Reviews

Your Words – We tell it like it is! Holiday Reviews by previous Exodus travellers

Here at Exodus we thrive on feedback from our customers. It’s the only way we can ensure our trips continue to be the best they can be. So, for the real tales, twists and turns of the trip you’re interested in, look no further than the reviews from our previous travellers.

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14493 Reviews

4.7 out of 5

Gina Moore

Reviewed April 2018

Excellent trip

Well what can I say about this trip?? It was amazing!! I have done a few Exodus trips before but this was the best yet. Not only were the views outstanding but the itinerary was great, the pace of walking was perfect to aid acclimatisation and the staff were amazing. The accommodation/tea houses on the whole were great, some were better than others but the trip notes explained this fully and what do you expect at 5000m. Highly recommended trip!

Most Inspirational Moment

The amazing scenery and climbing Kala Patthar. The mountain views as you walk to base camp are fabulous, each day the mountains did not disappoint. Climbing Kala Patthar was great, it is a 4.30am start so you set off with head torches on and for me this is always a highlight. Seeing the sunrise over Everest was breathtaking and not to be missed.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Ajay (Azzy) was great, as were our guide Suresh, assistant guide Mingmar and Kumar our Yak man. Nothing was too much trouble and they went over and above what was expected. The morning wake up tea was always accompanied with a smile and cheery "good morning, how did you sleep" and while this was a nice touch, it was also a cunning way to check we were coping with the altitude. Nightly health checks also made sure we were all doing OK with the altitude, these checked if we had drunk enough water, had headaches and how we were eating. Any issues were dealt with quickly and great advice given.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Read the trip notes. I used a water-to-go bottle to filter water and also took purification tablets so I didn't have to buy water and both worked very well. Don't change too much money as you can live cheaply on the trek if you don't buy wi-fi every night or shower every day. Pack light, you really can survive with minimal but essential clothing.

anita norman

Reviewed April 2018

EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS

This trip really did exceed expectations. Much better than we thought it would be. Beautiful country, somewhere we knew nothing about, leaves you feeling you want to know more….

Most Inspirational Moment

Too many to choose. The hotels were excellent as was the food.The mountains, the views, lake Ohrid, learning about the history of Albania,the 'blue eye' swimming in the natural springs, you can go on and on...Soft spot for Berat, beautiful place would like to have stayed longer. The hotel there was 5 star - excellent.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Edjon 'Ed' everything you could possibly want in a guide. Knowledgeable and passionate about his country, warm, friendly and professional.You would be hard pushed to find a better guide. Excellent. A guide like Edjon makes you realise no matter have much you travel, how little you know....always things to learn, wonderful.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Don't change too much money when you arrive. At the moment it is still very cheap here, especially in the mountains.If you have a few spare euros laying around it might be worth taking them with you as around Berat/Tirana prices are often priced in Euros ( exchange rate poor) but it might save you changing anymore cash into Lek later in the trip. A couple of the places we were down to visit as free to visit appear to be now charging a fee. Look at alternatives to the flight Exodus offer.

Miranda and Guy Berbee-Wheatley

Reviewed April 2018

Walking in Mallorca

The walks were scenic, challenging, varied, interesting and enjoyable; lovely mix of sea / coast, forests, mountains and a variety of terrain. Fantastic views. Briefing about the walks were detailed and there was lots of information along the way.
Hotel was conveniently located and close to amenities, good restaurants and bars. The monastery was an interesting experience in a peaceful and quiet location.

Most Inspirational Moment

Probably the 360 degrees views from Puig d'en Galileu; a long climb that included some scrambling and challenging walking but were rewarded with fantastic views.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Passionate, huge amount of knowledge about the local area, flora and fauna, caring, compassionate and we felt very safe in his leadership; would follow him to the end of the world! He put together lovely lunches to keep us all going and we enjoyed his explanation of how to put together the Mallorcan 'open sandwich'. He gave, for those who wanted, some lovely suggestions for local food / restaurants and made sure that everyone was ok during the day/walk with options to cut the walking shorter if the person/people wished to do that.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Be sure to book on the right grade of walk; the Challenging walking was definitely challenging.

