Written by Fern Wolkin
Written by: Fern Wolkin
SouthAmerica.travel
I was a bit skeptical at first but read a lot of good reviews so we thought we'd try them. First I want to say that our advisor, Izabela was fantastic. Looking back on our emails, she never left me hanging and always got back to me immediately with answers to my many questions. Since we did not want a "canned" itinerary, we told Izabela where we wanted to go, what level of comfort and how long a trip and she took it from there. Her advice regarding the hotel at Lima airport (even though I wanted to go against it) turned out to be absolutely true. If you are leaving the next day early, stay at the only hotel at the airport. It takes too long to get there from anywhere else. She also managed to give us everything we wanted at a fair price. The hotels were all very nice and well located except for the one that was under renovations and quite noisy and dusty. That was for 2 nights and the rest were fine. We did have a glitch with an airfare from Lima to Arequipa, which I have come to understand was a problem with LAN Airlines and not the tour company. We had to repurchase tickets we had already paid for because they had no record of us paying. We called the emergency # Izabela gave us and they authorized us to re-purchase and told us we would be reimbursed. Upon returning home and forwarding copies of the receipts, we were reimbursed immediately. The rest of the trip was seamless. We had small groups and private tours, all of whom were extremely knowledgeable and helpful. We never were left to figure out where to go on our own except in the cities where we wanted some free time. We were met every step of the way with friendly, smiling faces behind a sign with our name. The local tour companies they used provided fantastic guides and drivers. While the roads in Peru are a bit daunting, these bus and van drivers are professional and excellent drivers. I was never nervous about the drives. It is a bit disconcerting at first that there are no hotel vouches or tour vouchers for that matter. However, after the initial glitch for which we had a flight confirmation #, there was never any need for a voucher. Everything they said would be provided (lunches, tours hotels etc) always were provided with just a name which meant less stress about paperwork. I highly recommend this company. They really know what they are doing.
SouthAmerica.travel
