Romance in Siam: One-Week Thailand Getaway for Couples

Our Zicasso travel agent did a wonderful job taking our requests and styling a complex, detailed itinerary. Everything worked perfectly. The guides all communicated with each other and the drivers were always at the expected locations. All accommodations were awesome and well-located. 

Beginning in Chiang Mai, Thailand, we visited Doi Inthanon National Park, the Doi Suthep mountain temple, and had an absolutely awesome time visiting with elephants at the elephant sanctuary, among other things. We even got to play with a two-week-old elephant. All our dining recommendations were awesome and we particularly enjoyed our time with the guides.

Next, we flew to Krabi for unforgettable views and relaxing beach time. Again, the resort was awesome. We even went mountain climbing on Railay Beach. My son got engaged at the New Year's gala at our hotel, which was spectacular; an unbelievable stay. We particularly enjoyed our time with the guide!

Next, we finished in Bangkok, where the highlight was riding in the tuk-tuks and doing a city food tour. Our guide was so awesome and knowledgeable.

Unfortunately, eight of the 10 of us then flew home, while my wife and I continued to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Our guide was such a good travel companion and we left Cambodia with a true knowledge of Cambodian life/history/temples. He was very forthcoming about his life growing up under the Khmer Rouge. Although a long day, the temple tour was unbelievable, culminating in Angkor Wat. Our hotel was awesome and blocks from the nightlife on Pub Street. It was such a great stay.

Next, we flew to Saigon. We were met by our guide, who noticed we were hungry and immediately stopped at a local street food vendor for our first foray into bun bo. It was so good. The mix of history, countryside visits, and city tours with our guide was awesome and she even left us with a customized pictorial of our visit. The other excursion that needs mention is the Vespa city and food tour. Our main guide was delightful, giving us a true taste of Saigon culture and food. The drivers were so great.  This tour finished with a surprise visit to a local bar/club, where we had front-row seats to an awesome Latin band for a nightcap. It was truly unforgettable. Also, we cannot forget our visit to the Cu Chi tunnels, where our guide did a great job educating and touring us through this unbelievable history.

Then, we flew to Hanoi to another awesome location. Highlights in Hanoi would be visiting the Hoa Lo prison, having dinner in a local family's home, and especially the Minsk backstreet tour. Our tour drivers were so awesome. This excursion really gave us a feel for the city/backstreets, as well as an idea of the frightening life of riding a motorbike through the city and back alleys of Hanoi. It was truly unforgettable. This tour finished with my knees about a foot away from the speeding train at Hanoi train station, another can't-miss site!

Next, we visited Ninh Binh for trekking, biking, and bamboo boating. The scenery was awesome and it was definitely a nice break from the busy city.

The trip finished with a two-night, three-day cruise on Hạ Long Bay. The scenery was unbelievable and the staff were excellent; so attentive and informative.

This trip truly was spectacular and we are so happy that Zicasso connected us with our agent to make all of this happen. We couldn't be happier with the entire trip!

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.

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.