Immersive Family Vacation to Thailand: Phuket to Bangkok

This travel agency really impressed us! From meeting us at the airport once we arrived in Thailand to providing tours to us throughout the entire country, our travel agency provided top notch customer service the entire way through. The booking experience was productive and smooth, all of the logistics were a breeze (shuttle pickup to and from airports, private van rides to and from hotel to our daily destinations - with ice cold refreshments), and the local flavor was refreshing (all of the tour guides were local in each city we stopped in with many years of experience). We enjoyed all 3 of our tour guides in each city - Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Krabi. They were very knowledgable and the specific activities that were booked through Trails of Indochina were exactly what we were looking for: 

The guides had everything we needed (waters, snacks, offering to take photos the whole time, etc.)

We would highly recommend this company.

This is a long overdue review. We traveled to different areas of Thailand for 2 weeks at the end of January and beginning of February 2018. After being matched with this travel company, our agent made the process of planning this vacation very simple. He responded quickly to questions, was available through text, email, and phone, and put together a wonderful itinerary for us. We visited Bangkok, Kanchanaburi, Chiang Mai, and Koh Lanta, which were all unique and amazing in their own respects. What we were really impressed with is that our agent and his team made sure that someone was always waiting for us at our next stop, whether it was someone to pick us up at the airport or a tour guide waiting for us at our hotel. Unfortunately, there was one issue with our airplane tickets being accidentally booked incorrectly, but after getting on the phone with our agent, we were able to resolve it quickly and were able to continue on to Krabi as planned. I must say my fiancé and I were really impressed with the quality of the tours that were arranged for us by this travel agent. I cannot say enough about how much I absolutely adored our tour guide in Bangkok. Kanchanaburi was beautiful and my most favorite part was waking up to the sound of the flowing river on our jungle raft in the morning. We also loved the cooking class with a local Lanna family and visiting the Elephant Sanctuary in Chiang Mai and the Scuba Dive in Koh Lanta. The hotel was a spectacular treat in Koh Lanta. Our agent booked us a beachfront suite that was literally steps from the hotel's private beach front, and the perfect place to get engaged in Thailand.  This was an amazing unforgettable trip for the both of us and we cannot thank this travel company enough. Our travel agent and his team made this trip stress-free and wonderful. I would use his company again in a heartbeat and encourage anyone who is planning a trip to Thailand to utilize them as well. I promise you will not be disappointed! Thank you so much to our agent and the travel company's team. 

Singapore and Thailand Adventure 19 February 2024

Dates: January 24th, 2024 through February 14th, 2024

In short, we were happy with the itinerary and enjoyed each location on our trip.

The execution of our travel plan and support we received from the Zicasso travel agency left much to be desired.

Highlights:

The hotels booked were excellent with highest marks for the hotel in Bangkok and the one in Krabi, which was one of the best hotels we have ever stayed at. Locations and amenities of all the hotels were beyond reproach.

The Elephant Sanctuary was fun and everything we hoped it would be.

The night market in Chiang Mai was a highlight. Our host in Chiang Mai was the best, and super helpful.

The airport transfers and check-ins all went according to plan and were all on time with no glitches.

The lunches/restaurants on both the Krabi and Koh Samui speedboat excursions were really good and had delicious food.

Lowlights:

When we checked into our first hotel (in Singapore) early the morning of January 26th after our 17-hour flight from San Francisco, we were happy knowing that we would be getting an early check-in. However, we were surprised to learn that we were actually paying for the night of January 25th, which was not indicated in our itinerary. In fact, the itinerary stated 3 nights in Singapore, January 26th – 28th. We were not pleased with the deception and would like to be reimbursed for the additional night’s lodging.

Our biggest issue, throughout the trip came with baggage allowances and weight for all of our intra-Thailand flights. We had a total of 5 flights booked by the travel company, in addition to the SFO – SIN round trip which we booked ourselves. The problem was that all 5 flights were booked on the cheapest economy fare with minimal baggage allowances. I think it’s fair to say that when you’re taking a high-end “luxury” vacation, you don’t expect to be limited to a single 20 piece of luggage, which was what we had on our AirAsia and Bangkok Air flights. We upgraded some of the flights ourselves for additional weight and AirAsia’s “Red Carpet” Service (both at additional cost) but were unable to make some of the upgrades since the travel company used their own contact information (instead of ours) to book the flights. When we tried to make changes ourselves, the contact information didn’t match, and we couldn’t make the desired changes. We then asked to upgrade all of our remaining flights but had problems at every step.

