Reviews

….can’t thank you enough for all your assistance. We will name you & Flower travel in a facebook post of how happy we are with everything you did to make our trip so fantastic .. let me know if there is anywhere else we can put positive feedback.

Hi Heidi

We are close to finishing our trip. Off to Helsinki tomorrow and then a few days in Hong Kong before NZ.
Its been a tremendous trip – lots of fun, great memories etc. The organisation was spot on and all the local agents and guides turned up on time etc.  Thank you very much for arranging it.
We loved Mongolia and may well return to the western side of the country and do some trekking and camping in the Gobi and Altai mountains – and we continue to enjoy Russia as in previous visits. We are back here again in August, to Franz Josef Land and we look forward to it already.
For us it is a good time of year to come – we like the cold and ice and not too many tourists. Living in Queenstown we get sick of seeing other tourists – so it was great to come off season.
Many thanks again for your advice and expertise; it has been terrific.

All the best.

Hello Heidi

Today is our last day in Russia and with regret that we are leaving our month journey through the country was most enjoyable I love it here so much. I think this would not be possible without your amazing schedule and tour companies here in Russia please pass on our sincere thanks to all.
We will recommend you and winter travel to all our family and friends it was wonderful to escape the hot Australian weather.
Thank You….. I love Russia.

Hello Heidi,

Thank you for touching base with us as soon as we arrived home, we had a wonderful Trans Siberian journey thanks to you and all of your team.

It was practically seamless (apart from only one miscommunication … as to where we were meeting our guide in St Petersburg) … which was quite easily resolved with a phone call. I especially enjoyed our trip to the Ger camp as our guide for that trip was exceptional and the scenery superb. Definitely the highlight for me. 

Again I can not thank you enough for having given us this opportunity to have such an extraordinary adventure together … we could not have done it without you. I highly recommend your services on all levels. From the initial itinerary suggestions and visa process and the quality of the guides and drivers right through to the choices and locations of all the hotels and accomodation, we have both been very satisfied.

So once again, thank you Heidi and I will certainly be recommending your services to anyone who shows any interest.

Warmest Regards

Hi Heidi,

Russia was great! I was really glad i booked with flower travel as you helped me with the airport transfers, paperwork and visa process. Many thanks for your efficiency and professionalism.

I will definitely use flower travel for my next trip! ?

Many thanks ?

Hi Heidi

Thanks for checking in with us on our return and asking for feedback.

What an amazing trip! There was so much to see, so much to learn about the countries we visited and so many people to meet.

After taking the week to recover from the 24 hour flight home, I don’t know what I was thinking on that one, it is just beginning to dawn on me what an amazing trip we have had. Your organisation went very smoothly, I must admit at the beginning of the trip I took on the group leader role, I made sure everyone was consulted and was up to date with our movements and any minor changes we made on the way.

The guides along the way were excellent. They were professional and knew their city and were courteous to all. They were generally accommodating to minor changes such as stopping for a cuppa. We also liked to stop for lunch before boarding an afternoon train. Business lunches for around AUD$7 were excellent value. The stand out guide was our guide in Mongolia.

The accommodation was very good and always central so that we could make our own way once the guide left us.

The activities we most enjoyed:
The Old Believers village, the lunch with the family and the singing and entertainment. Very amusing.
The cultural show in Mongolia and everything we saw in Mongolia.(Loved Mongolia)
The stay in the Ger camp and the visit to the family in their ger.
The ballet and opera not only in Moscow and St Petersburg but also in Yekaterinburg and Ulan Ude. We saw Swan Lake performed in St Petersburg which was amazing.

Would I use Flower Travel again – yes certainly. I’m interested in your trip to Croatia next year.

Kind regards and many thanks

Shall recommend Flower and yourself to all and sundry.

 Thank you again for your help and patience when we got a little nervous at times. Much appreciated and we would recommend you and your company to anyone and everyone.

We loved all the different foods we tasted & our guides made everything very easy for us. We also enjoyed using the different currencies, meeting so many different people and being at places that have such a long history. Thank You.

All booked components – planes, trains, transfers, hotels, guided tours – happened as planned. The UB-Beijing segment had the best sleeper – a Mongolian SV with a shared toilet between two compartments. The 4 berth buy-outs are a great idea and we managed the usual basic toilet configuration of Russian SV & Kupe carriages.

No pressure to tip drivers or guides in Russia but somehow in Mongolia & China you just become aware that a tip would be appreciated.

Sally & I give you & Flower Travel 10 out of 10.

Even bumped into “Lenin and Starlin” in the subway. The Metro Stations are all works of art in their own rights. Huge and made of marble with massive statues or mosaics and light fittings you could hang in a palace, and what’s more the trains are frequent and efficient and cheap!  The weather took a nose dive yesterday, max of 7 but with the wind chill factor was reported as feels like 1.8. I would agree. The specially purchased and agonised over selection of coats, hats and scarves has paid off. So far have been plenty warm enough and haven’t even broken out the really warm coat yet or all the layers. Had masses of fun on the train and made lots of friends.