Ian Baker

Reviewed April 2018

A safe country with a lot of history and a great guide

Well organised by Exodus and our local guide “Eddie”. Full and active days with no wasted time; be prepared for early starts to get to sites before other groups. We had decent hotels with hot water in all locations, except of course the desert camp. We covered the whole of the western side of Jordan and the desert loop around Amman. The east is mainly just sand. We travelled to the Golan Heights then via the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba visiting a sequence of forts on the way.
Lunch and Dinner venues were a mix of quick snacks and full meals, including My Mom’s Recipe Restaurant in Petra.

Most Inspirational Moment

The obvious "most inspirational moment" would have to be Petra and the way our guide first revealed it to us, but there was also a recurring issue throughout the trip of how long the history of this whole region is and how different civilizations have come through and built on or developed the cities of their predecessors. We spent 3 nights and 2 full days in Petra - any less would have meant missing key parts. Our hotel was only a very short walk from the Petra Visitors' Centre. Jordan clearly forms a peaceful oasis in the middle of a very troubled region; we never felt at risk or in danger.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Probably the best tour guide I have had. Knowledgeable with the practice of knowing how much information to impart before we suffered information overload. Eddie had a good sense of humour and his running funny stories about Asus added a balance to the historical facts. Eddie also made himself available at all times should anyone need him and although there was no doubt that he kept a close eye on the group to make sure he had not 'lost' anyone we did not feel we were being controlled or herded as a school group might be. I must emphasise how good his English was, it made the trip so much more relaxed than it would have been otherwise.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Don't bother doing Petra by Night. It is a good concept and may have had good nights in the past but the night we were there it was a clear case of over selling of tickets and people being pushed into the front, with nothing to sit on, blocking those of us who were seated in what should have been the front. Beer is expensive - 500ml costs £9 in a bar and £3 in a Liquor Store. Best to go to the store and buy a few cans to take back to a room, don't forget your duty free on the way out. The night before the desert camp, and before the beach at Aqaba, make sure that you have packed a separate small bag with the essentials as it makes life a lot easier.

Alan Novitzky

Reviewed April 2018

Victoria Falls to Cape Town

Really good trip. The three guides/managers, Ende, Molifi and Clifford – complementary characters -were excellent, worked really hard together, always anxious to show passionately aspects of their culture and countryside and draw us in so we could propagate the good news at home.

A long route, but periods of driving appropriately broken up with stops at interesting places, and plenty of impromptu stops when interesting birds and animals were spotted out of nowhere by our guides.

Good to see village homes and relate to people’s lives at Ngepi – more such opportunities elsewhere would be good. The ballon ride option over the Namibian Desert at sunrise was excellent, but creating time in the programme to ballon at dawn over the sand dunes further south would be good.

A day or two more in Cape Town would be welcome – Table Mountain was shrouded in mist but, frustratingly, cleared the day of our departure. For those of us going home on the early afternoon flight via Johannesburg, this was too late, but it would have worked for those on the BA direct flight in the early evening. Exodus should try and book the direct flight whenever possible, to maximise time and avoid disruption.

Most Inspirational Moment

Amongst many, climbing the crest of a sand dune to watch the sun break above the horizon and cast moving, curved shadows over the undulating landscape, bringing it to gently stiring three dimensional life. Meeting wonderfully open and welcoming people, rightly proud of their countries. Watching in awe as an enormous bull elephant in heat, with just one tusk, lumbered up, turned to look at us for a while in our game jeep, metaphorically shrugged its shoulders, and moved on. That could have been difficult, murmured our guide.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Al three excellent, worked together wonderfully. Can still hear Ende’s ever present infectious laugh.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Spare torch and plenty of batteries. Take South African Rand - these are welcomed in Namibia on a one to one basis for the Namibian Dollar. A sheet sleeping bag for the warmer nights in the tropics.

