Janis LIndblom
Exciting Vietnam

We have recently returned from our third trip to Vietnam arranged once again by TNK Travel's staff, Luu Vo, Dac Danh and hosted by our wonderful guide "JJ" and excellent driver in HCMC and our great guide Quyen and terrific driver Thanh in Hanoi. All your staff are so reliable, helpful, courteous and informative. We always enjoy their company so much and really miss them when we have to part. Thank you so very much for another excellent holiday, great hotels and a wonderful tour. Each time we visit we include new locations and we will return again and will certainly use the services of TNK. Thank you also for the souvenir gift it is very thoughtful.

Evelyn Ng and Wendy Koh
Thank you for the wonderful tour !

Hello TNK

I would like to express my thanks to TNK for the nice tours on 28 and 29 March, for my friend and I. The tour guide Mr Thong was very good in explaining the history and entertaining in his humorous way for the Cu Chi tunnel and Cao Dai Temple . My friend and I enjoyed ourselves very much. Good job!

Also, in our tour group on the 28 March to Cu Chi and Cao Dai, with Thong as our guide, there was an American Chinese, who happens to be working in Singapore. We would like to enquire for this friend's contact or email, so that we can keep in touch in Singapore. Hope you can help us!

Thank you!

Regards
Evelyn Ng and Wendy Koh
Singapore

The Kane family
A wonderful experience with TNK travel (January 2009)

Our family of 4 just came back from first ever trip to Vietnam (18 days). We chose TNK Travel and it was a great trip. I wanted to thank TNK and to share our experience with future prospective travelers.

We started the planning almost a year ago. I must say we were hesitant at first and concerned about choosing a reliable travel agency. I read a lot on the internet (e.g. tripadvisor .com) before identifying a few prospective travel agencies. I then asked for an initial quote from my top 3 choices. TNK was the middle quote but what I liked about them was the level of detail in their initial proposal. I then looked at their guestbook and selected 17 people worldwide who recently travelled with them and emailed each of them to ask about their experience. Every single one of them responded and all were very positive about TNK. This made me comfortable with the idea of having to send money upfront to book a trip in an unknown country where I would have no recourse if dealing with an unethical company. With TNK, everyone assured me that once an itinerary is finalized, the company will do whatever is needed to deliver on its promises and to make it a pleasant experience, and they sure did in our case.

Over the following month, I exchanged several emails with Mr. Dsung Trinh, the Managing Director, to modify the original proposal based on my research about the sites we wanted to see. For example, we removed Sapa from the itinerary because the Northwest is quite cold in January, but added Phu Quoc Island instead. In the end, we agreed on a price for the revised itinerary, and I paid the customary 30% deposit by credit card (with a 3% fee). From that point-on, I dealt with Mr. Dac Dahn in their operations department who always promptly answered my numerous enquiries via email, and sent me hotel vouchers and e-tickets confirmation from air travel within Vietnam, as well as the invitation letter for the Visa. Fast forwarding to the end of the year when our trip began:

We landed roughly on schedule in Hochiminh on Dec. 31st in the evening and had to wait an hour or so (not ideal after a long flight from the U.S.) to get our visa on arrival ($25 per person in cash). Once we exited immigration and customs, our guide (J.J.) and driver were there to greet us with a sign bearing our name. They took us to our hotel. Because of the traffic, we ended up being in the center of the city near the cathedral at midnight, surrounded by thousands of motorcycles ringing their horns when the near year arrived (quite a cultural experience). From there on, the entire trip was very pleasant (I will post details on the hotels on tripadvisor.com). We visited Saigon (and stopped by the TNK office to pay the balance of the trip), the Mekong Delta, Phu Quoc, PanThiet/Mui Ne, Da Lat and Nha Trang by private van and boats with J.J. (who was excellent, paying attention all the time to what we liked and making sure we would always have it). We almost missed the speedboat from Rach Gia to Phu Quoc, because the itinerary was 30 minutes off. As a result, we couldn’t have a scheduled lunch, but TNK compensated us with an excellent previously unplanned dinner in Hue. J.J. ordered a van with more legroom when we returned from Phu Quoc to HCMC (we flew back), arranged for a small canoe to pick-us up and take us to our hotel in Cantho where we were stuck in traffic on the way to the ferry, etc…Then we flew to Danang and were greeted by our new guide Tui (Mr. Dac Dahn had kindly arranged for French speaking guides at the other locations at our request), and from there visited Hoi An, My Son and Hue, Tui was excellent as well, very knowledgeable and helped us solve an issue we had with a tailor-made suit. In Hoi An, the reservation was not a river view room, but after contacting Mr. Dac Dahn generously agreed to pay the difference and we were upgraded accordingly (we had insisted on 2 deluxe rooms with sea/river/lake views everywhere) and I had not noticed it was not the case at that location. We then flew to Hanoi which we visited with our last guide (Mr. Lan, who was OK but not as good as the first 2), and went from there to Halong Bay for a memorable 2-day cruise, then flew back to HCMC, stayed overnight near the airport and had an early morning flight back to the U.S. On returning to HCMC, no driver was there to greet us, we were told after we called the agency that he was stuck in traffic due to an accident. We took a taxi to the nearby hotel, and the driver who picked-us up in the morning for our return flight to the US. reimbursed us more than we had actually paid for the taxi. We didn’t have to pay a departure tax, it was apparently already included in our plane tickets.