We notified the company of Adriana’s requirements for gluten-free meals in advance of the trip. The hosts or the hotels we stayed at were rarely aware of this requirement which became a constant source of frustration.

We took a city tour in Singapore which included dinner… the Chinese restaurant was TERRIBLE and there was barely anything (gluten-free) that Adriana could eat.

We had no “host” in either Krabi or Koh Samui, but were only given a phone number to call with questions, etc. We never met anyone at either location.

We had several instances where our excursion guide didn’t know what our itinerary included. As an example, In Koh Samui, our guide and speedboat captain didn’t know that we were supposed to have a “5 Island Tour” which would include the best snorkeling spots available. It wasn’t until more than halfway through our 6-hour excursion that we showed them our itinerary to confirm. They then did a high-speed pass by 3 of the islands and the snorkeling location we stopped at was a complete waste of time. Had we known better, we would have been taken to Koh Tao, which is supposed to be one of the best snorkeling sites in the world.

My husband and I booked our honeymoon in Thailand with Zicasso's travel agency. We worked with our travel agent to plan it and the itinerary was incredible! I barely had to do anything. He booked all of our activities, hotels, and transfers.

Transportation:

We went to four locations (Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Koh Samui, and Krabi) and each time we traveled internally, a guide would drop us off and pick us up. Truly door-to-door service! We also had a private guide and driver for each of our planned activities. Our domestic travel was so incredibly easy and we were super lucky to have all of them be on time and seamless! Our tour operator monitored all the flights and before our honeymoon, made sure to update a couple whose times had changed to ensure we got to our destinations with enough time.

Activities:

We wanted our honeymoon to be equal parts adventure and relaxation. We spent the first half of our trip in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. We toured temples, did a street food tour, took a day trip to a floating market, spent a day learning to cook with a local family, spent a day with rescue elephants, and visited a gorgeous national park, to name a few things. All were private tours with private guides! A shout-out to our amazing guides in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. We then spent intentionally unstructured time at the beaches of Koh Samui and Krabi (I’d recommend Krabi over Koh Samui (I was the one who added Koh Samui to the itinerary, but should have listened to our travel agent!). Krabi was so perfect for a honeymoon.

Accommodations:

All were five stars and beautiful! We had cute honeymoon welcome gifts everywhere we went.

In summary, it was so worth working with our travel team to plan a stress-free honeymoon. We had an incredible time and couldn’t have loved it more!

We really enjoyed our trip. I'd like to give you a detailed review. Zicasso's travel agent did a great job setting up our itinerary. When we had a problem in Krabi, the team was great at helping resolve it.

Our evening food tour in Bangkok was a lot of fun and our guide was great at explaining a lot about the food. The guide who picked us up at the airport was excellent. He got us an extra SIM card. The next day, we had a wonderful experience with him at the Temple of Dawn and the Royal Palace. He took us to the airport and came in with us to make sure we were properly checked in.

Cambodia was an interesting trip. Unfortunately, the guide was not as good as all the other guides. He texted me that he was outside at the airport. I texted him back when we had our luggage and came outside. We couldn't find him for more than 15 minutes. All the other guides were lined up with signs. He finally showed up and said he had been sitting off to the side. He also did not have our SIM card. He said we couldn't stop for it because he had forgotten his ID card. He did bring the SIM cards to the hotel later. He was well-informed about the various sites we visited. At the end of the first day, when he was taking us back to the hotel, I mentioned we were supposed to go to the Killing Fields. He said he had forgotten and it was too hot and too late, even though we still had another hour of touring left. He rearranged our next two days so we could include the Killing Fields. On the last day, when he brought us to the airport, he dropped us off outside and left. This is not the attention we received from the other guides. I felt he knew the necessary information to share as a guide, but lacked the professionalism of the other guides.

Our guide in Chiang Rai/Chiang Mai was wonderful! She was very attentive, knowledgeable, and flexible, and a pleasure to spend time with. She also came into the airport with us when we were leaving to make sure everything was in order.

Krabi was nice and relaxing. There was a problem with our room at the hotel. They put us on a side where there was garbage and loud construction going on. When we originally booked Krabi, the hotel that was recommended no longer had the room available that was quoted and we did not want to spend extra to upgrade, so we were put in this hotel. This was not our agent's fault; the hotel should not have put any guests on that side of that building. Our agent was quick to address the situation and the next day we were moved to a nicer room in a different building.

Overall, it was a wonderful vacation. This was our second time booking through Zicasso and both trips were wonderful. Thank you.