All Asia Travel

My husband, Carl, and I took a private tour of Vietnam, Jan. 5-29, 2009, with All Asia Travel (57-59 Do Quang Dau St., Pham Ngu Lao Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; phone 84 8 39203 493 or 446, fax 203 886).

A major reason for choosing a tour company in the country you are visiting is cost. Our Vietnam trip cost about $3,000 per person for 24 days/nights, with comfortable hotels (designated “superior,” [comparable to a standard mid-level hotel in the US], except in Halong Bay, where we had deluxe accommodations), breakfasts, three flights within Vietnam and Laos, round-trip airfare on the sleeper train from Hanoi to Sapa, and a car, driver and guide the entire trip.

We chose to have only breakfast included. (All meals were included on the one-night Halong Bay boat trip.)

Our tour planner, Cindy To Phuong Chi, recommended the usual places to see, such as the Mekong Delta and Halong Bay in Vietnam, but our itinerary could be “juggled” to include less-seen sights such as Sapa and the Bac Ha market, which is held only on Sundays. The Plain of Jars in Laos wasn’t included in the first set of plans the company prepared for us, but, at our request, it was added.

The best part of the trip was having our own driver, guide and car. Although the cost for those was included in the price, we did tip each driver and our guide.

The guide spoke fluent English and the drivers, usually very little English. We set the time we wanted to start touring each day, and they were always prompt. We never had to wait at airports; someone was always there for us.

I highly recommend All Asia Travel’s Cindy To Phuong Chi to help plan your trip to Southeast Asia. She is competent, knowledgeable, prompt and flexible.

If anyone would like more details on our trip, e-mail me c/o ITN.

LORNA TJADEN

New Hope, MN