YEAR: - 2004

Hi
we both enjoyed ourselves very much and would have No hesitation recommending you to anyone. The choice of hotels and the locations we visited were exactly to our requirements. The contacts were always made and the Representatives of a very high caliber. We will no doubt return in the future. The highlights were the houseboats and the net fishermen on samudra beach. The standard of driving in India is not what we expect in the UK and a larger vehicle would have been appreciated perhaps this could have been offered as an extra cost. To show the level of service we received Mr. Faizels wife the representative in Cochin arrange for glasses I purchased in Cochin to be delivered to the house boat - very efficient I was impressed. Thank you for organizing a memorable tour

YEAR: - 2004

Thanks for your email; we had a wonderful time so I am more than happy to answer your questions. We found the tour was very well set up; the communication with Durjay at the outset was excellent and really impressed us that you were the sort of travel agent that we wanted to tour with. Negative Comments: - The evening that we spent in Munnar was a little wasted, the views on the drive were spectacular but the hotel itself wasn't particularly good, was in a bad location and we had to travel a distance to have dinner. Positive comments: - (of which there are many!) Being greeted at the airport and being looked after by Mr. Nathan all the way down to Trivandrum was wonderful, we were very tired after the journey and we felt that with Mr. Nathan there we were in safe hands. Our drivers were all wonderful, knowledgeable and reliable; I would thoroughly recommend Compass sheerly because of the drivers! The itinerary was well thought-out and structured; we felt that it was excellent value for money. In summary, yes I would not hesitate to recommend Compass for travel in India.

Many thanks
Laura Bowes

YEAR: - 2003

Dear Durjay:
Rather than fill out your Guest Feedback Form, I thought it would be easier to just write a letter thanking you for our trip. In a word - it was superb. Phyllis and I feel that it was, if not the best, certainly one of the best vacations we have ever taken, and we have traveled all over the world. Your itinerary was wonderful, as were all of the arrangements. Contrary to my expectations and usual experiences, nothing ever went wrong. Your local tour people and guides were efficient, always available, thoughtful and eager to please. All in all, the trip was fascinating and great fun.

Following are a few comments on the specifics you asked for in your guest feedback form:

ITINERARY : The itinerary was busy, just as we had requested. I think on the next trip we would do it very much the same, except for one or two free afternoons in a big city to let us get a little shopping done on our own. The Indian merchants pressure approach tends put us off, and we did most our purchases when we were on our own, going mainly to the government stores. We estimate we have seen about half of the World Heritage sites in India, and now we want to see the other half, so you can expect us to contact you about them in another couple of years. The weather incidentally, was just what we expected, a little warm but nice in the south, and cool (not cold) in the north. One thing, which we were not prepared for, was the Fog in the north, which interfered a little bit with sightseeing. One of our guides told us that it comes every year from about December 15 to January 15, and recommended visiting from January 15 to March 15. The problem with that, of course, is that it begins to get warm in the south. May be the last half of January is the best time.

HOTELS : The hotels were all excellent. One thing I learned was to ask for quiet rooms. On Christmas Eve, we were right over the dance area, which made sleeping difficult until midnight. From then on, I asked for and always got, quiet rooms. The only minor disagreement. I had was in Udaipur, where we arrived early, had breakfast the day we arrived, and then left before breakfast on the day that we left. I tried to argue that we should not have been charged for breakfast, because we had a total of two breakfasts and had stayed two nights, but they wouldn't go for it. Strictly speaking, I guess they are right, since the deal is room and breakfast the following day. I'm enclosing the invoices for that in case you want to try to get them to refund the price of the breakfast. However, we're talking about only $22, so don't make an issue of it.

TRANSPORT : Always excellent. The Jet Airways flights were on time and comfortable. The cars were usually Ambassadors, which were just right for the two of us with the guide and the driver. How they managed to cram our four suitcases into that little trunk is beyond me, but they all did. Even the 11-hour drive fro Khajuraho to Varanasi (made necessary because they had to cancel the flight because of the Fog) was interesting.

GUIDES : The attitude of the guides was all-wonderful, except for our very first guide in Delhi, whose heart really wasn't in it. Fluency with English varied considerably, although even the guides who couldn't really carry on an English conversation knew enough English to be able to tell us everything we needed to know about what we were seeing. They all accepted gracefully that we were not going to be shopping at the places they recommended, although we could see with two or three of them that it was disappointing. Our best guide by far was Raj in Varanasi. His English was great, his knowledge and attitude was wonderful, and he explained up front that he and the other guides got a 30-40% commission on the shopping areas, but he really understood that we weren't going to be buying very much. Your representatives were all great. Two of the outstanding were Naka in Delhi (you know him, of course!) and Jay in Varanasi. My only problem was figuring out whether it was appropriate to tip them. In the end, I decided that, appropriate or not. In the end, I decided that, appropriate or not, I was going to do so, and that seemed to work. Re tipping, you might advise your guests that they should stock up with a huge supply of 10 rupee notes when they convert their currency. It was more or less difficult to get change for 100 rupee notes from our hotels, some of who just didn't seem to have them.

DRIVERS : All seemed excellent.

PRICE : Hard to be exact, because I didn't compare this specific itinerary with others, but my impression is that it was excellent, and that the same itinerary would have a cost at least twice as much if I had done it with an American travel agency.

OVERALL : As I have said. this was one of those rare travel experiences where there was nothing to complain about, and everything was not just adequate, but outstanding. I'm sending Susan a copy of this so that she knows how good you are, and we will be in touch with you in the future for our next trip to India.

Thanks very much for making it all possible.

Cordially,
Sydney E. Pulver, MD