My recent trip to Thailand was Good ,,taking into account that I was accompanied by my mother aged 94,,our trip was organised fairly well,,with the help of Mr.Nischal from the Bangaluru JayaNagar branch of the SOTC,,who worked out an itinerary for visiting enchanting places suitable for our age group,,,,of which Santuary of Truth, Pattayya, Ayutthaya Heritage,Reclining Buddha (WAT POH) n the WAT PHRA are worth visiting
Its the 3rd time I made a tour along with my mother ,,,planned with the help of the SOTC,,earlier places being UAE n Malaysia,,
Since I also come from a professional travel n tourism industry background I am able to blend well with the travel executives of SOTC,,,they handle us compassionately taking into the age factor of my mother etc,,,
Nevertheless are very professional too,,,
The hotels they select for our stay abroad are of very fine standards,,,value for the money we have invested on our trip,and had safe ,to n fro journey with the Airline we travelled.
Apart from above plus points n positivity of the SOTC organisation's,, ,since I travelled widely and also was in this industry for about 32+ years,,,as far as my experience with this Tour operator,,I wish they could amalgamate certain improvements too ,,in the following areas,,,
1.Coordination between the various departments,right from the taking the booking,,,preparing the flight tickets,,to the hotel bookings etc
2.Actual knowledge of the places to visit in a particular country n the historic value/ sightseeing/entertainment value is necessary for the executives who deal with our tour plan,,,,hence, please organise fairly informed n experienced staff
3.Even your Local Agent ,in the country of our visit should try to interact with us ,,ie. The actual tourist ,,,to throw some light on the airport formalities of that particular country ,,,for ex..what to /not to carry in cabin baggage,,etc,,, The local Agent can educate us on what are the areas where Indians and Indian food is available,,,,,,we also experienced that
Cab drivers and general public in Thailand had a drawback of not being conversant in basic English ,,,they were often spent time in translating our speech n queries thru Google,,, 😀,, n answering us in return thru Google,,,but we managed accordingly
Nevertheless,,we had a Glorious n a memorable trip,,
Thank you all ,,,
Best Wishes to,
TEAM SOTC