Insider Journeys

The Wonders of India – Travelled with a family party of 17 on a guided tour, starting in New Delhi and including Jaipur and Agra. Our tour guide was Vikas and the bus driver LAL and assistant Joshi. It was spectacular and Vikas brought the history and environment to life with professionalism and great knowledge. Despite the traffic conditions, none of us felt anxious… Read more

with the expert driving and assistance. We stopped at enjoyable places to eat lunch and took advantage of great shopping as well. My expectations and those of my family were well and truly met which has further fuelled our desire to come back and see more.

Many thanks to Vikas, LAL and Joshi and if we were able to come back we would certainly hope we could have them to assist us.

Helen

Waiting for refund since 2020 – We came back early from Vietnam in April 2020 because of Covid and we were informed about 2 months later that we would receive a refund ,we still haven’t received it .We were told they didn’t have the funds then. Would not recommend them to any one

Iconic India – This is my second small group tour with Insider Journeys and from the moment of enquiry with Tina to the completion of the tour with Tour Leader Krista, my journey via planes, trains, jeeps, tuk tuks, cycle rickshaws, boats and mini bus was effortless and a joy. The tour commenced in Delhi where I met my six fellow travellers and ended in… Read more

Udaipur. There were so many highlights, e.g. spending time on safari observing two Bengal tigers in Bandhavgarh National Park, witnessing fascinating Varanasi ceremonies and cremations from a long boat in the Ganges, chuckling at the ornate carvings of the Kama Sutra in Khajuraho, assisting with bread making in a Sikh Temple community kitchen, meeting extremely friendly and welcoming local people whilst walking through rural villages, experiencing a stunning sunset from a boat on Lake Pichola before dinner at a lakeside restaurant with the illuminated City Palace as a backdrop and much more. I have travelled extensively and did not expect India to have the profound effect on me that it did. Yes, there is terrible poverty, bumpy roads and garbage in abundance but the people of India were exceptionally welcoming and have secured a place in my heart forever. I am exceedingly impressed that Insider Journeys is not involved in the use of animals to entertain tourists and that they use local guides as well as excellent tour leaders. Krista was outstanding in her professionalism and caring attitude.

Ten Insider Journeys tours (nee Travel Indochina) done in five years!!! – I have done ten small group tours with this company over the last five years, with group sizes ranging from 17 at the largest (Japan) to just me on one of them (India). Travelling can throw up all sorts of problems and situations but I must say I found all the trips to be well run and fantastic experiences. I have read the other reviews on this… Read more ·  1

website and only once encountered a local guide who was out to make a fast buck. I didn't complain but in retrospect I should have got straight on the phone to Head Office - lesson learned! Once in ten trips and numerous guides is a pretty good hit rate! In any case, you have to keep your wits about you when immersed in the local tourist nomenclature - find out what a reasonable tip is, pre-agree tuk-tuk costs, avoid 'only available now' tours you don't want at that moment (they're always available), and haggle prices charged.

I booked all trips online with the IJ office in Oxford, UK and have dealt with the same people there for all the trips. (India x3, Sri Lanka, Japan, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos). I can strongly recommend this company - it has been around for quite a while and is well established in each of the destinations I visited.

Bon voyage! :)

It was fantastic – My husband and I recently did an Insider Journeys 7 day tour of Cambodia. We were so pleased we did it. Our 2 guides, one in Phnom Penh and the other in Siem Reap were excellent. Both spoke great english and their knowledge of the areas was amazing. My husband pulled a calf muscle in Phnom Penh and Sok our guide was so caring of him, helping… Read more

him up and down steps and walking of rough ground, he treated my husband as if he would his own father. Our accommodation was excellent , they were always on time and telling us where to go when we had spare time. Would recommend to anyone. An excellent company. D

Vietnam – We booked a private tour for 3 people through our travel agent and she used Insider Journeys as the provider in Vietnam. We had 20 days all up in Vietnam and found Insider Journeys guides and drivers to be excellent. We were always picked up on time from our hotels or airports. The guides were very knowledgeable and their English was very good.… Read more

All our hotels were excellent, the only change we would probably have made was to fly from Ho Chi Min City to Dalat, rather than going by road. I would highly recommend them for private tours.

