Reviews

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

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1 Reviews

3 out of 5

Nickey Knight

Reviewed October 2025

Highs and lows

There was a lot of bus/ travel time on this journey. Given that, I felt that some days were very poorly planned.
Examples:
One day all we did was cross the border to Turkmenistan. We started at 1:pm and it took 2 hours. The next day there was a six hour excursion to a UNESCO site. Then back to the city for lunch. Then another 5.5 hour drive out to the gas crater. Obviously the UNESCO excursion could have been done the previous afternoon if we would have crossed the border in the morning. Then we would have arrived for sunset at the camp. Instead we were driving in the dark on a very poor and dangerous road, arriving stressed. As an aside, some passengers got bed bug bites at the camp.

The day we arrived in Uzbekistan we had been travelling for 9 hours. All we wanted was our hotel, a drink and some food. Sergi proceeded to say we had to go to the summer palace and a silk factory that night. The whole group was fed up and we did not enjoy either one. These activities were scheduled for the next day.

Anyway there were many days like this; it was agreed by all that we would prefer to get to our hotel in the late afternoon in order to unwind and perhaps explore on our own. There was no need for so many late check ins.

Most hotels were adequate. I did not have high expectations. Rooms were clean and comfortable. However, the breakfasts were horrendous. Cold food, empty buffet trays, very little offered.

Most Inspirational Moment

Seven lakes Tajikistan was stunning. Cities of Khiva and Bhukara were great.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Ocsana in Kyrgyzstan was friendly, sweet and helpful. Our Turkmenistan guide was very good. Very engaging. Simple straightforward information. I have forgotten his name! Sergi in Uzbekistan/ Tajikistan was very poor. He prattled on for hours, talking very loudly into a microphone while driving in the bus. Reading page after page of statistics, history etc from his iPad. Completely vacuous that most of us were wearing noise cancelling headphones to block it out. After spending 4 hours in a bus we would stop at a market and he would announce : go to the toilet and you can look around for 12 minutes!! Yet we would spend 90 minutes at a horribly busy lunch spot with poor service and long waits.

Advice for Potential Travellers

The travel times are way longer than what’s stated. Be prepared to see a ton of mosques mausoleums. Some ancient sites were not worth the drive. I wish there would have been more natural sites or cultural activities vs so many historical sites. For instance passengers in our group organized an archery and falconry demonstration. And another arranged a viewing of a game of “goat polo”. Neither of these things was on the itinerary but were refreshing and fun.

Reply from Exodus

We’re grateful to Nickey for leaving a review, and we’re glad she found Seven Lakes in Tajikistan to be stunning and enjoyed the cities of Khiva and Bukhara. It’s also great to hear that our guide in Kyrgyzstan was friendly, sweet and helpful, and that our Turkmenistan leader was engaging and effective.

We’re sorry that the pacing and amount of travel time on certain days detracted from Nickey’s experience – this is a full on trip covering five countries in a relatively short period of time but we’ve acted on this feedback and have revised the itinerary to reduce long road journeys and improve the flow of the trip: the visit to Kunya Urgench now takes place on the day of the border crossing from Khiva into Turkmenistan (so sightseeing isn’t pushed into the evening), the gas crater has been removed because the flames are diminishing and it’s no longer the highlight it once was, and, crucially, the poor‑quality road section to and from the crater has been eliminated and replaced with a flight between Dashoguz and Ashgabat. We’ve also added a train journey between Samarkand and Bukhara to bring more variety and cut back a road transfer.

We’ve noted Nickey’s comments about breakfasts. Hotels in Turkmenistan offer limited morning options, so for 2026 we’re arranging for the leader to carry fruit on the bus for anyone who’d like something extra alongside what’s provided at the hotels.

We also recognised Nickey and her group’s the desire for more cultural and nature‑focused moments alongside the rich history. An eagle‑hunting demonstration is now included in the trip, adding hands‑on local culture to complement the historical sites.

We hugely appreciate Nickey taking the time to share such detailed feedback about this itinerary. We’re glad she found there to be some really memorable highlights, and we appreciate the candid suggestions that have directly shaped improvements we have made to the trip for future travellers.

– Thomas Manchester, Exodus Product Manager for Central Asia