Holidays, Packages and Travel to Asia, Fiji, Britain, Europe : ixplore

Do you have a good experience of travelling with i-xplore that you would like to share with others? We would love to hear from you, please send your feedback to: sales@ixplore.com.au

Hello,
Just want to say how much I enjoyed our holiday in Thailand. I was in the group organised by Janis Adams. We were hesitant about going after the media reports of trouble in Thailand, but found it did not impact on our trip. All the travel arrangements were first class & we were looked after by I-xplore & their associates in Thailand magnificently. We enjoyed the personalised treatment, plus the efficiency with which they carried out their role. The only hitch was our trip to the River Kwai, which was delayed by the union protest. However, the guide they organised as a replacement was brilliant. Please pass on to them my appreciation of the skill Jeff showed with his English and knowledge of the area. He was most courteous and helpful in giving us answers too many and varied queries about life in Thailand. Thank you very much for the efficient way in which you organised, with short notice, our trip.
I will recommend I-xplore to any contemplating a trip to Asia, and will certainly use the company again.
Many thanks,
DE (SA)

Afternoon,
I would like to offer some feedback on IXPLORE's services if I may. I travelled to Thailand (Bangkok and Phuket) in June of this year, and am currently organising a trip to the UK and Thailand for Christmas with Michelle Richardson of your organisation.
I would like to state that I am extremely impressed with the professionalism, diligence and efficiency that Michelle demonstrates whilst doing her job. She consistently responds promptly to all my requests and queries, always in a pleasant and friendly manner.
I would like to thank Michelle for her outstanding service and request that IXPLORE management acknowledge this also.
MW (VIC)

How are you?
I just thought I would let you know that after we met at the Fiji Tourism conference I spoke at 2 years ago, I have been meaning to become a customer of yours, but only managed to do so last week, booking a package to KL.
I wanted to congratulate you on your employee Amanda, who helped me with my booking.
She is the most pleasant person I've dealt with all last week - she was courteous, friendly and an absolute pleasure to deal with.
Hope you're well and hope to catch up soon.
Regards,
Trevor

Dear Julie,

I understand you are the person to whom I am to contact if I want to rave about the good the bad or the downright ugly. Recently my daughter and I organised through i-xplore a holiday to Vietnam. First off I could not have had a better person to help with this than Dean.

Dean ALWAYS made me feel that nothing was too hard for him to do and was ALWAYS cheerful no matter what had to be done, he was ALWAYS prompt in returning calls. Although I never spoke with him face to face he ALWAYS made me feel as if I was. And that was important to me. I think many people probably feel the same. That its more personal when you are face to face with anyone that you are doing business with. however Dean took all fears away and I felt as if I had actually met him. I thank you Dean and i-xplore for a wonderful holiday and I have NO HESITATION in booking my next holiday with you and definately will ,and already have, recommended both to my family and friends should they ever think of going on a holiday especially to Vietnam.

The other commendation I would very much like to give to is to Asian Trail in Vietnam, ESPECIALLY Pham Thamh Tung, the absolute best guide anywhere. Not just in Vietnam. Tung was at the airport to pick us up and to take us to our hotel. From that moment on I knew what it was like to be "Royalty". I was treated like I was a Queen. There was NOTHING that he did not do or make available for us. Tung's behaviour was impeccable, he had fun but was always on the ball to see that EVERYTHING was safe, secure and no one was doing anything like, hassling us or doing anything they shouldn't. He watched over our bags if we put them down. No matter where we were in Vietnam he made sure we were treated with respect and dealt with promptly. For instance, he got 4 fully uniformed soldiers, complete with white gloves, carry me in my wheelchair up 70-80 steps, maybe more altogether, right through the HCM mausoleum. We couldn't take a photo as cameras were not allowed. Everybody had to stand aside because I was coming through.

He gave my daughter the biggest bunch of flowers for her birthday, which happened to be the same day as Ho Chi Min. He hand delivered to our hotel. He took us to local restaurants that never charged us like 5 star hotels do . He was with us everyday, took us to see everything we wanted, checked us in to our hotels, checked our luggage, checked us out of our hotels and delivered us to the airport and checked us through and delivered us right to customs. By the way we never paid him a cent, which astounded all the groups we encountered, until he had checked our luggage through Thai Airlines. Tung never asked for a tip or changed what he did for us even though we never tipped him all the time in Vietnam, though we tipped his driver and others along the way. He often told us how much to give them even if we thought we should give more. Looking back it was always good. It was then we tipped him. We were able to offload onto him all the VNN dong we had left and a very special monetary gift that made my holiday the BEST EVER!

Asian Trails have a huge asset in Tung, the best guide ever, and we would like you to know of him . A good worker benefits a company and increases its business or as a bad worker can break a company. Having been in business myself I am very aware of the value of exceptional staff and believe in giving credit where credit is due.

As for Thai Airlines, we never went through security customs or anything else. A couple of times a "customs" man came to us while we sat in a special vehicle which we walked no further than out the opposite side everyone else was disembarking from the aircraft, to this special vehicle which took us directly to the next aircraft. Everybody else had over 1 km to walk.

Many thanks to i-xplore for organising such a fantastic trip to Vietnam. Please pass on my appreciation to all the members of your team responsible. A group of 33 is big but your partners in Vietnam handled the group and our challenges really well. The feedback was so positive about the quality of food and also the accommodation on the Junk in Halong Bay and at Ancient House Resort in Hoi An. It exceeded our expectations.

