Food & Wine Travel Agents & Reviews

I don’t know where to begin. My husband and I travel a lot and had never been to South America. We decided we wanted to visit the Peruvian Amazon Rain Forrest, Machu Picchu and the Galápagos Islands. In researching, we came in contact with our travel designer with this tour company. We corresponded over days/weeks.  I gave the designer the basics of what we were looking to do and see. The travel designer took my suggestions and came up with the ideal tour. We started out three nights in the Amazon Rain Forrest with a wonderful lodge. Very remote inside the Forrest. We loved the open wall design. We could see monkeys and other wildlife right room the open room. Our tour guide was the best! Then we traveled to Cusco Peru. There we had a terrific guide. Our guide was a local guide. His knowledge and kindness was priceless. Our guide took us on the trek across the mountain into Machu Picchu. This was a very difficult trek, we had moments wondering if we were going to make it to Machu Picchu. Our guide was very patient with my husband and I. We are 61 and 73 and from US. High altitude acclimations are very important. We did make it after about 8 + hours. We stayed several nights in a wonderful resort in Machu Picchu Pueblo. We travel backed to Cusco and stayed 4 nights in a luxury hotel. Our guide took us daily on tours of ruins and historic sites . We then traveled to QUITO Ecuador. Our tour guide in Quito was a local guide too. His knowledge of the area was priceless as well. Our last week the designer planned the 8 day 7 night on a small yacht to tour the Galápagos Islands. We couldn’t hand picked a better yacht to explore the Galápagos Islands. The staff was knowledgeable and the yacht was perfect. Our naturalist was the best! His enthusiasm was contagious and we learned so much. The food was delicious. The accommodations were great. The entire trip was planned perfectly. The travel designer had every detail planned perfectly, from transfers to guides, to accommodations. We were gone three weeks. Before our trip, I had many questions. The designer was always quick to reply and answered every question or concern I had. Anytime in the future, I plan to travel to South America, I will use the travel designer and this tour company. The travel designer is a real Jewel!

This was a trip of a lifetime.  We worked well together, came up with an awesome itinerary for 6 weeks to New Zealand and Australia.  You name it we were going to do it.  This truly was an itinerary with planes, trains & automobiles.  Let's not forget to include boats, helicopter, camel and kayak.  We had such a variety of things planned including wine tasting in both NZ and Australia.  I can't say enough good things about our travel company!!!  In the planning stages they even spoke to us about where and when to go as far as seasons and which way to go whether it be Australia first or NZ. As it turned out, the recommendation to go to New Zealand first was perfect. We were saved the experience of Australia for only a few weeks and maybe being stuck there!  No stone was left unturned, even when the fires occurred in Australia.  Our impact was going to be minimal.We left the US on March 9th for NZ arriving on the 11th.  No problems with Covid-19, we continued on with our itinerary.  Sailing in the harbor in Auckland, wine tasting on a beautiful little island outside of Auckland.  On to Queenstown which is delightful and Milford Sound for an overnight on a ship.  Absolutely beautiful.  Glad we did this vs a day trip or boat ride.  We flew back to Queenstown, which I'd recommend because you have a great overview of the mountains.  Breathtaking!!  Picked up a rental car and drove to Franz Josef to climb the glacier.  We're an older couple, but this was an incredible, first-time experience! My husband still marvels! We took a train to Christchurch which is still suffering the after effects of the 2011 earthquake.  Again a train up the Pacific Coast which is beautiful to Nelson.  Kayaking, hiking and a catamaran in the Tasman Sea.  What scenery!!  Up to Rotorua for more fun.  Well this is where the wheels starting coming off of our fun.  Things got cancelled because of Covid-19 and the ever changing environment of new shut downs and what the government was asking of people and vacationers.  Starting on the 15th of March our travel agent was continually in contact with us about Covid-19 and how our itinerary was going to be impacted.  She made alternative suggestions, we made the decision to extend in NZ.  As our trip went along, things kept changing....  NZ decided to shut down on March 25 midnight.  Our new flight home was March 29, then March 27.  She worked with us so closely and was so helpful she actually got us a flight home on March 25.  While we were having fun and enjoying ourselves, this company was working for us behind the scenes.  You can't ask for more than that!!  By the way, we came home and quarantined.  To date, we're healthy.

