Review: Tour of Australia & New Zealand, Queenstown, Sydney, Port Douglas, Cape Otway, Great Barrier Reef, Opera House

The trip put together by this travel agency was AWESOME!! During the planning stage, our travel planner listened carefully to our general planning ideas and talked with us about our previous travels and what we liked and disliked about the activities on those trips. She coordinated conference calls to ensure that she had input from each of the four of us. She provided insight and sensitive opinions to our original general itinerary ideas that were ‘spot on’, and together we were able to hone in on what we considered to be a perfect schedule for all four of us. For example, our travel planner highly recommended that we spend at least one night, if not two, at the an ecolodge in Cape Otway along the Great Ocean Road.  We changed our travel dates by a few days to wait for them to open in the spring. That was truly one of the memorable highlights of our trip. 

Once we signed the contracts, the rest of the travel company staff were mobilized. Just like our travel planner, they were all friendly and personable, while providing very professional and competent assistance and guidance through the process. They were all very good about communicating with everyone in our group about what we needed to do and where they were in the process of finalizing our arrangements. 

One of the people in our group had a serious accident only a few days before the commencement of our adventure, which meant that the two of them were not able to share in the travel experience. The advanced test of an excellent travel agency is not in the initial planning, but in how they handle a last minute change to the plan. Our travel company really came through for all of us - making changes with all of their providers on short notice and almost immediately providing all the information necessary for making travel insurance claims (ALWAYS get travel insurance!!). 

The hotels/apartments that the company booked for us were elegant and well-appointed, as well as being centrally located for our activities. There were absolutely no hitches in the itinerary - from transportation to and from the airports to pick-ups for our scheduled tours and activities. The individual tour guides were excellent - knowledgeable and personable. 

If you are looking for an extremely organized, knowledgeable, insightful and experienced travel agency for Australia and New Zealand, we HIGHLY recommend this company!! They made us feel like we we were their most important client - a sentiment shared by another of their clients that we met along the way!