Reviews

Your Words – We tell it like it is! Holiday Reviews by previous Exodus travellers

Here at Exodus we thrive on feedback from our customers. It’s the only way we can ensure our trips continue to be the best they can be. So, for the real tales, twists and turns of the trip you’re interested in, look no further than the reviews from our previous travellers.

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14440 Reviews

4.7 out of 5

Penelope W.

Reviewed March 2015

Discover Sri Lanka (not Premium departure)

Beautiful country and friendly people plus good variety of activities, enough free time, coach journeys not too long and only one early start.

Most Inspirational Moment

Horton Plains/World's End walk was fantastic: great weather at the higher altitude and superb views.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Roshantha was quietly efficient, obliging, constantly smiling, spoke clearly and there did not seem to be any hitches. He gave us some background information on Sri Lanka (mostly history) during coach trips but not quite enough practical information e.g. what shoes to wear, leech precautions and, in Kandy, someone asked what he recommended we do in our free day and he replied that he had circled 3 places on the photocopy of the map he'd given us, with no further explanation. He never offered to accompany us during our free time, which other leaders I've had have done - maybe that was exceptional - but overall he was good and very pleasant.

Advice for Potential Travellers

The arrangements and accommodation were good so don't worry about anything. The jungle walks were not very difficult but tiring due to the humidity and heat - heavy walking boots not necessary. Seeing whales and leopards is not guaranteed! but there is lots of other wildlife + birds to see. Take a guidebook if you want to explore during free time.

Nicholas kemp

Reviewed March 2015

Shared Adventures in a stunning Country

Stunning country with multiple Climates, Landscapes and Wildlife that will take your breath way. The people truly want you to experience the best their country can offer and every interaction leaves you feeling that your time and money is valued highly.

Most Inspirational Moment

The shared experience with like minded people, our group, the leader, the drivers and local people. There was a real and tangible desire to share highlights of new wildlife, food & drink, culture and scenery.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Gustavo was a gentleman, he made sure everyone's experience in Costa Rica was the best it could be, he was always accessible if required, appearing with a sixth sence at times to translate or inform. Passionate, knowledgeable and the leader within the group, he was in it with us and you felt that you and your shared adventure mattered to him.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Book now you will not regret it

Olive Patchett

Reviewed March 2015

An amazing cycling adventure coast to coast through the soul of India

You do need to be both a confident and competent cyclist not only to cope with the wonderful mayhem that is Indian town traffic but also the distances in the heat, however the rewards of this is getting to see and visit areas of India that most do not.
The sights,sounds and smells as you ride along are a delight and a photographers dream.
The accommodation was wide ranging from modern hotels, home-stays and magical old Indian hotels. All the food through out the journey exceeded our expectations with wonderful Tamil and Keralan cuisine.
We really had a great adventure – a highly recommended trip. Thank you Exodus!

Most Inspirational Moment

It seemed at times we were passing through the very soul of India with its very colourful local ceremonies and all the many school children high fiving us as we cycled through their life.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Our group leader Shaker and his support team were excellent throughout with their mindfulness of our needs both on the mechanical side and perhaps more importantly on the relaxation and refreshment front! To get us all safely across India on a bike was no easy task!

Advice for Potential Travellers

You do need to be both a very competent and confident cyclist with stamina more important than speed to enjoy this trip to the full. Take a small pocket camera with a big memory card! Tamil food has taste attitude! Enjoy!!

Thidara Udomritkul

Reviewed March 2015

Best Trip I've done!

A brilliant and very memorable trip! The team of guides and assistant porters really brought the trip together and the food during the trek was amazing. It is a trip of a lifetime, this was genuinely the best trip I have ever done.

Most Inspirational Moment

Reaching Stella point just as the sun rose. I felt I was at my absolute limit, the sun rising over Kilimanjaro provided that final bit of inspiration and energy for the final, oxygen deprived push to Uhuru Peak!

Thoughts on Group Leader

Florence was the best leader I could've hoped for! Safety was addressed very seriously throughout the trip and we would not have reached the top without the strong leadership from the guides. They were there to support us every step of the way and all staff members were very passionate about Kilimanjaro. The guides have been up to the peak more times then they can remember!

Advice for Potential Travellers

- Bring lots of soft tissues, my nose was often blocked at night. - Volcanic ash gets everywhere, bring a nail brush if dirty nails bother you. - Make sure you bring the warmest sleeping bag you possibly can, you will not regret the investment. - Drink lots and lots of water.