Great tour of north and central Vietnam – Hi All, We have just returned from a 16 day tour with a few days in Hanoi, Halong Bay, Sapa, Hue and Hoi An with Insider Journeys which was organised through our local travel agent. Overall the tour was extremely well organised and the places were all booked and local tour guides were outstanding. Hotel staff at Hanoi hotel were the pick… Read more

of all our hotel staff with Hue Saigon Morin Hotel the slackest and least helpful. Insider Journeys guides were both fantastic with intimate local knowledge and plenty of history lessons for both of us. Tam our Sapa guide was especially helpful and patience in his delivery of local people’s and their customs. More to come when I get to the laptop soon, Regards Ben

2 years, still no refund!! – We were due to travel to Vietnam April 2020 and like everyone trip was cancelled due to Covid. We have received all refunds except for Insider Journeys. We are astounded that a company that's been in the travel industry for 25 years would treat their customers like this. Very disappointing. Can we please have our money back Show details

2 years later, still waiting on a refund – Despite numerous (and ongoing) promises of a full refund for our cancelled tour, Insider Journeys still has not provided 1 cent, nor will they provide any estimates of when our money will be returned to us. We have been very understanding of the situation facing the industry thus far, but as we approach 2 years of waiting, we have lost all faith… Read more

in this company.

I would think very carefully before trusting any promises of refunds of cancellations made in their new marketing material.

Unethical company - still waiting for refund for trip cancelled due to COVID – Do not give any money to Insider Journeys. They are criminal. My family booked a trip with them which was cancelled and 6 months later we are still waiting for a refund. Show details

Poor itinerary and time management at our expense – 3. Insider journey booking number IN/940786 Flight Centre highly recommended and organized this Insider Journeys provided by Freedom Road Travel tour of Suzhou gardens, Wuzhen and Hangzhou 5 days/ 4 nights. 2 nights in Suzhou were in a (NO Star ) Chinese hotel with no air conditioning and no continental breakfast ( only chinese breakfast made… Read more

us unwell the first morning.) This was a breach of contract as our itinerary stated that we would be in a 3 or 4 star accommodation.

We complained about the accommodation and breakfast and where taken to a Starbucks and had breakfast at our expense.

2nd day

The day started with a pick up at 9.30am and return to Hotel at 2.30 pm end of tour for that day. When asked why the tour was short, our guide blamed Flight Centre for organizing the tour itinerary. I said that you are on the ground here and we do not know if a park/garden takes 30minutes or half a day to see. The guide did not have an answer and basically we felt we spent 2 days in Suzhou, when all could have been seen in 1 day. This was poor itinerary and time management at our expense.

On the 3rd day we were picked up from our hotel at 9am after no sleep from room being hot and humid with no air conditioning.

I blasted our guide for the poor accommodation and breakfast and he said his office had not returned his calls from the previous day.

We had 2.5 hour drive to our next Wuzhen Water Town attraction which was spectacular but because we left the hotel late at 9am and after having breakfast at Starbucks at our expense, we got caught in a china traffic jam. The 3 to 4 hours that we were to have at Wuzhen Water Town was cut to under 2 hours. We still wanted to walk the shop side of the channel and take in all of what it had to offer, but we ran out of time, again due to poor time management from the guide. We could have easily left our hotel at 8am that day.

Day 5.

On the last day our guide wanted to leave Hangzhou at 9am to travel the 3 hours back to Shanghai to end the tour. We went AWOL and texted our guide that we would be ready for pickup at 11.30am as we wanted to walk and catch a buggy that travelled around the West Lakes at Hangzhou which time did not permit the previous day.

During our journey back to Shanghai in the afternoon we found out that the guide had to pick up another tour group from the Airport at 2.30pm and wanted to cut our tour short. Our itinerary stated end of tour at 4.30pm at our hotel in Shanghai.

Concluding comments.

We are busy people and wanted a so called professional team (Flight Centre) to organize our China trip.

The result was a combination of errors and passing the blame onto others with us coming home disappointed that we did not receive what we paid for and we were put into stressful and unnecessary situations on our so called holiday!.

We have given a written review of the tour Suzhou Gardens, Wuzhen and Hangzhou 5 days/ 4 nights tour to our guide which he was to hand to Freedom Road Travel office..

We pointed out the poor time management, food (breakfast) and below par accommodation and stated point blank that we would never tour with them again.

Our tour ended 3 weeks ago and we have not heard from Insider Journeys or Freedom Road Travel or Flight Centre – except an email to ask if we had kept our train tickets and would give a refund difference between a non window and window seat which angered us even further as no amount of refund will make up for a 1900 klm train trip with no window.

Insider Journey/Freedom Road Travel attention to detail and customer care is non-existent. They can’t even provide 3 or 4 star accommodation as stated in their brochure and Flight Centre are also partly to blame as they associate themselves with these cowboy tour operators and recommend them to trusting customers.

We have travelled to China before with Intrepid which was brilliant so we know what a well organised tour can be which makes this Private Tour really disappointing and a total rip off.

With this being the second holiday booked through flight Centre after the Bali Trip last year and spending around $8500.00 on this China Escape, we thought your team would have looked after us during our travels, but this did not happen.