The travel agency is a fabulous company. Our 14-day trip to Italy was 3 years in the making.  COVID forced us to schedule and reschedule the trip.  We started with 16 people traveling with us and ended up with my family of 4.  Through all of the changes, the travel team was amazing.   We used custom tour companies in the past but never encountered service like this agency.   They watched every step of our trip and made adjustments before we even knew there was an issue.  Our train from Venice to Milan was canceled because of COVID staffing issues.  A travel planner contacted the manager of our hotel in Venice who came to our table at breakfast to make us aware of the change and let us know about the new train schedule.  They do not overlook a single detail!  Our guides were exceptional in each city.  I highly recommend using this travel agency.  I look forward to touring more of Italy with them in the future!   

Our travel specialist did a great job in working with us during a difficult time of traveling! COVID-19 certainly provided a lot of roadblocks and extra hassles, but they were able to help us go on a wonderful vacation in Sri Lanka and the Maldives. They did a good job of checking in with us and arranging our COVID-19 tests. The driver and the activities they picked were very good, fit our needs, and there was a great mix of different things in our itinerary that we liked. We also loved our accommodation options. Overall we had a great vacation!Some things that could use improvement: Attention to detail- there were some things that were overlooked. For example, their travel contract clearly said we were responsible to get our own country tourist visas. We used another service to help us with this and when there were delays, our travel specialist seemed upset. When we reached out to them, they said that was a mistake and they were doing our visas and the hold-up was on us because we had used another agency to help us with the visas. Very frustrating communication. We had given them our passport and other information months before the trip. I am a US service member and was deployed and did not have access to email at that time- I usually am on top of details like my passport expiring, but this was an unusual circumstance. We then found out two weeks before our trip was set to leave that my passport expired 5.5 months after our trip and we almost were not able to take the vacation- we then had to rush to get a passport. This is why we pay a travel agent to have an eye for detail and the way in which our travel specialist responded to this issue was less than ideal. During the vacation, we had no scheduled lunches. Every day we had breakfast at the hotel, and dinner was planned at a hotel, but during the day we would sometimes wait a very long time before we were able to have our driver find a place for us to eat. Definitely something that should be considered for the next trip.

My wife and I were looking forward to this trip soo much, specially with all the COVID issues going on in the world, AND everything turned out just perfectly! Even with all the COVID restrictions, testing requirements and overall precautions in place with travel, it was an amazing trip that I wish we could relive. We really wished we could have stayed another month plus. Big thanks to our travel company & specifically Marie-Lys for helping us create and live out the perfect trip to France!! I highly recommend working with this team and hope that we can one day work with Marie-Lys once again! 

From the time we arrived in Venice airport, we were escorted to our hotel. It was a worry and anxiety free trip of a lifetime. We were introduced to the culture, history and cuisines of Italy. At the same time, we had opportunities walk around on our own to explore the great cities of Venice, Florence and Rome. The side trips to Bologna, Pisa, Siena, Lucca and Orvieto were unforgettable. This trip planned by this Italy travel company was probably one of the best. We whole heartily recommend them to anyone planning a trip to Italy.

The trip was truly a trip of a lifetime thanks to my travel planners and team.  Traveled with 7 family members for my 70th birthday. The team did a fantastic job in matching adventures/excursions to make all the family happy - from 70yr olds to 40 year olds to 7 and 10 year olds.The itinerary created by the travel company showed us some of the highlights of Costa Rica - Mount Arenal, Monteverde and Manual Antonio.The entire trip went incredibly smooth - not one hiccup.  All of the people we interacted with from the team and from their partners for the adventures and hotels were all so thoughtful, knowledgeable, and accommodating.  The best customer service!I highly recommend the travel company! 

The travel agency helped us to plan a trip of a lifetime to Japan with our two teenaged sons. Our agent was extremely responsive throughout the whole planning process and definitely listened to our concerns, as well as the things we really wanted to do.  We love food and she planned some excellent food tours that allowed us to get an insider's taste of Japan, rather than going at it on our own. Was everything perfect? Of course not, but not much I would change!! Highly recommended.