Testimonials in About Us @ Tucan Travel

Testimonials from Tucan Travel clients
A selection of feedback from happy travellers

January 2010 – Chile & Argentina
Hi there, I just wanted to take a couple of minutes to provide further feedback following my recent BSU Discovery Tour in Patagonia with Niels Marais and Nikki Self, as I found the questionaire too short to provide a a full picture. 

Having previously enjoyed Nikki as a tour leader earlier in the year on the Overland Quito to Rio tour, I was easily persuaded to spend xmas and new year in Patagonia. Despite the expense, this was the best decision I could have made, the tour was great in every way, great accomodation, great tours, escorted to local restaurants, lots of socialising and sight seeing. Having spoken to guests on other tours it became obvious that the level of customer care exercised by Nikki and Niels is the exception rather than the rule and the 'N's' go way over and above the call of duty to give their guests the most amazing experience all round. 

On a practical level, allergic as I am to mosquito bites, Nikki got me sorted out (again) with the pharmacy as my lack of spanish is woeful and even punctured my blisters for me!  I am not the fittest person in the world, but she kept me motivated to hike and see sights I otherwise would have missed. Niels was just the easiest person to get to know quickly, he has an effortless charm albeit with a bizarre sense of humour, although he knows nothing about irish whiskey. He marries a laid back personality with a high level of professionalism when driving and caring for Peggy. Together they really are a 'dream team' and the perfect advertisement for Tucan Travel and are my new frame of reference for future escorted travel, unfortunately I know i'll always be disappointed!

No doubt, I will keep in touch with Niels and am lucky to now call Nikki a friend, Tucan should be proud to have such a good partnership on the frontline.

With much gratitude, Roisin.

October 2009 – South America
We began our 35 day tour in Lima and had Margot as our tour leader. She was fantastic in all ways. She was very organised and ensured all transport, accommodation and local guides were prepared. She was extremely obliging and helped people with any issues or concerns. She was extremely knowledgeable about Peru and all the places we visited and gave information about everything we visited, drove past or questions people asked. I was very impressed with the way she ran the tour and couldn’t recommend her more highly. (...)

I enjoyed the truck lunches and appreciated that these were necessary on drive days since you never knew what other food places would be available. There was always enough choice and they were healthy. (...)

Overall I have really enjoyed myself and seen a lot of South America. I was recommended Tucan Travel by a friend who has used the company several times and I would in turn recommend this trip to others.

Thankyou, Melinda.

August 2009 - Egypt
I just wanted to say how very much both Ben and I enjoyed our tour with you. Mostafa, with his deep knowledge and love of Egypt and that dry sense of humour, is an absolute gem, and put us total newcomers at this sort of holiday at ease as soon as we met. The group dynamic was very much set as there were 7 people who were continuing from another tour who had gelled so well they had solidified (nothing wrong with that, just an observation), so the 4 who were just starting could well have been at a disadvantage. Of course it was present - it had to be - but Mostafa was miraculous at integrating each and every one of us, including old grumble guts here and his slightly autistic child. In fact - the group brought Ben out of himself wonderfully, and I saw things in him I had not seen before: quite incredible.

Anyway - 125% satisfaction and enjoyment from us - and we are even thinking about doing another with you! Very many thanks to both you and Laura for putting up with my silly questions pre-tour, and to you all for designing such a well run, flawless,  tour. Special thanks to Mostafa for being, well, Mostafa, without whom it must surely have been somewhat different.

Must go and unpack, but I wanted to give you my thoughts now! With very best wishes - till next time, Andrew.

August 2009 - Amazon, Brazil
The Amazon Cruise was amazing! The Tucano people were so well organized and you could tell they really knew their stuff and loved their jobs!  The crew worked so hard to ensure our happiness and the guides were so knowledgeable.

I know Tucan Travel has not been offering this trip for long so I wanted to give some feedback so that you could comment to future travellers.  There were wonderful little touches like a cushion for the wooden launches, gaiters to put around our pant legs for more safety during the jungle walks, cold herbal facecloths to wipe down with after a sweaty jungle trek.  And the food was very delicious!  The cruise met all of our expectations which is saying a lot in the middle of the jungle.  We saw lots of sloths, squirrel monkeys, howler monkeys, capuchin monkeys, a boa, tarantulas, butterflies, caimen, etc.