No value inconsistency with product value – Booking invalidated no refund... host party out of control seriously wondering if this is worth while no precise conception in detail...

Cambodia to Vietnam Amazing – Who's what can we say, from start to finish we had the best of the best with all our tour guides. Just loved every moment. Thank you Nancy you are worth more than you think. My husband and I will never forget our 25th Anniversary spent with insider journeys. We are now looking at doing Japan.

Very disappointed. Did not deliver on advertised highlights – Vietnam and Cambodia in April this year. Was looking forward to a lovely cruise along the Mekong in the boat advertised and I had paid for an upgrade to a delux suite. One week before departure (too late to change) was told that boat had been overbooked and we where on another. The boats rooms were tiny and extremely cramped, our meals where… Read more

outdoors with all the subsequent insect life and it was definitely not the luxury cruise as advertised. Also advertised seeing Ankor Wat at sunrise. Instead of getting our tickets the day before, we had to line up at 5am, then there was a problem getting the tickets and we arrived 30 mins after sunrise. Very poor organisation. Our hotels we below standard, I unfortunately had several lots of bedding with holes and stains on them. Not 4 or 5 star, more like 2.

False Advertising – We saw advertisement in the Sunday Telegraph in November 2017 for a personal tour of Sri Lanka. Included were TWO safari trips in Yala National Park. We made a booking. Each time we received an email with the itinerary it showed TWO safari trips until the final one which showed only ONE in the itinerary but TWO in the inclusions. We did not pick… Read more

up this change until we arrived in Sri Lanka. When we questioned it we were told " TWO was a printing error" . When questioning the matter back in Australia the answer was " a mistake of our product team" . Since the trip was well documented several times in a national newspaper, we feel it should be classified as FALSE ADVERTISING.

Awesome tour – We did 14 days in Vietnam & Cambodia from our pick up from the airport to the finish of our tour it was exceptional. Our tour guide was Dara and nothing was a bother to her she made everything go smoothly and was always interesting and informative. Hotels were always 4 star as well as the meals. I would definitely be traveling with them again.

Tailor Made itinerary - China Highlights – We booked through our local Helloworld agent & spent 15 days in China starting in Shanghai then across to Xi'an & on to Beijing. The accommodation was very good especially The Westin Bund Center Shanghai. Our best guide was in Xi'an. We wished we had an extra day there it is an incredible place. There were some issues with our passport numbers… Read more

being incorrectly listed with the central travel bureau at the airports & train stations but eventually that got sorted. Getting through the airport at Beijing was stressful because it took us over an hour of queuing, then we had to catch a train, then walk for ages then catch a bus to another terminal several klms away. I think that could be better organised or at least the guide should have warned us.

Myanmar – All good except starting point hotel in Yangon (Summit Parkview) no longer has a pool. The 2017 Insiders Journey booklet sates it does and provides a photo. This pool has been demolished as part of a revamp, so a bit disappointed with accommodation, being so hot!

Efficient and personal service – From pick up in Chiang Mai Thailand to drop off at the Siem Reap airport everything went according to plan due to the efficient service of Insider Journeys. We covered Northern Thailand, Laos and Cambodia over a period of 25 days and booked our trip through Peregrine in Perth WA. We travelled with another couple and we were given personal service… Read more

by Insider Journeys.

They appear to be a very well run and efficient organisation and the quality of the guides was quite outstanding. We learnt very quickly that we could rely on both our guides and drivers making travel in these countries a pleasure and very relaxing.

I would thoroughly recommend Insider Journeys to anyone wanting to travel in Asia.

Cambodia and Vietnam Explored – 14 days travelling with our superb tour guide, Ian Richards. Ian's extensive knowledge and passion about this country were conveyed to our group in a friendly and informative manner. We couldn't speak high enough of Ian's professionalism. Great accommodation, enthusiastic local guides and many new friendships made. We highly recommend this tour.

Sandra-Newcastle NSW “Cambodia Revealed” – Small Group Journey: November 16, 2016 to November 26, – Feedback – Specific Part A: November 16 to November 22. On November 16, upon arrival at Phnom Penh Airport, my husband and I were very courteously and efficiently met and transferred to our accommodation. In the evening we met with our tour guide, Mr Sovannara (Nara), who explained he would guide us through to November 22. This Part A… Read more

of our journey proved to be very disappointing as it became very clear that,

although Nara had an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of Cambodian history he lacked the

ability to successfully interface and accommodate the needs of visitors foreign to his country.

It would also become obvious to us that he was not confident, and lacked familiarity, once

our tour left Phnom Penh.

The other critical point for us was that the driver (Mr Po) that was partnering Nara on this

Part A of our journey was reckless and unsafe in undertaking his responsibilities.

