Private Tour

Having enjoyed many of the world’s great gardens and floral events, I found the Chiang Mai Thailand Flower Festival via the Internet and discovered that Go See Touring (4/99 Racecourse Rd., Ascot, Queensland 4007, Australia; phone +61 1300 551 997, www.goseetouring.com) had been offering tours to Thailand and the festival for nine years. 

From my first email to GiGi Huxley (gigi@goseetouring) until the fabulous farewell dinner our group had in Chiang Mai, our tour and the staff of Go See Touring exceeded all of our expectations.

Primarily to photograph the country and people of Bhutan in a new and different way, three friends and I booked an 11-day private tour through Third Eye Travel (Fremont, CA; 800/456-3393, www.thirdeyetravel.com).

For all four of us, the total cost of the April 14-24, 2014, tour was $3,900, which included internal flights, hotels, taxes and service charges, all meals, private driver, guided touring and site entry fees.

In the Feature Article “One Trip, Two Experiences — a Group Tour of Ethiopia vs. a Private, Customized Journey” (July ’15, pg. 6), the writer reported on two trips he and his wife took in Ethiopia.

In May 2015, I traveled with Overseas Adventure Travel, or OAT (Cambridge, MA; 800/955-1925, www.oattravel.com), to Namibia, with side trips to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and Chobe National Park in Botswana. It was an interesting itinerary, and Namibia is a worthwhile travel destination. I rounded out my African stay with 10 days on my own in South Africa.

In Windhoek, Namibia, I highly recommend the NICE restaurant & bar (Mozart St., Windhoek, Namibia; phone +264 61 30 0710, www.nice.com.na), where our OAT group ate dinner.

For a couple of years, I contacted many agencies about traveling to Papua New Guinea (PNG) as a single in a group or on an independent tour. Each time, I met with negative vibes.

I would be told, “You can travel as a single in one of our group tours, but it will be necessary to share a room in some instances (e.g., a cabin on the Sepik Spirit).” In no case, they said, would I be booked for an independent tour.