Got a selfie with the cabin attendants before I left Moscow even….they were great from then on!

 Thank you again for your help and patience when we got a little nervous at times. Much appreciated and we would recommend you and your company to anyone and everyone.

We enjoyed every stop -the cultural show in Ulaanbaatar was excellent- just long enough and gave a good glimpse into the culture of Mongolia.

Our hotels in Moscow and St Petersburg were in great locations- would not have wanted to stay anywhere else.

We will not hesitate in recommending you to any one that we know who wants to do the same trip-just having you arrange visas was fantastic, let alone anything else!

After assuring me that there will be tickets arriving at our accommodation as we went from one place to another, I still was not absolutely comfortable with the procedure but as I discovered there was nothing to worry about. Not having vouchers or tickets before I leave Australia was something new for me.

After arriving in St Petersburg and there was no one to meet us. I did not feel confident but I did use the emergency number and was told that there would be someone there very soon, and there was. The next day I found out that the driver was a witness to a car accident and the police would not let him go.

All our ‘buddies’ were good and helpful. We were a little unsure of catching the trains in St Petersburg and Harbin but we were successful each time. The hotels we stayed at in Russia were good but the one in Harbin I would have liked to have been closer to the city centre. Even with daytime temperatures of -26C in some places we really enjoyed ourselves.

I have no reservations in recommending your company to others for their travel as you were very prompt in replying to my questions right through to our departure and there was no problems with travel tickets and accommodation.

Yes, were back and unscathed. The trip certainly was a trans-siberian experience. It was what I was expecting and more!! Just having the short night stop in Beijing before boarding our first train kept us on our toes but we managed to find our way with the aid of other trans-sib travellers. The Chinese train was probably the least desirable of the trains we travelled on – the toilets were really dirty. One needed gumboots to go and they ran out of paper etc, but we were forewarned about that. The Mongolian train was an improvement and we settled in quite nicely, meeting very nice like-minded people who I’m sure will remain firm friends. Our guide in U/B was nice and friendly and made sure we were comfortable.

Spending time in the ger, being entertained by Mongolian musicians, singers (including throat) horse riding across the steppe were all highlights (Mongolian saddles are not the most comfortable in the world – wouldn’t do for the Queen!!) That is not a complaint, it added to the fun. Worth noting that pick-pocketing is rife in U/B. Every second tourist you speak with has been touched. An Australian woman in another tour group had her prescription glasses stolen off her face! Our guide was very pleasant and entertained us but somtimes we found her English a little hard to understand! eg we all thought we were visiting The Nemmitt’s but in actual fact we were going to see ‘The Nomads!’ but again this added to the fun of new languages etc.

Mongolia to Irkutsk sector was quite an experience with the Mongolians trying to hide clothing thoughout the train for sale in Russia and the customs coming on board trying to discover where it was all hidden!

Lake Baikal was another of the highlights- even the swim was exhilerating! The Banya at the homestay, the hospitality including food was exceptional. We could have spent another day in Irkutsk as we only had about forty minutes to see the city (only because overnight rain had made the dirt road a little muddy which slowed the taxi driver coming to pick us up). 

Food along the way was plentiful and an experience chosing what to buying from the ladies on the stations some of their delicious Russian cuisine. There really is no need to stock up on dried noodles – the MSG is no good for you anyway!

Irkutsk to Ekaterinburg train even better than the last. Our guide was fine and showed us all that we wanted. It was also very cold here in the evening on our walk around the city as it had been for our son about 4 years ago at the same time of year so we were well prepared and enjoyed the feeling of walking in this nice chilly weather. We were also late arriving in Irkurstk and our walk 5pm-8pm due to the plane crash into the rail line necessitating trains to be diverted and a build up of freight trains etc on this very busy transport route.

The final two sectors were uneventful and we got to see almost all the major sights in Moscow and St Petersburg. The hotel in Moscow was possibly a little too far out of town but we presume that any closer and the rates would increase quite markedly. Our guide (Lena, sp?) was first class, so helpful, down to earth, knowlegeable, she gave us quite an insight into living in Moscow today….. a very nice person – we are sorry we did not have the opportunity to thank her properly. The guide in St.P was fine but could not hold a candle to Lena in Moscow. The hotel was wonderful being so central.

Contrary to previous advice, it was not necessary to bribe anybody on the whole trip so my bundle of US$1.00 notes just took up space. Also there is no charge for bed linen on the trains. My advice to would be travellers is not to take the single supplement but to experience and join in with miriad fellow passengers both locals and tourists.

Thanks for your (and Fionas) service. No hitches – everything went smoothly – we could not ask for anything more it was a wonderful experience! We want to do ‘The Silk Road next! Kind regards.