Peter Lockwood

Reviewed March 2015

Cycling Cuba

Good trip. Cuba is a very interesting place which I still didn’t understand despite lots of presentations by our group leader. The riding is graded ‘moderate’ but I’d say it’s top end of moderate, verging on moderate/challenging, compared with the other moderate trip we’ve done, Indo-China.

Most Inspirational Moment

Cycling along back roads (dirt tracks) through villages and through the mountains, seeing the wilder side of Cuba.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Jose was great. When the bus broke down, he was very versatile and made sure we didn't loose a day's riding which could easily have happened. Wicked sense of humour and a dirty laugh to go with it..

Advice for Potential Travellers

You're advised to take your own snacks on several trips. For this one, you really need them. And if you're a tea addict like me, take some tea bags as well (the coffee's not too good either).

John And Wendy Lawton

Reviewed March 2015

An Awesome Experience!

An excellent trip in every respect. As Exodus “first-timers” we were a little unsure what to expect but in every way the experience exceeded our expectations. The staff were outstanding and under Tour Leader of the Year, Suresh Bandara, nothing was too much trouble for them. Organisation and planning was faultless, minor issues were fixed instantly. We truly cycled the backroads with regular, welcome “3 minute chats” on the history, culture and natural history of this wonderful country. So much more than just a cycling trip. We’ll never forget the smiling faces and we were even lucky enough to see a Leopard in Yala

Most Inspirational Moment

Being immersed in a developing country, with poverty evident, and yet seeing excited, smiling faces, initiative, resourcefulness and a "make-do-and-mend" attitude. Wonderful to be in such a positive environment with proud locals determined to make sure you had a good time. Joining a group of like-minded people who you've never met before, rapidly making friends and developing a team, committed to working together and watching out for each other (or perhaps we were just lucky!)

Thoughts on Group Leader

We were privileged to be with Suresh when he received news that he was Exodus Tour Leader of the Year. No surprise to us whatsoever! Gentle, kind and humble and yet authoritative and assertive when ensuring the group was treated as he felt we should be. Knowledgeable and proud, we lapped up his many intelligent, witty explanations of all aspects of Sri Lankan life and culture. He took us to a fantastic selection of local family run tea houses and restaurants, always ensuring we had the option to try a wide range of local delicacies. Planning and organisation faultless and absolutely reliable. Hard to imagine there is a better tour leader working for any company!

Advice for Potential Travellers

A couple of days saw quite tough cycling - you really need to be a cyclist to do this tour and have some recent miles in your legs. It will be hot and humid, ensure you drink a lot and use the regular rests wisely. Bugs were not a problem provided you used DEET - around dawn and dusk this was vital. Cycle light with bits and pieces for the day in the minibus in your hand luggage daysac. Take £ and change some at the airport, topping up in the bigger towns (Suresh will always make sure you get the best rate!). Wear a cotton peaked cap, which you can soak in water, under your helmet to help keep cool and keep the sun off you face.

Kathleen LOCKER

Reviewed March 2015

Amalfi coast

scenery excellent, but walking was much harder than I expected–and I have done about 60 Munros. V steep ascents + descents. Hotel clean, staff v friendly and helpful but food rather disappointing. However, the paninis we had at lunchtime were excellent.

Most Inspirational Moment

The ascent of Vesuvius.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Excellent. Knowledgeable about the area and its history.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Do lots of training on hills before you go.

Roger Hargrove

Reviewed March 2015

Vietnam 2015

A comprehensive trip covering many aspects and places of Vietnam from Hanoi to Saigon. The trip included several days of moderately intense activities such as hiking, bicycling and kayaking. Areas visited included large cities to small isolated villages. Other modes of travel were a day and night on a boat and train.

Most Inspirational Moment

Visits to small home businesses which gave insight into everyday life and experience of locals.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Cong was a fun and thoughtful guide who took great care of the group and organized many optional activities for dining and entertainment. I highly recommend him as a tour leader.

Advice for Potential Travellers

We didn't need to take our bike helmets or sleeping bags because helmets were supplied and it was warm enough to just use the supplied sheets/blankets. Not sure if this is for all trips, but it would have been good to know to save luggage space.

Kate Kidd

Reviewed March 2015

One of the best

You may be in the wilderness, but if you like adventure you will run out of time before things to do.
I loved the dog sledging (you can have your own sledge and dog team), the snow shoeing, the cross country skiing, the sledging etc. There is also the option for extra’s and I’d recommend the skiing in Rukha and full day dog sledging. There is plenty of option for free extra’s too as you can use the equipment to walk the bear route with snow shoes and do local cross skiing.
You can get away with taking little cash and paying for most things by card at the end of the week. For a remote base camp the food is good, the room clean and warm with underfloor heating and the equipment good quality. The only down side is the taster sessions could have covered more ground e.g. the snow shoe taster guide session had a bit too much talking and not enough walking, but a few of us made up for it with a walk to village after. This was a small issue for an otherwise incredible trip.