Thanks again for all you help with a wonderful holiday and we hope to travel again with Tucan soon.

Kind regards,
Charlane.

August 2009 - Mongolia
Just back from the Trans Mongolian trip and wanted to give you some feedback.  It was a fantastic trip. The schedule and itinerary are perfectly planned and were perfectly executed. The choice of accommodation was above what I expected and ticketing, transfers and excursions all went without a hitch. A very professionally run holiday.

Of course the main factor in the success of the holiday are the local guides. I cannot speak highly enough of Galina our Russian guide. She does her job brilliantly, has perfect English, boundless patience and a personality really suited to the job. The group consensus is that she made a great trip really excellent. She is one seriously hard working lady. (Give her a big pay rise !!).  We didn't spend as much time with our Chinese guide David, but he went way beyond the call of duty to ensure we saw as much of Beijing as possible in the short time we had. He put in 200% effort and maintained a great rapport with the group.

Also thank you Amy for your help prior to departure with documentation and bookings. You made it all go so smoothly.  So, its back to the grindstone for me for now......but I'll hopefully travel with Tucan again.

Thanks again,
David 

June 2009 – South America
I'm currently on tour from Quito to Rio, and i'm just writing to let you know how fantastic the Tucan representatives, Heinz and Bela, have been.  Their competence, professionalism and enthusiasm has been exemplary throughout. The tour has not been plain sailing: as we've come up against obstacles, (literally!) in the form of road blocks and various problems with the truck.  However, Heinz and Bela have both gone into overdrive to ensure that these have caused minimum disruption to the tour. So in short, Bela and Heinz have been great; your choice of employees is exemplary; thanks!
 
Yours sincerely,
Rosy

March 2009 – South East Asia
I just wanted to say a big thank you for everything! I have just returned from my 3 week trip (Bangkok to Hanoi) to Cambodia and Vietnam and had the most amazing time! I really had no idea what to expect and was leaping way out of my comfort zone. Everything went so smoothly and I had the most fantastic group and tour leader (Oli). This was my 1st time travelling with a tour and couldn't believe what a difference it made. Oli did everything for us and there was absolutely no stress. He was full of fantastic suggestions of things to do and places to eat. I loved the opportunity to eat at restaurants that benefited the local community as well as the suggestion to give blood at the Children's Hospital in Siem Reap. It was my birthday during the trip and the group was aware that I didnt want a fuss. I really appreciated the effort Oli and the group still went to ensuring that I had a great day. It was so sad when it was all over - but now I have a bunch of great new friends and the most amazing memories. I wont hesitate to book another tour with Tucan.

Thanks again,
Victoria

April 2008 – Central America
I recently travelled with Tucan travel from Cancun to San Jose, on an adventure tour (Code I think is 'YAS'). I would just like to bring to your attention the high quality of my tour guide Steve (Esteban), who I felt was absolutely perfect for the job. I must admit to feeling a little apprehensive prior to the trip, as I have travelled solo many places but never with a group. Steve was great from day one, informative (clearly very knowledgeable about Latin America), reliable, trustworthy, organised and also great fun to be around (even on those 9hr coach trips). I found Steve to be the perfect blend between responsible and relaxed, never at any time did I feel that everything wasn’t in his complete control (which says a lot for Latin America, and its notorious ‘time-keeping’), but I also enjoyed his company so much that I have asked him to keep me informed on his whereabouts for potential future trips I may be interested in.
I really enjoyed my trip as a whole and shall be recommending Tucan to friends and family, but it simply wouldn’t have been the same without a leader like Esteban, a true asset to the company.

Regards
Andy

January 2008 - Peru
Hi Tucan Travel,
Just wanted to let you know that my family had a fantastic trip through Peru and on the Inca Trail. We appreciate you letting us take our girls ages 10 and 11.  It all worked out as well as we hoped and we have come away with some unforgetble experiences. If its worth anything if you have to consider other families travelling, from our end the girls fitted in to "tour" life and had no probs at all with altitude. Cheers and thanks again

Tim and Suzanne