipping sigriya , dambulla and bentotta and keeping 2 days at one destination so that we don’t have to hop from one hotel to another every single day. We covered colombo, kandy, nurwa elliya and ella in 8 days. But the room provided to us were not what we paid for. Both in kandy and nurwa eliyya on first day there was no view/ balcony and we were forced to adjust on day one and were provided the promised room on day 2. UpOn confirming with the hotel reception we were told that the travel agent was told about the unavailability of the room on the provided dates. He played smart, keeping us in dark and had the audacity to threaten us to cancel the trip in nurwa eliya upon complaining when it happened for the second time in nurwa eliyya. So technically we cut short 3 destinations, paid more than the initial quotation and switched rooms every single day for 8 days pretty much adding to the discomfort. Secondly, considering my wife’s pregnancy in mind we preponed the trip by one day without any change in the itinerary thereby adding extra day in colombo to rest and readily paid extra for one day accommodation plus airport transport( that was covered in trip). Travel agent said his service is from airport to airport so if we are coming one day before we’ve to pay extra for airport to colombo transfer. We paid without arguing but we strongly feel this could have been avoided. Thirdly, travel agent always increased the price by 10-15 usd saying the economic conditions in srilanka isn’t good which is clearly unprofessional. Moreover he provided the wrong booking name in all four hotels adding to the confusion.

er and staff. All other hotels were very good. Car and Driver was perfect

as incorrect and I had to purchase ticket on the spot. I was charged 5000 extra for last day cab after finalyzing the package amount. Cruise experience was good.

nd in the room balcony. Switzerland: Interlaken hotel upgrade was best Luzern and Zurich , hotels were decent. Switzerland, Luzern: was the best memorable place