Most Inspirational Moment

1) A couple of us walked the bear route and the pure magical beauty of snow, river and trees was uplifting. 2) The dog sledging also gave a sense of companionship and adventure. 3) The night walk was hilarious as we kept disappearing up to our waists in snow. ... 3 rather than 1 inspirational moment, but thats representative of how good the week was.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Teddy was very good. Entertaining, informative and attentive. He engaged the group well and was very clear with instructions. He has a very relaxed manner and got the best out of the group. He also worked very hard to ensure all 20 people got an opportunity to do everything they wanted to despite high demand for some activities, which meant he had to split optional activities over a couple of days.

Advice for Potential Travellers

You can pack light as they do provide all the gear. Suggest you take a couple of base layers, trainers and casual clothes for the evening. You don't need a lot of cash as the activities, your bar bill etc can be paid by card at the end of the week. You may want some cash if you eat out at Rukha or take a taxi back seperately to the organised bus.

James Baxter

Reviewed March 2015

Challenging but rewarding!

This was a demanding but thoroughly enjoyable trip for a pair of novice walkers. It was our first ever walking holiday and as the trip loomed we were worried that we may have been a bit ambitious selecting a Moderate/Challenging trek despite doing a good amount of preparatory walking to get fit. The walking was tough with around 800-1000 metres of accent on each walk coupled to quite long days. A couple of our fellow travellers who had been on other ‘challenging’ grade trips mentioned that they thought this trek was more demanding. This is probably down to the fact that the terrain is very rocky and uneven in places and considerable sections of the walks were on rough trails which was quite hard on the feet. The ascents were generally not a problem and although hard work they were conducted at a civilised pace with everyone finding their own speed.

There is an excellent balance to the days which were very satisfying with the hard work being rewarded by some fantastic views over the surrounding area, which is totally unspoilt and a world away from the costal resorts of Alicante and Benidorm. More importantly (I think) there was a heavy emphasis on refreshments in the evenings with plenty of food, wine and beer which I don’t think anyone felt the least bit guilty about indulging in after a day’s toil in the hills.

The accommodation was very good. The first hotel was clean and basic with a good breakfast and dinner in the evenings. The second hotel, which I was expecting to be more remote and rustic, was Casa Roc in the lovely little village of Sella. This was a charming spot with clean and comfortable rooms and communal kitchen areas and terraces. The honesty bar with its seemingly inexhaustible supply of beer and wine was particularly popular. We didn’t find sharing facilities too much of an issue, we shared a bathroom with two other people and were quite happy to trade the earlier slot in the shower for an extra half hour in bed! The hosts Steve and Liz were very friendly and clearly work hard to keep their guests happy. Liz did a fantastic job producing delicious authentic Mediterranean meals for us in the evenings, no mean feat considering how many people she was catering for. Steve did an equally good job keeping the jugs of wine and the bread baskets topped up.

There were 14 people in our group and without exception everyone was friendly and sociable and for us this really made the holiday that extra bit special. There were people who were obviously more experienced and fitter than us but they were very supportive and encouraging, especially when we expressed doubts about joining the group on the last day for the climb to the 1408 metre summit.

Most Inspirational Moment

The last days walk to the summit of was definitely the hardest part of the trip but the sense of achievement and the views from the top were spectacular. Even Benidorm looked nice!

Thoughts on Group Leader

Jose is a fantastic guide and has a great sense of humour. He has a wealth of knowledge about the area and is obviously very passionate about it. It can’t be easy trying to keep 14 people organised and motivated but he did a great job. He encouraged people to take their time and didn’t pressurise people to go faster than they felt comfortable on the more difficult sections. On our free day he offered suggestions on what we could do and offered to organise transfers back from the costal town of Villajoyosa, and generally acted as mediator, translator and negotiator.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Walking poles and good strong boots with ankle support are a must if like me your knees don’t like going downhill. Also water was only available from springs on one of the five days of walking so take heed of the trip notes which advise you to bring two 1 litre bottles. The tap water from the hotels is perfectly safe to drink. Despite it being early March several of the days were pretty hot (by British standards) and shade is often elusive, and with 7-8 hours of walking you may need more water than you think.

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