Some specific points:

 My husband and I have travelled in the past and clearly understand the concept of

tipping even though it is not the norm in our native Australia – so we took exception

to Nara dictating to us when, and the value, of payments that we needed to make to

others providing services that were inclusive in our tour eg. on November 17 we

commenced our tour of Phnom Penh City with a “traditional Cyclo ride” from our hotel

to the Royal Palace and each of us were told to pay the riders USD$2. This practice

continued throughout the time we were with Nara – clearly the practice of “tipping”

had been replaced by what we saw as the expectation of “payments”. We developed

an uneasy feeling throughout the tour with Nara that he clearly saw us as being the

“haves” and he was the “have not”. eg. in our visit to the Killing Fields Nara took the

opportunity to share his personal experience as a child with the Khmer Rouge regime

which must have been absolutely frightening and unbearable, but throughout the tour

he regularly re-told us of his hardship within the context of him asking us about the

size of our home and enquiring about his perceptions of the “privileges” we enjoy in

Australia. We also believed it was inappropriate for Nara to want to share the content

of a phone call from his wife he interrupted our tour of Wat Phnom to take, that was

of a personal nature involving the potential theft of USD$200 in savings from their

home by another family member.

 My husband and I finished our tour of Phnom Penh on November 17 with the

impression we were hurried through the day to meet a deadline being dictated by

Nara rather than being allowed to absorb the experience of the places we were

visiting eg. our itinerary detailed that we would visit the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek

on the morning of November 18 after visiting the Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocidal

Crimes on November 17, but Nara took us to the Killing Fields on the afternoon of

November 17 then took us on a hurried visit through the Museum immediately after

that. Not only was it hurried but we thought it was out of context undertaking the visits

in this reverse order.

 On November 18 we left Phnom Penh immediately after checking out of our hotel to

take the drive south to Sihanoukville. We very soon came to understand the reckless

and unsafe practices of our driver as he was pulled over by the police after being

recorded driving our mini-bus at 69kms per hour in a village with a speed limit of

40kms per hour. Nara’s lack of care for the seriousness of this matter and the fact

that we had placed our safety in the hands of him and his driver, became apparent

when he left our mini-bus to join Mr Po at the Police desk on the roadside and

returned to share with us his pleasure in being able to “negotiate” on behalf of Mr Po

to have the equivalent of a USD$10 fine waived in lieu of a payment equivalent to

USD$2.50. We suggested to Mr Po that he was lucky on this occasion and that it was

a lesson for him to be more careful but I was sitting diagonally behind the driver and

regularly looked with concern at the speedometer which registered speeds well in

excess of the designated road signage – including on November 22 on a period with

heavy rain falling when I noted the speedometer at 110kms per hour. It was also on

this day that I noted that Mr Po seemed particularly fatigued and was constantly

directing and re-directing the flow of air onto his face. From my previous journeys in

Cambodia and Vietnam I am very familiar with the fact that the style of driving is very

different to my native Australia but I always felt safe – my husband and I did not on

this Part A of our trip as Mr Po regularly went up to three vehicles wide as he

overtook cars already overtaking farm vehicles or motor cycles and over unbroken

lines on bends; taking short cuts by driving through petrol stations located on corners

to avoid stopping at red lights etc etc.

 Upon arrival in Sihanoukville it became very obvious that Nara was unfamiliar with

the town as we sought his recommendation as to where we could dine that evening

and he nonchalantly pointed to a pizza restaurant off the main street. Thankfully our

own investigations found the location of the many seafood BBQ restaurants available

which were advertised in our tour notes as a specialty of the area. This unfamiliarity,

other than the historical facts, was the norm as was Nara’s understanding for the

basic needs of regular “comfort” stops at clean amenities for women. I am well

familiar with the significantly different standards of toilet amenities in Cambodia and

Vietnam from my previous travels but our guides always knew the better places to

stop to better accommodate our needs. eg. on November 18 travelling from Phnom

Penh to our scheduled boat trip on the waterways of the Ream National Park, Nara

opted to stop at a local roadside restaurant where Mr Po and him proceeded to enjoy

the hospitality of the owner through the provision of a meal while I waded in ankle

deep water in the unlit toilet booth provided for women. On 22 November we had

driven for 3 hours without a stop after leaving the Takeo Homestay before I could not

continue without a break and had to request that Nara stop at a petrol station so that

we could use the amenities.

