Reviews

Most Inspirational Moment

There were many inspirational moments. Watching the elephants from the Elephant Orphanage in the river at Pinnawala, arriving at the The Hill Club in Nuwara Eliya after the gruelling hill climb from Kandy, the tour of the tea factory were all highlights of the trip. 

Thoughts on Group Leader

Peter is an exceptional leader and worked so hard to make sure our trip was great. Along with his team, he made sure all the bikes were ready and servicedand food stops were organised. His extensive local knowledge helped give the group confidence to try local food and he was happy to answer our questions about Sri Lankan life. Suresh showed the group around the historical sites and temples. His English was patchy and he was quite hard to understand at times, but he was always kind and attentive to our needs and requests. 

Advice for Potential Travellers

We had terrible rain early on in the holiday so a small umbrella would have been really useful. The bikes didn't have mudguards and the mud on the road got everywhere which was impossible to get out of clothes. The standard of accommodation was varied so don't expect 5 star rooms and hot water every night.  

Most Inspirational Moment

Where to begin.Elephant sanctury visit.Whale watchingThe hill climb day, especially lunch by the waterfall, followed by staying at the Hill Club hotel.Experience of the street food, the Pooja, the impromto stop at the school and the interaction with the tennis balls, playing cricket, playing catch etcAll the cycling, (even when wetter than I thought possible), and meeting all the lovely Sri Lankan people

Thoughts on Group Leader

Peter - Absolute star, always available for help and advice, and really aimed to show us all Sri Lanka had to offer. Not permenantly sharing his knowledge, but did know the answer to anything, (from what I saw), he was asked, ie we may not all like to know the name of every single bird or flower we see, (too much info), but ask Peter and he will know.Suresh - A lovely lovely man, permenantly smiling, with our clear love for his country. Suresh had a very good knowledge of all the sights he took us to, and he loved his Sri Lankan map. The only thing that lets Suresh down is his grasp of the English language, in my opinion it may be too early to let him lead the trip. In my experience, people from this part of the world are far more adept at learning another language than I and many other Brits would be, so, all being well, Suresh will quickly brush up on his English skills, and end up as good a leader as Peter.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Anyone who normally cycles at home with "clip in's", take your pedals and invest in some SPD sandals, I bought the Keen make, brilliant.Take a small lightweight umbrella.

Most Inspirational Moment

Our first sighting of Everest was awesome, a magnificent sight.The weather was very kind to us. We were blessed with beautiful blue skies, snow capped peaks and ever changing scenery crowned with the ultimate lifetime achievement of reaching Everest Base Camp.The many faces of Ama Dablam was just incredile.The culture and humble lives of the Nepali hill people made me realise how very fortunate we are and just how much we take for granted. Prayer flags decorate the trail leaving memories of those who went before and celebrating lives of those who have never returned. It really has been an amazing trip, physically,mentally and spiritually. Believe in yourself and your abilities.This is truly an inspirational trip for everyone.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Our group leader was Urgen, quite a character. He was good at organising and very knowledgeable. He was respectful of the very different dynamics of the group. Urgen read our group well and in his word's alway's told us to "listen to your body" Good advice. Pace was good to allow us to get used to the altitude. He was quick to address any small problems that arose. He had the support of Chhong sherpa who I have great respect for.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Put in a few hills before you go, good cross training. Buy a metal water bottle it has two purposes. 1: A must as a hot water bottle at night in your sleeping bag ( Amazing, one of the best pieces of advice that I got) and 2 : You can drink the ware the next day. Take Chlorine tablets for the water it will save you buying it.If you do not have a sleeping bag then hire one from Exodus (Christine did and it was Fab). Loo rolls, you can buy Andrex one's that have no cardboard and do not take up a lot of room. Baby wipes are a godsend. You must try an Everest Beer, braw. Accept the culture and take each day as it comes.

Most Inspirational Moment

There were many.  I loved getting close to the real India.  We were taken on an unscheduled walk by an off duty Park guide.  He even took us to his own home where we were made most welcome by all the family.  We crossed over a river where ladies in saris were doing their laundry, passed a 'pet' elephant kept in someone's 'back garden'  viewed and discussed the rice , lentils and many other foods being grown and saw village life at really close quarters. We saw tigers on 4 occasions, a relatively low number of sitings for our group.  We watched a male tiger stroll down the dusty road towards us, our jeep backing off every few minutes to keep a respectful distance.  He sniffed at trees, stood on his hind legs to scratch one and then caught the scent of some wild boar we had just seen and prowled off into the undergrowth in persuit.  Just then a mahoot on his elephant approached from behind.  Two park officials had joined us in our jeep.  The mahoot brought the elephant up right close, perofrmed a sort of three point turn by tapping the elephant's neck with his bare feet so that he was so close to me in the back he could almost have sat in my lap (elephant not mahoot)  I had to resist the temptation to pat it! then the spare guides climbed up from the jeep onto the elephants back and off they all went tracking the tiger we had been watching.  The there was the wedding party we got invited to one evening.  It was just such a marvellous close welcoming experience not withstanding limits of language. 

