Reviews

Another wonderful trip with Exodus

The trip was excellent from start to finish. The hotel has been described as basic but it has everything you need. It is scrupulously clean & the owner(s) / staff cannot do enough for you. There is a beach 5 minutes walk away at most & the hotel has a bar opposite where you can relax with a book & enjoy the light breeze after a walk.

Great trip

We were a group of seven people on this trip. Our tour leader’s name was Bledin (probably the wrong spelling). He was an excellent leader, very friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. For some of the time we were really just sightseeing, but when we were trekking it was quite hard work. This trip is classified as moderate, but I do feel that it should be classified as moderate/ challenging, as when we were trekking in the alps, we were on shale, which is rather challenging, especially as I’d never walked on that surface before. However, with Bledin’s help I was able to successfully negotiate the three days of trekking. Our forth walk was on rocky steps which I am more familiar with.

The Albanian people are very friendly, and helpful. The wife of one of the hoteliers even leant me a pair of boots, when mine fell apart!

All in all, a very enjoyable trip.

An excellent tour of an amazing country

This trip really does do a great job of showcasing what an amazing country Jordan is – taking you to some of its more well-known sites (e.g., Petra, the Dead Sea) and some of its lesser-known ones (I had never heard of the Wadi Mujib Siq Trail before but it was my favourite part of the trip). The trip strikes a great balance between fun activities and time to relax. The first hotel (Rum Art) is a little basic, but the standard improves as the week goes on which means you appreciate the later ones even more. I have never had longstanding ambitions to go to Jordan but, after this trip, I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Pleasant, but not an Atlantic Ride. Needs another guide with 16 people.

This was described as an Atlantic ride. We did not even glimpse the Atlantic until the end of day 3 out of 5. After that, we saw it in parts and it was lovely. It was hopelessly misdescribed. The ride was reasonable, but incredibly slow, particularly on the first 2 days, and on main roads. I am not a fast cyclist, but to travel at an average of 10 to 12kph on a flat main road is ludicrous, and dangerous. It was very hard to control the bike at these speeds and to keep stopping and starting on busy main roads is far from ideal.
The problem was that there was only one guide and no support vehicle following us, so the guide had to keep stopping and then riding very slowly. This was incredibly frustrating and annoying, especially as the scenery was boring for the first 2 days. This was not good enough.
The accommodation was a bit hit and miss. It was okay, with a couple of very poor and cramped rooms. In one hotel, not only did we get the booby prize of an unsafe room, it was also the venue for the group dinner. The food was inedible, and my husband and I ate very little. The hotel was quirky and very interesting, in Obidos, but we drew the short straw.
Overall, I would not particularly recommend this trip.

Walking and Wine - Portugal

A wonderful week of walking, port, food, scenery and good company. The walks are almost flat, but there are a couple of short uphill stints on some of the days.

Amazing trip

What an amazing experience this trip was. We saw so much it os difficult to know where to start. Brian our guide was so knoledgable about all of the animals, plants and insects we saw. He could spot a bird and tell you what it was when just a speck in the sky or perched on a distant tree. He also knew where most of the animals hang out, so we saw plenty of wildlife incuding elephants, lions, impala, giraffe, hippos, zebra and kudu among other things. We even saw a couple of cheetah and a pack of wild dogs.
There ar a lot of different experiences on this trip, from the mokoro canoes on the delta to Victoria falls. This inevibably led to some long drives. The wild camps were good fun and it was amazing what our cook Abi could produce on a camp fire and a gas ring. Although I personally don’t like it apparently the porridge was to die for!!

Cycle the Baltics review

Having had a number of cycling trips cancelled due to the Covid pandemic, I was immensely pleased to finally be able to travel again. This particular trip had been on my wish list for for a number of years and it didn’t fail to live up to my expectations. On the whole the cycling was fairly leisurely and the trip also provided the opportunity to get a flavour of the three Baltic capital cities (Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius).

Three beautiful countries, one awesome tour leader!!

This is a fabulous way to see three beautiful countries, their cities, towns, cultural hot spots and coastline!! Our awesome tour leader, Andrius, seriously optimised our time at each stop, and made sure we cycled the best routes. His local knowledge, attention to detail, sense of humour, and ability to ascertain and accommodate everyone’s wishes is exceptional. This is an amazing trip, and if you land Andrius as your guide, you’ve hit the jackpot!!

Nile Cruise + Aswan

This was an excellent trip in April 2022 – great itinerary, so much culture, fantastic guide (Tarek) and such delicious food on the Nile boat. I loved every minute of it, and so glad I went. Particular highlights for me were the temples at Karnack, Valley of the Kings, the food on the Nile boat and the yellowness of the sandstorm that engulfed us on our way back from Abu Simbel! It is however, not a trip for the faint-hearted. There are LOTS of early starts. Almost every day was a start before 7am and on a couple of days, it was up at 3am. There is LOTS of walking, I think I did about 27 miles in the 9 days – to/from temples, round museums, in/out of airports, to/from local markets etc. Personally, I am not sure I would label this as ‘leisurely’ – yes, there were no hills to climb, but it was often uneven, sandy ground we walking on and when I went, Egypt was also going through a heatwave, so it was 43 or 44 degrees every day. I ignored some of the optional extras so I could have some down time on the boat. I would also add that in additional to the ‘essentials’ listed on the what to take, you also need: sunhat, scarf to cover your shoulders and women need to wear a long skirt for the day they are going into the mosque in Cairo. Refillable water bottle and light/comfortable walking shoes – very essential! Also, take US dollars as your main currency (small denominations and not ripped notes). You will need some Egyptian pounds for some of the attractions, but everywhere they just want hard currency – even at the local markets. Final word of advice – don’t bother with the extra walk INSIDE the pyramid in Cairo. It is near vertical, baking hot and nothing to see at the end of it. My legs were wobbly for hours afterwards. Overall, this was a totally amazing trip though and hope you enjoy it.

A Fab Choice

A trip planned for 2020 finally came about. The location, trail routes, accommodation, group leader (Silvia), hotel staff (Jim and Pilar) and other hotel support staff were just amazing. I did not think I could manage my usual level 3 hikes post Covid (caught this a couple of months before) and managed to participate 3 out of 5 hiking days. My favourite trek was Cares Gorge – views were stunning, do not forget to look back (shodows cast by the mountains along the gorge by the morning sun). During our free day I went to Llanes, a lovely seaside village/town, and a nearby beach with a few members of the group. We had a great day out.