Following Pannir

It was through an ad in ITN years ago that we first found the greatest travel agent ever, Pannir Murugesu.

In March of 1996 we (a party of four) went to Bangkok, Bali and Hong Kong; the package we booked was offered in an ad by Natrabu Indo-American Travel. At that time, Pannir Murugesu was with Natrabu and that is where we came to know him. We took another three trips through Pannir at Natrabu: a 5-island tour of Indonesia in October-November ’97, Bali in April ’99 and Bali and Malaysia in April ’00.

In April-May ’01 we went to Bali, Australia and Malaysia on a package that Pannir created for us while he was at Scenic World. And in January-February ’03 we went to Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Singapore on another personalized itinerary arranged by Pannir when he was at Sito’s Tours & Travel in San Francisco.

He now own his own agency, Sayang Holidays (220 Montgomery St., Ste. 469, San Francisco, CA 94104; phone 888/472-9264 or 415/986-1293, fax 415/986-1574 or visit www.sayangholidays.com.

Not once on any of these six trips did one item of the arrangements fall apart. On the first trip, and as I did not know him, I asked for phone numbers, both day and night numbers, which he provided, in case something went wrong. I never called; absolutely nothing went wrong.

I know that he books people into all areas of the world, but he is a real expert on Southeast Asia and has exceptionally good contacts there, as he is able to arrange anything you can imagine and at really appealing prices.

Not only did we always get what we were offered and had paid for, we always got little extras which he never even told us about. We would find out, usually in the middle of nowhere, that we were getting an extra sightseeing excursion or meal or whatever.

The best extra we ever got was on a cruise to Sumbawa, Komodo and Lombok, Indonesia. We were supposed to be on a ship that had all the charm of a WWII troop carrier, and when the driver dropped us at the pier in front of a very sleek, less-than-10-years-old, Japanese-built ship, we couldn’t believe it.

He has also been very successful in getting exit-row seating for us on some airlines, which on a 16-hour or more flight makes the trip much more pleasant.

Whenever and wherever we travel, we always call Pannir.

JUDY MOORE
Houston, TX