Group Tours

Dear Andrea:

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for all the courtesies and cooperation you and your staff of drivers and guides extended on our behalf during our recent visit to your beautiful and welcoming country.

A special thank goes out to all the guides and drivers. In particularly, we would like to express our appreciation to Christian and to Kevin. They were both wonderfully entertaining and pointed out numerous sites and things we would have otherwise missed.

We had the pleasure of two gentlemen named Sergio who were our guides in Cartagena and Medellín. They were both excellent.

A special mention also goes to Alejandro, who was our gastronomic guide in Cartagena. His knowledge of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and his love of literature, as well as fine food choices, made for an evening both memorable and enjoyable. He was a delight and truly a consummate gentleman.

All of guides and drivers were prompt, professional and courteous. Each went so far as to accompany us inside the terminals for all domestic flights within Colombia to ensure we had the requisite boarding passes and got to the correct departure gate.

Susan and I can not thank you enough for a most memorable trip. We have been fortunate to do a lot of international travel and can honestly say that our trip to Colombia was the best yet. The hotels you selected were wonderful and exceeded our expectations.

Susan and I plan on returning to Colombia in the next few months to continue our adventure and learn more of all that your country has to offer.

PS: Our only regret is that we did not have the chance to meet you personally, but hopefully we will be able to do so our next visit.

Until then kindest regards and best wishes, Chuck & Susan.

Everything was perfect. Every airport pick-up and return was vert prompt, even one at 5:45 AM. All tours were good. If I was repeating this tour I would skip the Puerto Madyrn area. It was ok but wrong time of year to be there.

Andrea planned an exceptional trip for us to Colombia. The guides and experiences were top-notch! We loved Colombia, a beautiful country and wonderfully kind people. We would highly recommend booking with Andrea! On another note, one of our party got very ill when we were traveling, Andrea and her team took such good care of us and adjusted schedules as needed and showed real care and compassion for our friend. We so appreciated their kindness and care for us when we were in Colombia!

The dust has definitely settled on my yet another annual trip to India, which is necessarily
sentimental, romantic, and ambitious. The umbilical cord that ties me to India seems to get stronger
every year. It is just like one's ties to one's mother, which is elemental, nourishing, and nostalgic.

What was different in this trip than the others? Use of a travel agent. All the other trips
were planned and executed by me. I was the sole facilitator to be appreciated for the successes
in the trip, the sole agent to be rebuked for its failures. But this time that role was to be
played by Bout India, a travel agent located in Jaipur, India.

After my unsuccessful initial connection with a travel agency in the US.
I stumbled on an Indian agency on internet. The name repelled me a little in the beginning, but
then I thought "What is in a name?" (Shakespeare). Reviewing the agent I stumbled upon
a novel expression, "About Destination Expert - India." What a commercial coinage! It
should have been "India Travel Expert," but having been used to the language-rape by
commercial, journalistic, and political media, I did not let my enthusiasm for the forthcoming
trip be cooled. Reading further under "About Destination Expert - India" I found the
following description:

I love traveling in mountains although I was born and brought up in the desert state "Rajasthan".
The contrasting lifestyle and culture of both the places never cease to amaze me. From the luxury
palace hotels of Rajasthan to mud houses of Spiti valley, from spicy Rajasthani food to Himalayan
Yak's milk tea, from the overwhelming crowded bazaars of Old Delhi to the peaceful mountain
lakes of Himalayas, I have experienced it all.

Ignoring the rickety English and the commercial hyperbole of the statement, I thought that the
Destination Expert may not be bad, considering the scope of my trip, and especially when I saw his picture
of him coyly sitting by a rock, frothing waters in the background, unmindful of the world and his existence,
at the end of the statement.. He looked relaxed, a state of mind and body that he was fervently trying
to sell to the tourists. But I was having difficulty with his name. It was long and sounded like a religious
exhortation, like Tathastu. It was not the action-oriented names like in American travel industry: John,
Adam, Robin. But I thought what the hell, let me try him out.

I laid to him my tour plan, with a lot of details, as I believe that the true success of any enterprise
rests in details. As time went by we exchanged some twenty emails, full of travel minutiae, and the
changes that the traveling details per force impart on the traveler's and travel agent's initial ideas.
But throughout this change process, Himanshu remained poised, unfluttered, and cultured. I began
to be impressed by his personality.

My trips to Agra, Delhi, Kerala, and Bombay were a great success due to Bout India's knowledge, diligence,
attention to details, and above all, courtesy. Travel management business is hard, unrelenting, and
dependent on resources they cannot completely control. Also, because it must flow along the time
reference, it does not have much latitude for errors. Bout India's unsparing effort, under Himanshu's
measured directions and cultural skills, culminated into the grand success of my trip.

As if the above work of Himanshu was not excellent enough, he furthermore rewarded me with
a visit while I was in Agra phase of my tour. He invited me to a lunch in an acme restaurant, along
with my local tour guide Vinay Gupta. Himanshu looked exactly like he looked in Boute India brochure:
relaxed, gentle, but alive. There was a surprise gift he brought with him: his wife. So beautiful, calm,
and urbane. They were married just about a year ago, after a long simmering romance. Seeing them
under the shadow of the great monument of love Taj Mahal, I was compelled to wish them a long,
loving union. Himanshu also took me to a play about the Moghul history, running in a local theater,
that was outside the tour, but for which I had to pay.

Wishing Bout India, and especially Himanshu, great success in their endeavors. Success without
happiness is empty, work without success is incomplete.

Attached below is the link of the picture taken at the lunch in Agra, hosted by Himanshu.

Maharaj Kaul

Ismael prepared the best itinerary one could ever have to experience Rovaniemi in winter. Not only that he did an amazing job with my itinerary, he’s been the most patient to deal with all of my questions and changes I’ve made even to the last minute. The agency staff are the most friendly, helpful, accommodating and most passionate about what they do and do it best. I could never ask for a better vacation because they gave me an above and beyond experience more than I’ve hoped to have. I also want to acknowledge my excellent guides, Valerie, Alexandra, Louise, the 3 Lorenzo’s, Christian, Michal, Ana, Louie, Jordi, and Lan. 100% recommended to anybody looking for adventure.