Thoughts on Group Leader

Krishna was marvelous, more of a friend then an employee.  He was always ariound to sort out difficulties and smooth our passage; managing us onto and off the trains with all our baggage was his special skill.  He worked so hard.  We were a group of 13 with quite a wide age spread.  He was so good at tactful group management so that no one person or couple was allowed to dominate.  In fact the togetherness of the group was one of the nice things about the holiday.  He kept surprising us with little add-ons such as a cookery session one night in the hotel preparing our own supper!

Advice for Potential Travellers

Take a torch; my head torch was in valuable.  My next most prized asset was my special'toilet' bag which went round my shoulders to leave hands free but provided accessible requirements such as toilet paper, gemicidal wipes, hand sanitizer, a cake of soap, tissues.  Whenever I went to 'mark my territory' all I needed to do was grab that bag and I knew I would be well provided for.  There were a few bad loos, some very good loos, one attended by a lovely lady in her sari and of course some 'au naturelle'  Ladies, get used to the idea of squat loos, easy if you are wearing a skirt and often with less of a queue and cleaner than the europen variety.  Next time I will take some Gaviscon tablets with me; I needed to borrow some when large late suppers and early bed produced indigestion and heartburn towards the end of the trip.

Most Inspirational Moment

Sitting under the stars in the Sahara desert looking at the milky way

Thoughts on Group Leader

Very good - he gave sound advice & gave the appropriate amount of information. He was available without encroaching on the groups space

Advice for Potential Travellers

Read the material that Exodus sends prior to your holiday- it is spot on.

Most Inspirational Moment

The people singing and dancing everywhere. Beautiful buildings in various states of renovation. Laz, our guide who kept us entertained and educated the whole time and lastly just getting on your bike and seeing the country.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Laz, our guide was outstanding. He had an exceptional command of English, looked after the group well and had a devilish sense of humour. His story telling on the bus was particularly enjoyable, as were his inspirational team talks. The group were always well looked after even on the dance floor! 

Advice for Potential Travellers

Go to Cuba now before it really starts to change. It is an amazing country with a lot to offer.  Cycling is ideal as it allows you to get out and see lots of different places.

Most Inspirational Moment

Snorkelling with sea lions coming over to investigate & 'play' with these strangely inflexible wetsuited humans. With penguins cormorants & sea turtles all swimming past completely unconcerned.A feeding frienzy all around the dinghy with Pelicans & Blue footed Boobies dive bombing into the shoals of fish & Noddy's waiting for the small fry to spill out of the Pelicans pouch, all unconcerned with our presence. 

Thoughts on Group Leader

As there is no overall leader for this trip, I would consider the guides in the 2 locations to be the leaders & both were excellent

Advice for Potential Travellers

Go!

Most Inspirational Moment

Entering Annapurna Sanctuary after a 7 day walk.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Kind, considerate.....incomparable.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Get fit!

Most Inspirational Moment

The optional extention to Easter Island was the main highlight of the entire holiday.  The Geysers were also an amazing experience.

Thoughts on Group Leader

The Group leader had a lovely personality and was very caring and helpful.  However, there were certain times when she was not as communicative as expected with information relating to certain aspects of the trip.

Most Inspirational Moment

Two things stick in my memory.1. Being able to walk inside a Game Reserve knowing that the previous evening on a Game drive we had come VERY close to elephants, lion and cheetah with a recent kill. Then on the walk getting very close to the cheetah and her cub.2. Walking in  the Drakensberg Mountains. One day we walked along the Tugela Gorge and even though the rains hadn't come and the river was virtually dry we had lunch in the riverbed of the gorge (thankfully there was no flash flood!). The following day we made the ascent onto the plateau via the 'terrifying' chain ladders. Unable to climb a ladder at home this was MY achievement of the trip. Coming down was much easier thank goodness.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Bongani was an excellent leader. Quiet and efficient but able to impart his knowledge when required. He has a wicked sense of humour which took us a while to suss out. After a few days we just didn't believe anything he told us!!There was a lot of driving during the trip so while we relaxed in the minibus he was working hard and then had the camps to set up on arrival.

Advice for Potential Travellers

As said before there is a lot of travelling. South Africa is a huge country and the locals think nothing of driving 100's of miles on straight, quiet roads. We rotated our seats around the bus each day as some seats had better views/more legroom than others.As we move about regularly there is a fair bit of packing/unpacking and not much room in the tents to spread. I found using bags to store underwear, shirts, trousers etc in my main pack made getting the following day's clothes ready easier.