 Naturally I had come prepared for the heat of Cambodia but it still had an impact and

unfortunately the practices of Nara and his driver didn’t serve to assist my husband

and I to better handle the heat during our visits to the many sites etc. Upon arrival at

a site it was almost as though Nara had to immediately download to us his

encyclopaedic recollection of the history of a particular site (and the repetitive general

milestones in Cambodian history). Rather than guiding us to a shady area these

tutorials from Nara were held immediately upon alighting from the mini-bus in car

parks during the heat of the day eg. upon arriving at the carpark of the Kep fish

markets it was obvious in the background that there was some activity on the

waterfront with a fishing boat unloading but, rather than come back to his planned

speech to us regarding the history of the statue in the carpark, we had to stand and

receive his talk in the unsheltered heat of the carpark before we could wander off to

experience the activity. From my previous travel experience I had always found that

the guides were courteous enough to inform the drivers when we were returning to

the vehicle and they would have started the vehicle and had the air-conditioning

operating for our comfort as the vehicles would have typically been sitting for some

time in the hot sun – but this practice was not employed by Nara and on one

occasion at Koh Sam Pouch beach, Nara had to find Mr Po when we were waiting to

leave.

 On more than one occasion we had the feeling that the schedule we were following

was being dictated around Nara and Mr Po’s desire to enjoy “free time” not having to

guide us – rather than the advertised provision of free time for us to explore towns

and features. eg. on the road heading to Kep we made an impromptu stop on the

side of the road outside a farm house and Mr Po left the mini-bus to go and meet the

people at the farm and returned carrying a plastic bag containing a cooked fresh

chicken. Nara explained that these people were friends and that after delivering us to

our hotel that afternoon, he and Mr Po intended to enjoy the chicken as their dinner.

Part B: November 23 to November 26.

On the morning of November 23 we were met in the reception area of the Sambor Village

Hotel in Kampong Thom by Mr Samneang (Sam) and his driver Mr Bros who advised they

would take us for the final part of our tour centred on Siem Reap.

It was immediately evident that Sam and Mr Bros were representative of the high standard in

tour guides that I had come to expect from Insider Journeys/Travel Indochina.

In summary, Mr Bros drove with our safety in mind at all times and whenever we returned to

our mini-bus during the day we noted it had been cleaned and a cold bottle of water was

waiting for us.

Sam was extremely knowledgeable about the ancient temples and the history of the area

but, rather than simply download to us all of his knowledge all at once, he instead gave us a

brief background and added information as we went according to the nature of the questions

we asked. The end result was our touring at all times seemed to be personally designed to

our interests.

It was clear that Sam had a great respect and understanding for the needs of individuals. He

especially directed us to only the highest standards of amenities and was always available to

assist any of us in negotiating uneven ground or the steps in and around the temples etc.

We have nothing but praise for the efforts of Sam and Mr Bros – it was great to at least finish

our tour of Cambodia with such a positive experience.

Our Travell Agent Sent our concerns to Insider Journeys -Christine Jones | Customer Service Manager

Level 9, 338 Pitt  Street, Sydney NSW 2000 |

We received a response back and was informed that more training was going to be given to our tour guide and driver.

Feedback - General

In summary, the scope of the itinerary in the “Cambodia Revealed” tour provided the

opportunity for us to explore a diverse range of experiences throughout Cambodia –

historical & cultural; natural beauty; and social.

Unfortunately the reality was that our ability to fully enjoy the experiences was impacted by

the inconsistent standards of the tour guides and drivers assigned to our small group

journey.

The consequence was that my husband and I were left with the impression our tour of

Cambodia could have been so much better.

It was also naturally so disappointing for me, because it left me with the dilemma as to

whether I could continue to have confidence in recommending Insider Journey tours to my

family and friends in the future – whether the standards I have previously enjoyed, and

expected, will continue to be provided, without exception.

On the topic of “standards”, the standard of the accommodation provided in Phnom Penh

was disappointing as the Cardamom Hotel, nor was it in an attractive location.

We were very pleased with the standard and location of the other hotels on the tour and

including the Takeo Homestay.

Unfortunately we will not be going on any more tours with insider journeys.

The best tour ever – This is a tour we did with a couple who travelled with us around the world.this is the best because of the life experiences offered by the company and the expertise of the tour guide, Ian Richards.  Show reply

OK....but – Booked with Insider Journeys last year and had a very good overall experience. Thus, I decided to book with them again and although overall, the tour was still quite good, there were enough problems and issues that I most likely will not book with them again. Basically, this year I decided to link two separate tours together, The first was "A… Read more

taste of Thailand" followed by (beginning the next day) the "Sapa Explorer". This was easy enough to do as after the Thailand tour was over I had a very short flight back to Bangkok and then from there, another short flight from Bangkok to Hanoi. However, as I said there were quite a few issues / problems this year as follows:

First, I contacted Insider Journeys about a month before I was scheduled to leave to inquire about when the final documents would be sent to me. They answered my question but then informed me that on the Sapa portion of the trip I was the only person signed up and therefore if I wanted the "same" touring, I could have it, but would need to pay an extra $400. Or, the other option was to have them adjust the itinerary slightly for the same price I originally paid. Though the fine print does say they need at least two to guarantee a departure, it does not say that if they do offer the trip to a party of one, that you need to pay more. It's not my fault only one person booked, why should I pay an extra 400.00? Therefore, I decided on the adjusted itinerary.

