Most Inspirational Moment
These are really, really wonderful countries with a fascinating history. Overall I enjoyed the trip, but's that's in spite of and not thanks to Exodus.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Historical knowledge of both guides was very strong and both were very professional and competent. First guide was wonderful and created a great atmosphere, but the second guide didn't engage with the group personally and didn't bother to learn a single person's name.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Don't let this review put you off going - just think carefully about who you go with.
Oh and a note for veggies - I'm vegetarian and was worried about this but the food was fine! There was always something veggie available, and often it was very good. But do brace yourself for a lot of soups, salad and bread, and for meat to be snuck into places you wouldn't expect.
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Reply from Exodus
We’re genuinely grateful for Lucie taking the time to leave a review of her experience on our trip to Central Asia, though it is a huge matter of regret to learn that her time there wasn’t at all as positive as we would hope.
As we mention in our trip notes, this is a busy and fast-paced tour which allows our customers to take in the highlights of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan within a relatively short timeframe. As such, we explain that there are long days and early starts, and we feel that this serves to accurately set our customers’ expectations; we would disclose that, for departures operating with our new itinerary from June 2024 onwards, clients responding to our post-trip surveys rated their overall trip experience at an average of 4.28 out of 5, and the itinerary of the trip at a similarly high 4.23 out of 5, which means the vast majority of our customers rated their trip and itinerary as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’.
We are, however, saddened that Lucie didn’t feel the same way about the itinerary, and we will certainly bear her feedback in mind going forward.
Regarding the border crossing into Uzbekistan, we are reluctant to use internal flights for several reasons. It would add to the cost of the trip for our customers, while also being considerably poorer from a sustainability perspective; moreover, we feel that the purpose of adventure travel is to experience the authentic side of a destination, which internal flights would bypass. We explain the border crossing process in our trip notes for Days 7 and 8 to let our customers decide whether this experience is something for them.
To touch on the reasons for the itinerary change, we must make clear that Lucie’s sales representative was correct when she explained why we added the visit to Khiva for this trip. We previously listed Khiva as an optional extension for our Silk Road departures, but as it is one of the highlights of the region, we received a huge amount of feedback from customers recommending it be added to the regular itinerary, which we listened to and actioned. We believe that adding Khiva strengthens the itinerary overall and allows our groups to get the most out of their time in Central Asia, and it has generally been a very positively received addition. However, we’re sorry if Lucie did not feel that same way and regret that she was given the wrong idea about the reasons for the change.
It was a real shame for us to read that Lucie was unimpressed with the hotels on this trip, and that she felt that value for money overall was poor. The scores we receive from our clients who’ve travelled on our Silk Road trips are on average 3.93 out of 5 for value for money, and 4.05 out of 5 for accommodation, which, again, means that the majority of clients are indicating that these aspects of the trip were ‘good’ or ‘excellent’. We feel that, given the expert leaders we employ, the clean and comfortable properties our groups stay in, and the huge amount they get to see and experience, this trip offers very reasonable value; however, again we’re sorry that Lucie did not feel the same way. We appreciate that value for money is a major factor for our clients, and it is something we are constantly reviewing on all our trips.
We were heartened and reassured to read the feedback we received in post-trip surveys from other members of Lucie’s group, which indicated that this was overall a very successful and enjoyable departure. However, as we say, we are genuinely sorry that this was not Lucie’s experience; we very much hope that she saw some amazing sights and had some unforgettable experiences in Central Asia which made the trip as a whole worthwhile.
– Thomas Manchester, Exodus Product Manager
