05 Apr 2023
I am on DAY 5 of my first ever GROUP tour and have to say it is the absolute worst travel experiences I have ever had. I paid $3500 for the GROUP experience and have yet to meet one other person. That's right, it is a SOLO GROUP tour. Anyone else see this as an oxymoron? When I asked about this I was told they book the GROUP tour even if only one person signs up. Of course this is nowhere to be seen on the description page but you find it out when you are sitting all alone at a single table in a dining room full of groups eating together. I wish I could say that was the only issue with this SOLO GROUP tour but it is only the beginning.
To begin with on Day 1 I was never contacted by anyone to tell me when I was going to be picked up the next day. I sent two emails asking with no response. Luckily I waited in the lobby on Day 2 and a wonderful driver picked me up to take me to my first destination. My tour was supposed to include three and four star hotels however the hotel I was at would be lucky to get one star. The pool was green so we had to use the pool at the hotel next door, the water was turned off, my bathroom had rotting wood and rusty nails, a light switch that had not been washed in so long it was actually turning black, and huge ants crawling over my makeup. As if this wasn't bad enough, on day 3 I came back from dinner and found a live snake in my room that apparently crawled in under the door. One day 4 I spent 11 hours being transported ( according to the itinerary it was supposed to be 7 hours) to my next hotel where I was supposed to have some free time to relax before going on a tour. Even though I didn't arrive at my hotel until 7:00 that evening I was told I still had to take the tour or pay another $100 to take it the next day. So I rushed to my room unpacked put a bathing suit on and rushed up to meet the driver to go to the hot springs and dinner. The way it was described on the website made it sound like this was a relaxing beautiful calm experience. It wasn't. It was a huge amusement park with hot water springs. I was dropped off and told I'd be picked up at 10:00 and left all alone again. The place is huge and I got lost trying to find the restaurant and ended up on a service road where I fell and hurt my knee. Since I had no one's phone number I had to get a taxi back to my hotel. Today I was too sore to go on my other tour I paid for and was told I would still be charged for it. So I spent today in my cleaner and safer hotel room without Wi-Fi resting. I have eight more days on this GROUP SOLO tour and cannot wait for it to be over. I could have booked this tour on my own with much nicer accommodations for half the price. I booked this trip through Tour Radar but they have been of no help whatsoever. I feel so disheartened and taken advantage of. I hope this review helps others avoid this situation.