I had no idea that the travel agency business was still alive! While you could plan your own vacation, why not leave it up to professionals that have the contacts, connections and knowledge?
PLANNING:
Our professional was Kathy. My spouse contacted her stating we wanted to see South America, mainly Machu Picchu. Kathy put together a wonderful two week itinerary to Brazil, Argentina and Peru, taking care of the airline bookings, hotels, private tours, airport transfers, and attraction tickets. After reading through what she put together, we were able to make any changes we wanted, no problem.
Brazil was the only country that required a visa which Kathy helped us obtain. The questionnaire was a bit quirky, but Kathy helped us tremendously via email communication and scanned documents. So simple! She zipped our passports over to the visa office in San Francisco and got them to us back lickety split.
Once we approved everything, Kathy sent us a detailed, professional e-itinerary which was also visible on an app called My TripRoute. Dates, times and durations were all listed.
Condor Travel was the agency hired by Captivating Journeys for our airport transfers and private tours in all three countries we visited.
OUR JOURNEY:
While on our journey Kathy emailed us often, checking to make sure everything was going well, which they were. We also received automated emails for flight reminders and even the numerous gate changes we encountered. Unbelievable!
In Rio de Janeiro, we visited most of the highlights including Christ The Redeemer and Sugarloaf. We were booked at the Miramar Windsor on Copacabana Beach which turned out to be a surprisingly nice place and centrally located.
In Buenos Aires we visited the Recoleta cemetery where María Eva Duarte de Perón is interred in her family's mausoleum, Casa Rosada, took in a tango dinner show and even an empanada making class. We declined staying at the Sofitel Buenos Aires and instead upgraded to the Four Seasons which was simply incredible.
Once landing in Lima, Peru we immediately flew to Cusco and stayed at the Inkaterra La Casona, an all-suite boutique hotel located 11,000 feet up in the Andes. We toured the Sacred Valley, several Inca ruins, salt pools and archeological sites before checking in to a suite at the Inkaterra Hacienda Urubamba, another incredible property. We upgraded from the basic Peru Rail to the Belmont Hiram Bingham train for our journey to Machu Picchu where we checked in to the Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel and into yet another suite. We visited the gem of Machu Picchu and hiked up Machu Picchu Mountain to its 10,043 foot peek.
After flying back to Lima, we checked in to the JW Marriott (instead of the Casa Andina). Our last tour was a wonderful gastronomic tour of Lima via the Lima Gourmet Company, where we drank locally-grown coffee and fruit smoothis, sampled unique and GMO-free fruits, made our own pisco sour drinks and ceviche, ending with a delicious Peruvian lunch.
We had ZERO problems on our memorable journey.
Once home, we received a nice postcard from Kathy with a note and a picture of us that we emailed to her while away. What a nice touch!
OVERALL:
Thorough communication, unparalleled service from Kathy, delightful itinerary. Absolutely, positively, unequivocally RECOMMENDED! read more