Written by Sue Luettjohann Seitz
Written by: Sue Luettjohann Seitz
SouthAmerica.travel
We read many reviews of the planning and booking process and very few written after the trip. We have now completed our trip to South America and can give SouthAmerica.travel a 5-star thumbs up review! We had planned a 28 day trip to Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru. We worked with Diego on the planning, and it was definitely customized for us. We had several different guides along the way, and all but one were excellent. He was very good. Nothing went wrong, just not quite as personable. The guides all spoke excellent English and made sure we saw what we wanted to see, and were very accommodating. They were always on time. The drivers were also excellent, and the vehicles were immaculate and in good shape. Our driver in Sucre was exceptional--there was a demonstration, and the road blocked, and he managed to go a back way that took him over some rough roads, but he got us to our next destination! The guides (all but the one) also accompanied us into the airports to make sure there were no problems with our ticketing and departures. Exceptional service. We decided on the 4-star accommodations and would recommend this level. They were in perfect locations, had lovely breakfasts, were immaculate and had English speaking people at reception (except in Uyuni which is a very small remote town near the Salt Flats and it was no problem having a Spanish speaking reception desk, as other guests were able to translate for us!). We were provided a detailed day by day written itinerary shortly before we left, created by Diego. As we arrived in a new city, the local guide gave us another copy. Sometimes the times changed for pickups, so we always reviewed the new print out. There was always time for us to explore on our own. The local guides did a great job giving us suggestions. Our guide, Marco, in Rio even accompanied us on the subway to the square we wanted to visit and made sure we knew how to use the subway system to get back to our hotel. We had an unfortunate occurrence in that I got very sick (some bacterial infection) in Bolivia and needed to curtail the trip and return to the US. It was on a Sunday when we knew I needed to get back to the US. We made a call to the weekend emergency number provided us, and they were going to work with us to change our flight home. We ended up booking a flight ourselves so that we could leave right away. I was hospitalized when we arrived back in Miami. South America travel worked with us immediately to get dollar figures of the part of the trip we did not complete, so I could turn it in on our credit card trip interruption insurance (and we were reimbursed in full for the unused part of the trip). The best testimonial I can give is that we are rebooking with SouthAmerica.travel for next year to complete the portion of the trip we had to miss as well as adding on time in Ecuador (and a small cruise to the Galapagos). I do wish I had asked for more pointers on tipping..we were never quite sure how much to give our drivers and guides, and since we did not know how much they were paid for their services, we couldn't base it on a percentage but took guesses. Next year, I am packing slightly differently as well. There were very inexpensive laundry services offered at most of the hotels, and I will utilize that next year.
SouthAmerica.travel
