Southern India January
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Great to head back to India in January this year this time to explore the southern region of the country. This tour was designed for travellers keen to see more of this incredible country who had perhaps been to India before. We explored some famous landmarks in places such as Cochin, Bangalore and Chennai but also plenty of hidden gems in the country hills around Ooty and Mysore. We allowed some time to relax in what was pretty great accomodation. The tour was guided by Rajeev Butali who has guided us on previous tours. He has become a firm friend and a great help in suggesting places to visit and tour logistics. We had a lovely group of 18 people many who had not travelled with me before. Our driver was Mr Sajith who did a great job on what were some challenging conditions!
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Japan Cherry Blossom tour March - April
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This tour was timed to coincide with the annual Cherry Blossom festivals that happen all over Japan in spring each year. They did not disapoint with Cherries i peak bloom on most places that we went. When I first visited during this season I was expecting it to be something put on for visitors but was pleasantly surprised to find it was all about the locals. Japanese people love to celebrate festivals and this is one of the big ones! Again Haneka organised a great trip and this year our guide was an Englishman, Peter, who had been living in Japan for many years. He did a great job. Our group of 25 were also great fun!
We started with 3 nights in Tokyo before flying to Hiroshima and then making our way by coach and bullet train north to visit Kyoto, Nagoya, Lake Kawaguchi, Mt Fuji and Nikko. The accomodation was a highlight ranging from modern well located big city hotels to tradional Ryokans. Tour highlights were:
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Grand tour of Italy - May
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This tour was a chance to reunite with our 2016 guide Gianluca decarlo. He againd did a great jobe as a group of 26 lovely travellers visited some really interesting parts of the country with enough time in each place to enjoy what there is to see. The tour started in the beautiful Italian Lakes before time in Milan, Turin, Cinque Terre, Lerici, Pisa, Florence, Lake Bolsena, Pompeii, Sorento on the Amalfi Coast and Rome. Italy is home to some wonderful history cuisine and of course gardens. We saw heaps including a few bonus places such as Alba and San Gimiano. We again used Trafalgar tours for this tour who are well organised and have great local guides. Feeback was great with everyone saying lovely things! Beautiful gardens, historical sites and insight from local guides, a cruise along the Cinque Terre, Vatican City tour and some truly wonderful food and wine experiences.
After the main tour 15 travellers continued on for a 10 night Holland America Line cruise on board the Oosterdam for a Western Mediterranean cruise from Rome to Lisbon. It was well worth doing! |
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