Interview with Claudia

Spoke to Claudia at length about her 86 day trip in South America.

the trip was with Exodus in august-sept-october 2007

the trip ran from rio to quito.
In general Claudia was not particularly happy with Exodus, although she enjoyed the trip inmmensely.
1. from day one, the trip notes provided were from quito to rio and so no precise notes were available for the inverse trip. This meant that some of the timings were out, in particular the was pretty much no time in Rio, while the inverse trip had 3 days!
2. the tour was supposed to have 1 tour leader and 1 assigned driver, but it turned out that it was more like 2 drivers - they didn't seem too interested in the TL part.
3. There was no real initial briefing - this left people a little unsure as to how things would run. Claudia also felt there was a lack of info in general - the expertise of the tour was a big let-down.
It was more diffiult to "engage with the places you were" because of the TL.
4. The bus broke down on the way out of Rio - for several hours and this happened a number of times in the first 3 weeks - this was seen as unacceptable, especially as they got to see buses from other companies liek Tucan and Budget which seemed far superior. The drivers told the group that the vehicles were to be sold after the tour, as the coompany was no longer going to run these types of trip. This basic failing was seen as particularly galling.
5. The guides along the way were very good, especially thse at Machu Pichu in Peru - some were better than others, but in general very good.
6. The group had 16 people - 2 aussies, 2 kiwis and the rest British. 1 man was somewhat older, and all people seemed to be in some sort of transition - fitting in with the idea of a 3 month trip.
The group seemed to get on well - and were happy that they were not with the likes of the BEX group they came across - it seemed to be a more 18-30 trip. Although the group was mainly mid 20s - mid 30s.
7. The local payment was not explained properly as the group suspected it was to pay for things along the way, which it was not. When 'over-budget' the group wondered where the local payment money had gone. I guess there was a general lack of understanding about where the money was going/ had been.
8. Hidden extras were linked to the local payment issue as people began to question what they were getting for their money - there is a huge list of includeds in the trip notes, but the group did not feel there was so much included.
9. the drivers offered the option of restaurants, but the ones they went to as a group were not so good and were generally more expensive - this led to further issues with the drivers. On one occasion they had trouble dividing a group bill, and it turned out that the TL had ordered 2 bottles of wine, and that was the difference - again fuelling the fire.
10. the bus was more of a truck, with the drivers 'up front' and separate from the group. this alienated them a little.
11. one of the drivers 'hooked up' with one of the girls on the trip - seen as unprofessional by some group members.
12. No mention of RT or environmental considerations at all. By all accounts, unlikely with the drivers thay had.
13. On the whole the group and Claudia would not recommend Exodus, and would travel with Explore instead having previous experience with them. The lack of expertise and basic failings of the bus were too much to overcome.