Ashley & Patrick
Hi Quinny-
I’m sorry its taken so long to respond. Pat and I both got really sick on our way home, apparently we picked up a parasite on the trip. Then I fell at work and I’m now off my feet… The trip was great! Thank you so much for everything you did. We have bragged about you and your company to everyone thats asked about our trip. A few of our friends even submitted inquiries on your webpage to set up their own trips. We really cannot thank you enough for everything you did.
Thailand- we enjoyed both of our tour guides and our drivers. In fact, Maya was probably my favorite guide on the entire trip. That girl deserves a raise and a promotion!! She was so wonderful. We are glad that we did Bangkok, but probably wouldn’t go back. However, we loved Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. We would visit there many times over. We talked about going back when Im not pregnant, there were many things there that we would have loved to do but couldn’t because of the baby.
Laos- We enjoyed visiting, and it’s definitely a check off the box as far as countries go, but I would only go back as a mission trip. Laos was very humbling and made me even more happy to be from where I am from. As Americans, we take many things for granted that people in Laos would love to have. We weren’t a fan of the guide here. He did well as far as telling us things, but he was a bit pushy and wouldn’t take no for an answer. There were a few times that we said we didn’t want to do something because it was hard for me, or Liz/Pat were injured, but we did them anyways. The hotel was also troublesome, however I think it is mostly because we are American and used to certain things that aren’t possible in Laos. But, the power was out most of the time, there was no warm water (not even partially warm), and the house next to the hotel had a bunch of roosters that decided to wake us up at 2am everyday. But, again this isn’t something you could have overcome and in no way do we blame anyone for it. I think Laos would be a great mission trip with our church!!
Vietnam- Our guide in Hanoi was simply awesome. We enjoyed him a lot!! Pat still talks about him. Our favorite part was the food tour. We also enjoyed Halong Bay, A LOT!! But, the drivers to and from there were horrifying. And the mess with getting us to the airport after was so frustrating. We even had to argue with them as they were driving us back to Hanoi that we weren’t supposed to be going back to the hotel. They eventually dropped us off at some gas station and a different driver came. We ended up in a private car because they were convinced we were wrong. Hoi An was beautiful. We enjoyed our time here a lot!!
Cambodia- By far our favorite place of the trip!! I wish we would have spent more time here. Everything to see was so interesting. We will definitely do Cambodia again!! Our guide was amazing, both of our drivers were so fun, so polite, and the best drivers we had on the entire trip. We loved Cambodia. Our only complaint was the driver trying to take us to the airport. He was there for an hour. We asked him 2 different times if he was sure it wasn’t us he was taking. The bell hop from the airport even loaded our stuff in his car. He took it out and said no. It wasn’t until the manager came and talk to him that he admitted he was supposed to pick us up. We were very late getting to the airport. I can say it is the ONLY time I have ever been happy our flight was majorly delayed.
Thank you again for everything! We had an amazing trip. It was life changing and our memories will be cherished forever. If you guys set up in the Philippines, let me know! Happy New Year and all the best to you and your family!!
Ashley and Patrick