Problem number two: The adjusted itinerary was changed so that instead of visiting the Ethnology museum in Hanoi as per the brochure, I instead was taken on a one day city tour. I was not asked if this is was what I wanted and the problem was, I had seen almost all the sights on this tour last year when I visited Vietnam the first time. So there was quite a bit of duplication. It was interesting enough and I didn't mind it but I would have preferred something different. Basically, I should have been asked. The Ethnology museum is closed on Mondays (the day of my tour) but something else could have been substituted.

Problem number 3:

I was asked if I would be interested in going to a workshop to see where they make lacquer pictures / products, etc. I should have realized this was the obligatory shopping stop to encourage me to buy as much as possible so the guide could receive a nice "kick back". The presentation was about 10 minutes, the rest of the time was in the "gift shop" where I practically followed around aisle to aisle by the guide and the woman at the shop practically begging me to buy something. I found this most annoying to say the least. Please pay your guides better so they don't need to rely on commissions from shopping and harass your paying customers. I finally did decide to buy a small piece which was indeed nice, but frankly I didn't really need it, I bought something last year that I am quite satisfied with. After I had decided on the picture I thought I wanted I noticed another one I liked better. I made it quite clear that "I will take this one (the new one) INSTEAD of that one. So what they do? They attempted to play dumb and ring up both items. I said NO, ONLY THIS ONE (the new one) and they looked a bit insulted or annoyed. No problem, I believe the look I gave in return spoke more than words.

Problem number 3:

I was told I would be staying at the Topas Ecolodge in Sapa (at least one day). This had to be changed as part of the new itinerary and I was quite looking forward to staying at the Eco Lodge. This was not a deal breaker as the Eco Lodge is a bit isolated and in the evening there is really no where to walk to so the new hotel in the center of Sapa was more convenient, but nonetheless, I would have enjoyed at least one night at the Ecl Lodge. Basically, this is just another example of not delivering what you promise. Additionally, my guide in Sapa (who I admit was terrific) was unaware of the schedule change and was going to take me to the Eco Lodge and I needed to tell her it was changed and I wouldn't be staying there. So apparently the company does not communicate with their local guides very well.

Problem Number 4:

On each hike / trek I took there were always some women from one of the indigenous groups who just happened to "be in the area" when our trek started and were all too happy to join the hike. Why? So that at the end of the hike you would feel compelled to buy one of their products. The women are quite nice and friendly and I did not mind buying a small gift from them but again, this seems to be all about shopping. To be quite honest I can't help but think this is all pre-arranged (having the women join you on the hike and help out so you can buy from them).

Problem Number 5:

We had two guides in Thailand. The second guide was terrific (in Chiang Mai). The first guide (in Bangkok) seemed bored by the whole thing and appeared to be going through the motions. She was always walking far ahead of the group, seemed to pay no attention to see if you were keeping up or happened to get delayed because you got caught in the crowd. I slipped at one point on a wet patch of ground and fell and the only reason our guide knew to stop and wait was because a fellow traveler yelled to her to wait. Otherwise she might still be walking today. On the last day at the airport I tipped the guide as usual and I don't even remember a thank you. Very ungrateful.

Everything else seemed to go well. The pickups at airports / hotels etc. and all transfer went off without a hitch. Most everything else went well also but I do think there were enough problems that I would seriously think of booking with someone else next time. I actually asked Insider Journeys to call me on these issues since I did not have much room to write in the "surveys" that they hand out They actually did call once but it was while I was on tour in Sapa and only to ask "how are you enjoying your tour?". They did not ask me to elaborate on my specific comments about "problems" that I mentioned in the tour feedback (survey) that I filled out.

Let the buyer beware!

Cambodia - wonderful unknown treasure – Insider Journeys has opened a new world of Travel for us Mr Bun our guide and Chai our driver have taken us to some of the most exciting and ancient temples in the world. Our guide taught us about a beautiful treasure within this amazing place - 3 temples all wonderfully shown , and a lake and boat journey to come. 3 days is not enough .. We will… Read more ·  1

come back and use them once again . They have taken care of transfers , accommodation and shown us this beautiful part of the world.