from an agent called Dream Destinations/Sikkim Hills Travels. I specifically asked for a good comfortable SUV since we will be spending a lot of time on the road. I also requested that the hotels be 3 or 4 stars with deluxe rooms since there were kids and elderly. I also asked 100 times about travelling during elections. I was assured that everything will be taken care of and there was nothing to worry about. Here is our experience Hotels - The first hotel we stayed was Mandarva in Gangtok and it was good and just what we asked for. Clean, neat and good breakfast. We also had a lovely view of the city from our window. Unfortunately, it was in a residential area with no hotels or anything else nearby. It was too far from the shops/restaurants like MG Marg. In Sikkim, the sun sets by 5.30 pm and in the summer, it also rains heavily in the evening. So, taking a taxi and going out in the wet, dark hilly area is not really an easy option. So, we asked for a hotel that was close to MG Marg. They changed it to Pearl Retreat which was an older/ok ok hotel. However, they were kind and accommodative of my request to keep food ready on a day when we got stranded and returned pretty late. The worst hotel we stayed was a place called ‘Daksha’ in Pelling (Naming and Shaming here very intentionally). It was dirty, unhygienic and chaotic with clueless staff and run like a hostel forget deluxe standards here. Basic was also so terrible. We found out bed linen had hair, dirt marks and dust all over. They gave us a room without dusting, same old linen and a wet bathroom. Also, on the 3rd floor and no lift. I didn’t even want to stay there for 1 night! The other hotels were passable or okay. Cab and Driver – Spending a minimum of 4-5 hours in the car is unavoidable in Sikkim. As per our request we were given a nice SUV (a XUV 700 with sun roof) The car was comfortable most of the time and our driver was also a young local who drove really well and carefully in the mountain roads. However, on day 3, while returning to Gangtok from Lachung, the vehicle had some challenges with pickup/driving up the hill and we got delayed very badly. We had been awake from 6 am that morning visiting Zero point/Yamthang valley which were at high elevation and 3 of us had altitude sickness and had not eaten anything for hours. We found that the driver and the travel agents were more interested in sorting their vehicle rather than helping us figure out a way to get to Gangtok. I finally had to intervene ask for another vehicle to pick us up. Keep in mind, Sikkim is sparsely populated. The place we were stuck had no humans, lights and it was raining making the roads very muddy and dangerous. We got back late to the hotel after spending nearly 16 hours that day in the car with a very sick child. A nightmarish night ride where I was hoping and praying my child doesn’t get severe dehydration. Our driver for Darjeeling local sightseeing was another local driver and he refused to come to our hotel (Taksa Retreat) and wanted us to climb up the road. We explained to him that my mom and child were tired after climbing and walking so much every day. He was very reluctant, unhappy and had to be coerced by the travel agent to pick us up at the lobby. Our last leg of the journey was travel to Bagdogra from Darjeeling. Our flight was at 2.45 pm and we left Darjeeling at 10 am. It was the last day of election campaigning in WB and there were 2 massive political rallies at Darjeeling District and Siliguri. Neither us nor our driver had any clue about this. We got redirected by the police and paramilitary personnel multiple times and we had to take different diversions in the hills. Then as if the cup of woe has not run over, our SUV got a flat tire. By them time we repaired it and reached the airport, the staff refused to board us as they had closed the gates. But this is what disappointed me the most - I had requested our driver to wait for few mins after dropping us, in case I need help with getting dropped at a hotel. We were 3 women alone in an unfamiliar place and I was getting stressed about the possible options/safety in case we miss the flight. Our driver chose to leave, and he gave my number to a random driver in the taxi stand to help us. This guy was with us for a whole week, and we treated him well, but I guess he was in a hurry to go back to Gangtok rather than worry about people whose trip and tips are done. Luckily, the taxi driver turned out to be a nice person and dropped us at the hotel as requested. He mentioned that most taxis/drivers cancelled their trips to Darjeeling because of the political rallies. They also informed their clients who wanted to leave Darjeeling to leave early in the morning to avoid road closures and diversions. I really wish our Driver/Travel agent had done some check on this and updated us. Travel Agent – As soon as we landed, our travel agent mentioned that they had made some changes in our itinerary and that instead of Nathula Pass, we will be doing Yumthang Valley first. We were okay with that since we knew that traveling in Sikkim means being flexible and being okay with unpredictability. However, this seemed to be only applicable for tourists and not the travel agents. I requested that we post pone Nathula pass for a day after our nightmarish road travel back from Lachung and since everyone was sick. They expected us to do 2 consecutive days of heavy road trips to high altitudes. They made a huge fuss about cancelling and changing hotel plans and basically put all the extra charges on us. The manager Mr. Deepak was extremely rude and told me “You are already getting so much personalized services for the money you paid”. I really think that the package (which was hotels + ground Transport + personalised service) was not value for money especially the hotel accommodations. Not to mention the goof ups in getting permits to Northern Sikkim. My name was conveniently left out of the permit, and we could go only because of the military personnel being accommodative. (So much for personalized service!) However, Mr. Abhishek Thapa who was my SPOC and coordinated the whole trip for me was always polite, helpful and checked in on us morning and evening every day. I really appreciate that he was able to keep his composure and help us in the best way he can. May be in couple of months, all that has happened might become an interesting titbit/travel anecdote to share with others. But right now, I am quite bugged and feel very unhappy that we had to get so distressed during the holiday, especially at the end of it. Not to mention the extra money that we had to shell out again for tickets and accommodation. As for the travel agent/package we took – I am not so sure. I would have liked to give them the benefit of doubt, but in my interactions with them, I sensed that they were more interested in making their profit than worry about the customer’s well-being or experience.

n for Singapore (J8 hotel), you literally dont have any option for breakfast in Veg unless you want to have only bread, they dontr even provide warm milk (this is never recommended) 2. Timings for excursions should have been better, we lost good amount of time and had to rush because of that in Singapore. For eg Universal Studios timings are from 10AM to 8PM, but our pick up from hotel was 11 & return pickup was 7:15; unnecessarily we lost 3 hours and had to miss rides. Similarly for MBS non peak hours entry is till 4/4.30; but our pick up was arranged at 2:45 and got dropped there at 3:15 and due to queue we entered thr at 4:45 and again had to rush & finish it is very quickly. I would mention Ankush (from Kushark) for his quick turnaround before & during the trip for queries & information; which was very helpful. Thansk!

2 changes) was courteous, experienced, helpful,knowledgeable. Bumla paas visit

oval Letter for VISA on Arrival. The organizers(Emily and Tina) + the Tour Guides in all places (Hanoi, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City and Cambodia) were great + Locations + Arrangements were spot-on and excellent.

ve informed us this earlier then we could have booked the trip accordingly.

have been great if the organizers could have made some pro-active suggestions in few plans. For example: I had to tell them to include the ferry experience to Alibag from Mumbai as the initial plan they had made did not involve the ferry - but the on-road trip to Alibag. These small things matter.