International ExpeditionsReviews of ietravel.com

I have emailed you asking for my balance months ago and never received a reply. How much do I owe you? I need to know for planning purposes. Thank you, Marla

Company treats return customers well. Could work on communication (difficulty reaching people via phone during the day, things not explained clearly, mistakes in documentation). While they do offer some trips with no single supplement (limited to only cruises and just a few cabins), overall their single supplements are overpriced. I have been traveling with them for >10 years and they are pricing themselves out of the market. They need to add more unique trips for the 40-60 age group (active but not athletic). They are nature focused and have a good presence in S. Amer, but missing some key destinations like Brazil (Pantanal) and Panama (these are only offered for a custom trip which is not affordable). Their guides are some of the best I've had, always knowledgeable and friendly.

Our International Expedition tour guide was from Ecuador. I had the feeling from our first meeting that he was not pleased to be leading a tour in Cuba. I am an elderly widow and was traveling the first time on a tour without a companion. I was nervous about the trip and misplaced things a couple of times, but caused no major inconvenience to the group. However, the guide, although coldly polite, was obviously irritated. We spent one whole day at sea in rough waters, and although I was well, one lady was very seasick. I thought that was time wasted. That being said, my family and I spent 2 weeks on an International Experdition to Peru and had lovely people with which to work and had one of the best vacations we ever had. I would not recommend the trip to Cuba.

This trip consisted of three distinct parts -- a stay in Kolkata, a 5-day cruise on the Brahmaputra River and a 2-day stay at Diphlu Lodge in the Kaziranga Park. The individual elements of the tour were very well done. However, there were serious problems with the transitions between the individual parts. On the day we left Kolkata for the cruise, we were awakened at 3:00 in the morning for a 6:00 am flight (we had originally been told it was a noon flight) and then went eleven hours with no food. This included a four hour road trip over exceptionally bad roads, about which we had not been told. The transition from Diphlu to Delhi, while not as bad, still could have been much better. I wrote a long letter about this to International Expeditions, but heard nothing back in response. I would have liked at least an explanation or discussion about what had happened.