"I can wholeheartedly, with recent personal experience, attest to all the statements and wonderful things that the prior traveler testimonials have made about Exploration Journeys (EJ) with Fred and John.
I have traveled much of the world with much of it having been arranged painstakingly by me. As such I am acutely aware of the challenges and the multitude of complexities that surround planning and then flawlessly executing an aggressive itinerary with multiple domestic flights, hotels, pick-ups/drop offs, and excursion service/providers for all the exciting adventures. So many things can go sideways or upside down. EJ did it for us so meticulously and provided so much more enrichment that I could ever have attempted on my own.
During my research for our Argentinian trip, I found Exploration Journeys and became intrigued with their website, offerings, customizations according to preference and budget, and the testimonials. I’d never seen such a transparent and comprehensive website and decided to reach out. I knew that building my desired trip given my language barrier and complete lack of local knowledge in all the locations, would be daunting and probably impossible without a lot of error, omission, and compromise.
Fred was IMMEDIATELY responsive, patient, and very accommodating. Together he built an itinerary that surpassed my abilities and expectations within my budget – I could never have dreamed to visit all the locations we did and partake in the exciting private and very small group activity/adventures we did in the limited time we had (14 days). With each of the amazing experiences (including transports) we met such incredible interesting people, stayed at first rate hotels in great locations, were provided a plethora of very good local recommendations, and loved the private tours and one on one attention. Exploration Journey’s took the work and stress completely away from us pre-trip and during, enabling us to simply enjoy and share with our family and friends back home as we reflected each day. We didn’t think of work back home AT ALL. Another bonus is that we made lifelong friends of a few of our guides.
We only had one incident of a domestic flight cancellation after we’d been checked in, but it was handled in the middle of the night and a note slipped under our door with coordination by the hotel staff. I don’t think Fred or John ever sleep – their response times were always either immediate or within the hour, not to mention disaster prevention such as ours in the middle of the night. Our 3:00 am under door envelope contained new boarding passes and timelines that prevented a complete ruin of our day nor loss of activities at our new location. All of this was completely seamless to us based on EJ’s constant monitoring of their client’s flights and activities. Our only concern was to confirm our acknowledgement that we’d be ready for an earlier pick up for the airport. There is simply no way I could have rearranged a new flight myself without several unintended consequences and stress.
Throughout our trip we stayed in contact with either Fred or John via email as reminders and confirmations. Other service providers used WhatsApp and so we were never at a loss of where we were going or when we needed to be ready. With the booklet, email, and other communications provided by EJ and their network, we were never at a loss for what to pack, including the priceless suggestion of goggles to wear when going under the Iguazu waterfalls, and all the options for what we could do to enhance our Argentinian experiences in our free time at each of the locations.
I can’t imagine having gone to Argentina without EJs as our guardian angels. It was such an easy, worry free, enriching trip that we could never had pulled off on our own. We have already referred them to friends/family."
