John Edwards Trip # 101680 to India

        Dear Team at Hello Travel,

First of all, apologies for not responding until now, but we returned home from our holiday, both with nasty chesty coughs, and only now starting to feel a little better and catching up on all our correspondence.

I would like to take this opportunity of thanking you all, and especially Alok Chaterjee at Caper, for a very well organised and well thought out trip, which my wife and I, as well as our friends enjoyed very much.

Both couples celebrated special Wedding Anniversaries whilst we were away, and we could not have enjoyed them any better than being on this very memorable holiday.

We all thought that your representatives, who met us at each area, the guides and drivers, were all of an exceptional standard, knowledge and helpfulness, which all added to the quality and enjoyment of our trip.

I would like to make an extra special mention to Sanjib (I hope the spelling is correct?) the driver, who was with us from Madurai on the 6th Jan until we arrived at Mahabalipuram on the 12th Jan who we could not thank enough, and along with others mentioned, a credit to your organisation.

We were very pleased with the standard of the hotels, but especially the Germanus in Madurai, and the Sunway GRT in Pondicherry, were exceptional surprises! for the rooms, staff and food. I understand the GRT chain of hotels is only 7 years old in India, however, if they are all like the Sunway, I would recommend they be included in any of your future itinerary.

The only exceptions, were: The Hotel Oriental Tower. Whilst the rooms were fine, the restaurant staff were not very efficient or helpful, which let the hotel down.

Suggestions (not criticisms) (1) Would have been useful for you to send your guides prior to meeting us in each region, a copy of the planned itinerary. Whilst because of the professionalism of your guides, this did not cause any problems, it was however, slightly embarrassing to me to have to explain each time what trips and visits we were expecting.

(2) On the day of departure from Mahabalipuram, we were not notified of what time to be available for the driver, despite checking for any messages the previous evening at the hotel reception. Again, whilst it was not a problem, this would have been useful as the driver had arrived without informing us and having to wait whilst we had breakfast and cleared our rooms, before departing.

Many many thanks again, and as well as recommending you to all our friends, we would not hesitate to contact you again for hopefully another memorable holiday to India soon!

Regards