Overall, a great trip thanks to the logistics, efficiency and professionalism of the TNK staff and agents. Food was excellent (though too copious for us, we always have festive lunch menus booked by TNK with 6 or 7 courses in nice restaurants (included in the price), nice buffet breakfasts in most hotels. The only problem (which is beyond TNK’s control) was insufficient hot water in many hotels for two people to take showers one after the other), a really bad road with big holes when exiting MuiNe to go to Da Lat and a third guide in the north who took us to a number of expensive stores along the road when we saw much cheaper prices elsewhere (we suspect he had a kick-back from these stores (but to his credit, he advised us to see the anthropology museum in Hanoi instead of a couple of extra pagodas, which we really enjoyed). Other than these minor opportunities for improvement, we had great hotel rooms with very nice views (important to us), good weather, good food, good guides and drivers (who seemed satisfied with the tips we gave them), and we were taken to all the places agreed-to on the itinerary. For those who do not feel adventurous enough to be on their own in Vietnam, we do strongly recommend TNK travel as an ideal, reasonably-priced solution. You can count on them for a memorable and pleasant trip. One final comment, although you can pay everything in Vietnam in US dollars or Euros, prices are cheaper if you pay in Dongs (local currency, FX at 17.3 VND/USD on the average during our trip, calculated at 15 by the stores if you pay in USD). Also a word of caution, Vietnam Airlines only allows 20 kg for a checked suitcase and 7 kg for a carry-on so travel light……

If you are thinking of going and have any question about our experience, don’t hesitate to contact me at dkane@mmm.com.

Our sincere thanks to MM. Trinh, Danh and the entire TNK staff for a wonderful trip. The Kane family (Austin, TX, USA)

Liz Lalor
Excellent Service

My husband & I have just returned from a trip to Vietnam & Australia.

I came across TNK via the www and booked my internal flights, taxis, and accommodation around Vietnam with this company. I am pleased to say our trip went very well and TNK delivered all it promised.

I found the company easy to communicate with and very efficient.

I plan to return to Vietnam next year and will use TNK again...thanks!

Howard & Paula Myers
Month of Bliss
The month long individualized tour in Vietnam was amazing. Instead of describing the details which were attended to with perfection, we must commend TNK for every aspect of this trip. Every day was a new and exciting experience. Suggestions that were made by TNK to modify our itinerary were fabulous additions. Trust them. Every connection, every hotel, every boatride, every flight, went off without a single glitch. I would recommend them without hesitation.

Mrs.Yukiko Sjogren
Vietnam & Cambodia customized tour ( Nov 27th 06 )

Just a quick note to say a BIG BIG thank you!!!

We had a FANTASTIC time in Vietnam, definetely will be back. I have recommended you to some of my cieints and friends so please do not be surprised if you hear from some people from Paris or UK.

Our guides were excellent, we loved Quang who took us to the Cu Chi tunnels, Trang in Hanoi and Visal in Siem Reap - then a lovely girl who picked us up in Danang airport!!!! Please tell them all a special thanks!! The trips were nice too and the service overall, great!!!!

We will def use TNK the next time in Vietnam - wish you continued success!!

Regards, Yuki & Erik

Yukiko Kubota-Sjogren
Morgan Stanley Japan Equity Sales
25 Cabot Square | Lo

Mr. Barry Gannon
ADAA Reunion and trip to Ha Noi
Danh

Just a short note to say thank you for your very professional services provided to the Australian Air Dispatch Association (ADAA) reunion in Saigon and the tours you arranged for us during the two weeks we were in Vietnam. The guides were very good and spoke good english which assisted us very much, they were very knowledgeable about the country and its people. Your charges for the services provided were very modest and much better than those offered by companies based here in Australia.

Should you require I am happy to post you a letter from the ADAA recommending your services to anyone who may be interested.

Again our thanks for your services they were excellent.

Barry Gannon

Julia Price
Trip

Hi

Would just like to thank you for the great service provided by TNK. We have just returned from a 2 week trip and booked accomodation in three areas through yourselves. In a trip where any thing that could go wrong did, it was great to arrive somwhere and know that at least our hotel booking was hassle free.

Thanks heaps for the great service.

Regrads

Julia

Jeff Elliott
Feedback on Mekong Delta Tour

My daughter and I joined a tour of the Mekong delta aboard the Le Cochinchine during the early part of June.

We very much enjoyed the trip, the accomodation on board was very good (we appreaciated the air conditioning!)

The food was good and the staff were very friendly and helpful.

Overall, it was a fantastic expereince which was well organised and executed. I would not hesitate to use your services again.

Regards

Jeff Elliott

John Kellas
Mai Chau 4 day trek

We used TNK Travel for 16 day tour in 2008 and have now moved to Hanoi for a year and use their local affiliate, Dream Travel in Hanoi. We arranged to do the 4D/3N trek from Po Co/Hang Kia to Mai Chau over New Year. While the weather was cloudy and we missed the spectacular sights, we did enjoy the exercise. We had a local Guide/Cook, Miss Phuong, and a Hanoi guide, Quyen, with Mr Son doing the luggage transfers. We had 3 homestays and Phuong showed her culinary skills to perfection, different dishes each lunch and dinner, at each one.
We seemed to meet most of Phuong's family through the course of the 4 days, which we enjoyed. Homestays were satisfactory and trekkers will find them acceptable. Village life is simple and basic and one hears all the animals day and night, so expect the roosters to crow early and often.
We will suggest to our own future visitors that we do some more treks or stay at Mai Chau.

Thanks to Danh (TNK) and Ngoc Anh and Trang (Dream Travel).
JDK
PS Ask for Phuong and Quyen as guides