Reviews

Malaysia Adventure!

I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go away this year, but the itinerary of this trip just jumped out at me and certainly didn’t disappoint! You get to experience two distinct parts of Malaysia – the Malayan Peninsula and Borneo – and this allows you to see its diversity firsthand. KL is a city that never sleeps and is a treasure trove of culinary delights; the Cameron Highlands, with its rolling hills and tea plantations is a real highlight, particularly the trek with Jason. Our next stop in the Taman Negara National Park, where we were surrounded by ancient rainforest, allowed us to live with monkeys all around us and to experience some real jungle trekking and river rapids too! Borneo, is simply teeming with wildlife. You will not get tired of watching the orang-utans eating, playing, squabbling and doing ridiculous acrobatics. This goes for the sunbears and striking proboscis monkeys too. The Mount Kinabalu trek to follow is tough but totally worth it, especially when you get up to the clouds…and setting off for the summit to catch the sunrise is a surreal and exciting experience. The hotel right by the South China Sea is the perfect R&R finish to a perfect holiday!

Hugely Enjoyable

First Exodus trip and a great experience. Terrific way to see a good chunk of the Cape with some wonderful cycling.We had plenty of time for wine tasting and sight seeing which suited me because I don’t want to cycle all day.Accomodation and food was of a high standard.Very friendly group.

Fantasitc trip

Three countries with fabulous experiences in each. A great group and a fantastic group leader made this a truly great trip.

A great 2 week adventure in Malaysia

I truly enjoyed the 2 weeks that I spent in Malaysia, on Borneo at the beginning and on the Malay peninsula at the end. Accommodation was of a high quality with the possible exception being the long house for 1 night in Borneo. There were separate guides in the 2 halves of Malaysia, and both were simply excellent: Aldrin in Borneo and Ant on the peninsula. The trip was mostly at a leisurely pace which is what I like, and there was an ample amount of free time on some days, and that includes 1 total free day at the end on the island of Langkawi. This trip is a new one, and I think it’s excellent. I highly recommend it.

Lovely walking holiday on a rural Greek island

I really enjoyed the week on Evia in October, made all the more special by excellent leadership from Cecile Deltreil.
The walking is good, scenically varied and very rural (we only saw one other walker the whole week!). Paths were sometimes good, sometimes non-existent on hilltops and sometimes through scratchy scrub – take your long trousers or gaiters. The trip is rated leisurely-moderate and whilst I felt the 4 day walks were ‘moderate’ in difficulty, partly because of the rough paths, the whole trip is fairly leisurely because you are based in one hotel and have some relaxation time at the end of each day (gin and tonics on the beach!).
The Galaxy hotel in Karystos was fine with friendly family staff, good breakfast, but awful showers.

Japan - Ancient and Modern

Having wanted to visit Japan for some years my wife and I picked the Exodus trip – ‘Japan – Ancient and Modern’ because it seemed to offer an interesting range of locations and was a few days longer than trips offered by other companies. The opportunity to spend nights in ryokans sleeping on the floor, bathing in onsens and experiencing traditional Japanese hospitality was also a factor as were travel by train between destinations and sightseeing on foot. The reality lived up to and beyond our expectations, we loved Japan and its people. The country is safe, ordered and steeped in a unique culture with a wealth of sights and sounds so very different from western societies. The trip took us to many historically important sites, to places of religious significance, both Buddhist and Shinto and to the quiet back streets and public spaces and gardens of ancient towns and the serene districts of the bigger cities. These were juxtaposed with the ultra modern cityscapes of Tokyo, a city which would take half a lifetime to explore and the reality of travel by bullet train and the technological wonder that is the Japanese toilet. Although the trip is full on, up early and off most days, there is also built in some time for personal exploration or just resting and taking in the passing scene. My only negative comment would probably be about the snow monkeys, which are never at Yudanaka at the time we visited, they are still feeding in the woods and have recently had their babies and don’t come down to the hot springs until later in the year when the snows come. I suppose the clue is in the name. In any event Yudanaka itself is not to be missed and the hotel and onsen at which we stayed were superb. Through Exodus we arranged to fly home seven days after the 16 day trip had finished and spent a further week visiting two locations of particular interest to us with an extra day and night in Tokyo. Exodus staff were extremely helpful during our researches and the success of this extra time was in no small way down to their expert knowledge and readiness to give advice. All in all a wonderful experience which has whetted our appetite for a return visit to Japan to explore some of the many fascinating destinations it has to offer.

Captivating Japan

A brilliant introduction to Japan, its people and its culture. A top notch guide and a friendly, cohesive group made up for the terrible but unseasonal weather. Despite raining for 15 out of 18 days it didn’t stop us from completing the itinerary (except for a landslide which closed the park where we were due to see the snow monkeys). And it was a packed itinerary, so not much downtime (which you might or might not prefer). The biggest disappointment for me however, was the lack of autumn colour. It was really too early in this part of Japan so I think Exodus should revise their note where it says “Best for autumn colour”. I was expecting to find the food to be a challenge but it wasn’t, the food was good with plenty of choice and variety. The Temples, shrines, gardens and parks are exactly as you would expect. What you might not expect is that some ancient sites sit cheek by jowl with modern high-rise buildings but usually not the main tourist sites. The Shinkansen was actually better than expected, not to be missed. Plenty of ordinary folk wearing traditional dress, especially in Kyoto.

Nile Cruise Premium

I have always wanted to visit Egypt to see the antiquities, but because of the political instability I thought it would be unlikely. So when I saw this trip advertised I jumped at the opportunity. I felt safe thoughout the trip.

The first day was a whirlwind visit to the Pyramids, the Sphinx, the Museum in Cairo, the mosque and the bazaar. We then flew to Luxor, visiting the Temple of Karnak and the Temple of Luxor and later boarding the Mirage 1, our cruise boat. This was a great experience, partly because of the wonderful group of people on the trip (19 of us in total), partly because of the comfort on board, the trips and also because the boat had only 40% occupancy so we almost had the boat to ourselves. I think we were all sorry to leave the boat after the 4 nights on board, but the next hotel in Aswan was very comfortable.
In spite of visiting many temples and tombs, I never tired of hearing about the Egyptian gods and Pharaohs and looking at the wonderful carvings and art.

Sicilian volcanoes

A brilliant trip, full of interest and topped off with a marvellous night view of the fireworks of Stromboli.

Everest Base Camp/Kala Patthar

An awesome and successfull trek to Everest Base Camp