Great Holiday.Ref 242181 – Wife and I have spent 14 days in Vietnam, Hanoi, halong Bay ,Hue , hoi an and Saigon we had a fabulous time good hotels great food and our guides made it a holiday to remember cannot say enough good things about the trip would definitely recommend Insider Journeys.  Show reply

Wonderful experience in Japan – I travelled to Japan last year on Insider's Secrets of Japan tour. I was travelling with a friend from Sydney, but we joined a group of 14 others, most from Australia. Our tour leader Nikki was amazing! She took us to some lovely restaurants and was a whizz at navigating the Tokyo metro for us. We only got a tour leader last minute but I can't… Read more ·  1

imagine not having one now. We could have done some of the sightseeing on our own but overall it was a very intelligent itinerary.

The group was of a similar age which was a relief. We travelled from Tokyo to Kyoto. Some of the days had a little too much walking, especially as Tokyo was a little hot, but the use of the bullet trains was an absolute highlight. I would also include Ueno park in Tokyo. This was not on the itinerary but our guide arranged for a few of us to visit it in the afternoon, compared to the bustle of Tokyo it was wonderfully peaceful. I have been to Vietnam with Insider but Japan was somewhere I had wanted to go for a very long time. Takayama was a the highlight of the trip, small streets, traditional houses and the food was delicious.

The tour was very well organised and out guide from Tokyo to Kanazawa (the gardens here were delightful) was very professional and arranged a number of extra trips. The accommodation was rather small but talking to other travellers this is quite normal. An extra day before or after the tour would have been good. There is so much to see in Tokyo. Now knowing more about the city, an extra night going to Shibuya at night would have made the trip.

All the guides we had were very professional and their English was really very good. We did not get to see Mt Fuji because of cloud cover, so I may have to revisit. The food was far more diverse than I had thought, some of the dishes in Hiroshima I'd never heard of, but were very good. It was also cheap, each meal being around $10 Australian. All the documents Insider gave use before the tour were of use, but some need updating. I would also recommend Insider try to go further south on this tour and maybe try and add Osaka as many of us had flight leaving from Osaka airport.

India. RV Ganges Voyager 8 days. Private Touring Delhi to Udaipur 10 days – What a great 18 days. Great food, great guides, great driver and excellent hotels. Never thought of going to India but it is awesome. As with other 7 trips with Insider Journeys (Travel Indochina) everything ran like clockwork. We expect a lot of Insider Journeys and as usual their planning and preparation and delivery was excellent. You have to… Read more ·  1

experience India.

October 5th 2017 Update: Myanmar

Another holiday booked through Tina Nguyen of Insider Journeys Sydney.

And of course it was great..Arrived in Yangon and stayed at the Strand Hotel one of the best hotels we have ever stayed at (and we have stayed at a few) Then onto Mandalay/Bagan/KIalaw/Inle Lake and back to Yangon and home'.

It is a country to behold.Had a very interesting train ride Kalaw to Inle.30 miles at 10mph 3 hours.Great experience.

Internal flights are interesting you are given a boarding pass and then onto the plane where you can choose your own seat no seat allocation.Heho Airoprt(What can I say !!!!!)Plane departures are announced on a megaphone with flight details on a carry around board.

The people are most welcoming and very helpful.Food is great and scenery to behold.

Bagan has 3000+temples and pagodas and I think we saw 2500 of them

youhave to visit this magnificent country

Once again thankyou very much to Tina Nguyen and insider Journeys for introducing us to Myanmar

Excellent trip – We travelled to Myanmar with Insider Journeys and the entire trip was excellent. While we might have been able to organise some of the aspects ourselves it would have taken at least twice as long. The excellent support by the tour leader and the interesting and deep information from the local guides were a large part of the trips quality and enjoyment.

Complete waste of time and money – I made the mistake of doing a 16 day trip to Vietnam with insider journey. I enjoyed the country, the people, the food. but mostly I did it on my own. 65 % to 70% of the time was free time and it was a total rip-off. I definitely did not get my money's worth. Most days were "free days" with nothing to do. Also unfortunately I ended up being the… Read more

only person on this tour as it was during Christmas holidays.

A total and complete waste of time and money. Honestly I could have spent less that half the amount I spent with Insider journeys and would have seem more of Vietnam. I didn't go to Vietnam to sleep in my hotel and have close to 70% free time. I paid $3220 for this trip without international airfare. For this amount I could have traveled like royalty. Hotels we sub standard, the amount of free time was simply appalling and unacceptable.

Do not waste your hard-earned money and valuable vacation time with this travel company, unless you want stay in a hotel in a foreign country. Guides spoke very little or no English, never bothered to offer suggestions for most of the free time.

A TOTAL WASTE OF TIME and MONEY... Stay away from Insider Journey. They are scam artists.

