Vietnam & Laos Luxury Trip Review: Ho Chi Minh City, Vientiane, Plain of Jars, Motorbike Rickshaw Rides, Rowing Sampans

The company we chose for our trip to Vietnam and Laos and the travel planner (and Branch Manager), did an excellent job planning and managing our trip.  We wanted to visit Hanoi, HCMC (Saigon), Luang Prabang and Vientiane.  Our planner took that basic request and turned it into a fascinating trip.  We stayed in excellent hotels, had an interesting itinerary each day, were guided by very good English speaking guides, and were provided well chosen diversions along the way.
I am a veteran of the war in Vietnam and wanted to visit some specific areas that would not be included on a normal small group tour so we were looking for a travel company that would plan the trip for only my wife and me.  We were fortunate to find this travel company and planner who tailored the trip to meet our specific requests.  We were met by knowledgable English speaking tour guides at each of the five destinations we selected and were provided our own guide, driver, vehicle and itinerary at each stop.  We were delighted by the quality of the hotels.  While all of them were very good, we particularly enjoyed the hotel in Ninh Ninh, the Cruise on Halong Bay, the hotel in Luang Prabang and the hotel in Saigon.  The guides and drivers were all excellent.  Everyone went out of their way to make sure we were safe, comfortable and enjoying our trip.  The itinerary included variations such as rides on motorbike rickshaws, rowing sampans, a rowboat trip up a beautiful, meandering river among scenic karst hills, and speedboat trips on Halong Bay and the Saigon River.
A wonderful feature of our individually planned trip was the ability to adjust as we went along, canceling or shortening some visits while we extended or added some other events.