Louise Taylor

Reviewed April 2018

Our China experience

Truely wonderful, the Great Wall was full of twists and turns, ups and downs , it’s more than I expected. The food was amazing , and we were made very welcome by all. I would highly recommend this trip to anyone who loves mountains as the scenery is second to none , I did the Xi’an extension; great fun seeing the 8th wonder of the world something I won’t forget! To top off this trip we were blessed with WEE WON English name JERRY. He is a true ambassador to his country. He was there 24/7 , full of energy and a graduate in economics, history, and tourism! Thank you exodus.

Most Inspirational Moment

The first sight of the Great Wall brought a tear to my eye , the length history and reason for it’s being there !

Thoughts on Group Leader

Jerry is an ambassador of knowledge in his country, he is a great speaker and very organised, never late, and should be used for any extensions after this trip ;

Advice for Potential Travellers

My advice pack light, wear good walking shoes , there are high climbing up stairs, and slopes down , so a head of heights is needed, and be a little fit or may struggle with pace .

Varie Freyne

Reviewed April 2018

Ancient and Modern Japan

We thoroughly enjoyed the holiday, we loved Japan & the Japanese, loved travelling everywhere on public transport, which was excellent. The holiday lived up to our expectations & certainly fulfilled the title of Ancient & Modern Japan. In the 2 weeks we experienced a good insight into Japan, which has wetted our appetite for further visits.

Most Inspirational Moment

Lots of highlights on the holiday:- Kyoto, golden temple, gravel gardens, textiles, snow monkeys, Bonsai, Japanese people.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Excellent, Tatz was lovely, calm, organised, thoughtful, nice & tall so you couldn’t lose him!!!

Advice for Potential Travellers

The trip is a delight to the senses, one of my favourite trips so far, need to be fairly fit, lots of walking which we enjoyed.

Sue Rosser

Reviewed April 2018

Discover Namibia - Lodges

This trip combines the highlights of the Namibian landscape with game viewing in the parks.

Most Inspirational Moment

The wildlife was the highlight for me. The most memorable being the night drive when we found a lioness at the waterhole nearby, she got up and walked down the road in front of our truck roaring on the way. She then met up with a male and disappeared in to the scrub. On our return to camp that night, she was waiting at the roadside with her mate. My husband and I went to the camp waterhole on returning and found the male there.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Ronney was extremely hard working as he also did all the driving on the trip as well as guiding and organising. He was warm friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. Along with Jonas the cook the leaders made a good team.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Take any cash in South African rand, one Namibian dollar equalled one rand when I was there. Namibian dollars are only available in Namibia and not exchangeable outside the country. Also, whilst you are there take advantage of all opportunities - you may never go back to Namibian. My husband and I, went on the Dolphin cruise (a bit cheesy but fun) with sea lions and pelicans climbing on the boat as well as dolphins surfing in the wake. The flight, a very interesting perspective of the landscape. A full day and a night game drive and in Etosha, very enjoyable, the night drive was particularly interesting (my highlight of the trip). A game drive in Waterbury plateau which had rare species such as Roan and Sable antelope and rhino. Finally on the last day in Windhoek as our flight was not till the evening - we went to Okapuka Ranch - which was a delightful way to end the tour. The restaurant/ bar is beautifully designed with the seats viewing the grounds with animals grazing.

Gareth Grimshaw

Reviewed April 2018

Excellent trip!

Chile is such a beautiful country. It has a very varied landscape from deserts to lakes to glaciers.

Most Inspirational Moment

I loved the flamingo lakes. I felt I was on another planet and could have stayed there all day.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Jaime Maynard was superb. I think everyone loved him. He was knowledgable, friendly, laid back and had a great sense of humour.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Definitely pack for all weathers. We experienced temperatures from near freezing right up to 30 degrees.

angela hill

Reviewed April 2018

Peru

Good starter trip for Peru as saw most of the main attractions. Hard going sometimes with long days and huge gaps between meals but overall worth it.
Good guide in Leo.
Amazon extension a bit hit and miss. Jungle walks saw very little except getting bitten to death, but early morning session to see parrots was worth the early start with bonus of seeing 5 Jaguar on rerturn boat trip.