Travel Indochina provided us with a great holiday with only two problems which need to be addressed – I have just returned from a trip up the Mekong on the Jayavarman. On boarding we were informed that a group of 36 Dentists were conducting a conference on board which meant that at some times areas of the boat were unavailable to us. We had no choice in sitting arrangements in the dining room and were required to sit at the same table each… Read more ·  2

meal. I really feel that we should have been advised that a conference group was going to be on board at the same time as we would have chosen another date to travel.

The guides were excellent and very informative and the crew outstanding in their friendly manner and helpfulness.

On arrival in Ho Chi Minh city there was no letter informing us of arrangements for the "get together" so had to ring the office to get the details. Another problem was our booking at Raffles in Siem Reap - not sure whose error this was but there was no booking for us. I stood my ground and they finally found us a room but in the Smoking Section of the hotel - not pleasant! They didn't even offer us a free drink or coffee let alone a free dinner.

I suppose in the overall picture these were only minor problems but I feel they need addressing.

Kristine Dight

Australia

Do not touch Indochina! – My husband and I arrived booked a comprehensive private tour of China which we looked forward to immensely. Upon arrival at Beijing there was no one to meet us and after a frantic phone call to our hotel discovered that our tour had been cancelled. Subsequently we travelled to the hotel in an overpriced taxi and were told that if we wanted a… Read more

room we would have to pay for it again. It was the weekend and there was no assistance available to us either from the hotel or Travel Indochina. We were also told that because we had cancelled our tour (we hadn't) that we would not be compensated in any way.

Extensive, distressing and frustrating discussions ensued with Travel Indochina refusing to seek a solution. We finally were able to contact a personal friend in Melbourne who was able to ring our personal travel agent.

Finally, after much distress and financial cost we were able to get the later part of our tour reinstated.

This happened in October. Travel Indochina has refused to apologise, explain or reimburse our money. They claim that the tour was cancelled at our request but has no evidence to support this. The cost of cancelling would have been $12,000 so one would think that such a supposed request from us would have raised a red flag.

Our travel agency has honoured the debt owed by Travel Indochina and has vowed not to use them in the future.

Commission scammers – A girlfriend invited me on a tour of Vietnam with Travel Indochina earlier this year. While I'm married to a Vietnamese man and speak Vietnamese, I'd only been to Vietnam once and that was almost 20 years ago so off I went! I never made it known to our guides that I could speak Vietnamese and it was certainly eye-opening listening in to some of… Read more

their unsuspecting conversations!

There were a few occasions at restaurants and shops where I suspecting our guides (we had a western guide and Vietnamese guides in each region) were making something on the side, in particular in Hoi An. Our guides had recommended a shop for everything and as myself a number of other members from our group were interested in getting some clothes made up they took us to a tailor. Later that night I had to go back for a late fitting and a guide from another company marched in and started asking the staff if his group had finished and when he could collect his commission! I'm sure all the travel companies are guilty of this but when you pay a lot of money you expect better.

But later on in the north I knew for sure that we were being duped. On our long drive to Halong Bay we stopped at what was described to us at length as a "humanitarian centre" and indeed on our arrival there appeared to be a lot of disabled people working there. Our western guide had been talking about agent orange victims and how the government of Vietnam set up places such as this for them to make handicrafts which were then sold to tourists to provide them with a living. Having been lead to believe this was a good cause our group spent a lot of money there and my girlfriend bought a large picture made of silk embroidery. When we got back on the bus our driver and guide immediately started talking about how much money our group had spent and how much commission they had each made! The guide even explained to the driver how he thought they would make more money on the way back as one couple were looking at expensive jewellery but were undecided. I felt sick that these people were profiting off the back of these poor disabled people and the whole thing was nothing more than a scheme. And to make matters worse we were expected to tip these people later on. On the return journey we stopped again and it seemed like near enough every bus going to or from the Halong Bay stopped at this place! When I got back I did write a letter to Travel Indochina but I never got a reply.

I'd like to stress that Vietnam itself was wonderful and most Vietnamese people in my experience are nothing like this. They are honest and warm and charming. Besides this the tour was quite good. Some of our hotels and our boat on Halong Bay were a bit rough around the edges and I felt like we never really got off the tourist trail but the organization was good. The whole commission thing left a really sour taste in my mouth though and I would never use them again. Beautiful country with great food Tour was overpriced given the hotels we used, guides were scammers and too much pressure to tip.

Excellent – Five of us just did three weeks through Vietnam and Cambodia with Indochina.Everything was so well organised and informative.We had great English speaking guides who were so helpful.Every destination we went Indochina checked in with us.They were so professional. We had only the five of us on our tours which was great as I didnt want to be in a… Read more

big group. I would go through them again for our next holiday.It was great to know if something went wrong you could call them as you were given a number at every destination.Thanks Indochina for a great holiday.