We really weren’t expecting such consistently delicious banquets or the little extras Ancient House provided – a welcome banner, welcome drinks, a beautiful birthday cake plus the complimentary BBQ. The rooms were so exciting and as a group we appreciated the pool as it proved a focal point for us to meet around.

Our appreciation goes also to our three tour guides – each different but with their own style. Several of the group commented that they had not realised the value of a guide and loved having someone on hand to “quiz” about anything and everything.

Mr Kha’s knowledge on history, politics and of our culture was incredible and he was calm and so experienced.

Mr Cong coped well with our large group – who was getting rather confident by Hoi An. He organised a cake at very short notice which was a super surprise for the party girl. Also his daughter made a mask which my nieces really valued and have taken for “show and tell” at school.

Mr Tranh’s fabulous smile and energy was so welcome after our flight. He was really supportive when a member of our party ended up needed hospitalisation and again when a member of our group lost her ticket. Also he was so attentive to ensure we knew the plane was delayed and then again to ensure his replacement guide arrived to take us to the airport. For you this may be a standard service but I was very impressed and feel he went “beyond the call of duty”.

Several people had not been on a tour before and commented they would certainly use i-xplore for future tours. The senior staff at the Institute were also very impressed and my hospitality students certainly “observed” and learnt a lot – even though the goal was relaxation and touring.
SB, VIC.

Our Vietnam Holiday was fantastic, thank-you so much for the recommendation to explore a different country. Thanks for calling me yesterday as well to see how our holiday went, that was very kind of you. I am very impressed with the excellent service i-xplore Holidays have provided.

We were overwhelmed by so many things we saw and by all the people at the market who wanted us to buy something from their stalls. It was very interesting to see so many rice fields and how busy the streets are with so many motorbikes. It was amazing, especially when crossing the road. It was great!!!

Nha Trang was simply breath taking. I can’t tell you how much l enjoyed relaxing on the roof top pool sipping on cocktails. Roof top dining was very romantic as well. All the people we met including the private tour guides who picked us up from the airport and transferred us to our hotel were lovely and very friendly.

In Nha Trang, we did a day trip and explored 4 islands, snorkelled, danced, sang karaoke, ate some magnificent food and delicious fruit and really enjoyed the floating bar at happy hour.

Ho Chi Minh City was exciting and lots of fun, the longer we stayed the better we got at bargaining with the locals. They were all so friendly, we had an absolute ball.
MK, VIC

Wow! What a great holiday. Thanks to everyone at i-xplore. We gave i-xplore a smorgasbord of wants for our holiday and we were absolutely delighted that all our requests were met beyond our expectations.

We were off (to Kota Kinabalu) to give Alan (65yrs) an opportunity to do his favourite hobby, climbing mountains and he was delighted with the holiday and the climb. The climb was tough but well organised and an amazing experience for him

Alan’s wife and myself were on a more relaxed mission of just wanting to enjoy the tropical weather with the luxuries of the hotel, the fine food, some tours and of course shopping, which is our hobby. The holiday was well thought out right down to the last detail of blending all our wants and needs.

Kota Kinabalu was a new adventure for us and we loved it. The locals have a wonderful approach to tourists making us feel welcome wherever we went, we will return to enjoy it again. Thanks i-xplore for making our holiday so special.
A N & V, VIC.

Just wanted to let you know what a wonderful time we had on our Malaysian holiday that i-xplore organized for us. Our favorite time was in Kota Kinabalu. The Shangri La Tanjung Aru was beautiful and the staff were wonderful always bidding us Good Morning etc and anticipating our needs while we dined. An extremely relaxing time and would recommend this hotel to one and all.

While visiting Malaysia our most memorable time was an overnight trip to Sandakan and to the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. We were so lucky to see 11 Orangutan’s including 2 tiny babies. This experience is very hard to put into words but I found it heart warming, funny, sad (that there was a need for these wonderful animals to be there to be rehabilitated) and grateful that this centre is there so that these, (almost human beings), will not become extinct because of the love and care of the people and the Rehabilitation Centre.

One of the final things we did to finish our Sandakan visit was to have lunch at the English Tea House. The setting was just like in the movies, white linen table cloths, flowers, silver service, and to finish with a game of croquet was just hilarious.

We did so much, we saw so much, but still there is so more to see and do. We look forward to completing our Malaysia trip in the future and of course booking through the experts at ‘i-xplore’.
H & L D, VIC.

I wish to thank you for the refund recently received from our last Bali holiday due to the cancellation of flights (from Bali). It was completely unexpected and a nice surprise and very heart warming in this world where graft and greed is so widespread. Thank you again for your honour.
MA, WA.

Hi Tani - our holiday was fantastic!!!
Every aspect of the trip that you arranged for us was perfect - from the seating allocations (leg room) to the transfers to the hotel etc etc all great.
The location of the hotel was perfect in that we weren't right in the middle of all the mayhem, but close enough to be amongst it when we chose. The weather was really warm, not always sunny but no rain so it was great.
I have just spoken to a friend (Melinda) who I have recommended should contact you because she is thinking of a winter week's break and not sure where to go.
I also noticed on your website that your company does Europe. Matt and I are taking a holiday in March, so if you have expertise in that area we would like to talk to you about that holiday as well! I hope we don't become pests!! J
Thanks again,
Debbie