Just got back from our Nagasaki tour. Oh my gosh Amina, we loved Mitchy, our tour guide. She was phenomenal! I swear your tour guides keep getting better and better. She was great. Patient. Kind. Told funny stories. She took great care of us. She was fun and entertaining.
Hi Whitney,
Yes, everything went very well and we were pleased and our drivers/guides were all excellent, especially Clover and Jade. We saw so many wonderful things and learned so much about Korean history and culture and we especially enjoyed Korean cuisine. The itinerary worked out very well. Thanks for your help.
Thank you for a perfect itinerary. Your logistics and planning for each step was absolutely perfect.
Thank you for all that you have done for us.
Overall, I did have a wonderful time. Thank you. Our tour guide was very nice and his English was quite good, which I really appreciated.
I also wanted to provide some feedback regarding the sumo dinner and show. The venue was not at all handicapped accessible; there was no elevator to the basement, and the staircase was very difficult to navigate. I wanted to let you know so you are aware for future guests.
Best regards,
Kathy Lee
NLT-260501-AK148379 received an evaluation from Mary Roche
1=poor, 2=fair, 3=good, 4=very good, 5=excellent
Aspect | Mark(1-5) | Advice or Remark | |
| Travel Consultant | Amina:5 | I worked with Amina over several months on our tour. We were two relatively active women i our late 70s. She was able to help us plan private guide- drivers competent in English. We wanted fewer hotels with drives from the more central Daegu to other cities. | |
| Private Tour Guides | Sophia Seoul May 1 - 2, 2026 | Command of English: 5 Knowledge of Subjects: 5 Ability of Explain: 5 Attitude: 5 Flexibility: 5 | Sophia was the most experienced of our three guides. We began our day with changing of the guard and museum. A great tearoom for snacks . Our Rail Park ride and Nami Island during National May Family Holiday was all Korean, we loved it. We ended the day at the Cloud garden. It was at day's end with few visitors and the most beautiful garden, Korean style we've ever visited a definite must see. Sophia knew just where we should pose for fantastic pictures too. |
| Mr.Anthony Sung Daegu May 6 - 9, 2026 | Command of English: 4 Knowledge of Subjects: 3 Ability of Explain: 3 Attitude: 4 Flexibility: 5 | Anthony picked us up in his month-old gorgeous midnight blue van. We had him as a guide and he gave us the best overview of Korean life. Walking in Korea is hills and steps. He was able to divert us to ramps when possible. The Buddhist drumming was our most dramatic experience. The street food experiences were fun too. He will be marrying soon and anticipates a Kimchee refrigerator. He has been a guide for a little over a year and loves to travel. | |
| Clover Cho Jeju May 9 - 10, 2026 | Command of English: 5 Knowledge of Subjects: 5 Ability of Explain: 5 Attitude: 5 Flexibility: 5 | Closer toured us all over Jeju Island. The country and beaches were a great change from Koreas big cities. Her English was easiest on our ears. She took us to her favorite seaside restaurant for our most memorable meal. She pointed out all the women divers of various skill levels. Jegu has a very distinctive history and culture. Coming from farming country myself, I could live on Jegu. We had an unplanned detour to a glass museum designed by a famous architec which was fabulous. We plan to watch more KDramas as we certainly visited where they were filmed. | |
| Private Drivers and Cars | 5 | ||
| Hotels | Lotte City Hotel Jeju | Location: 5 Comfort: 5 | Hotels and breakfasts all had good locations and views. One of our rooms had a terrace and overlooked the city lights and three Christain churches. Another had an ocean view with wonderful sunset views. |
| Nine Tree by Parnas Seoul Myeongdong 2 | Location: 5 Comfort: 5 | Staff gave us great dinner suggestion of nearby Qual Qual restaurant. Three dinners were eaten there all delicious. They also reserved our facial and gave us specific directions for the several block walk. The facial was on our final, free day. It was a first and a must do experience. | |
| Eldis Regent Hotel | Location: 5 Comfort: 5 | Perfect weather, private terrace overlooking the city night lights. | |
| Sights or Activities | Worthiness of Visit: 5 Meet Your Interests: 5 Too Tight or Too Loose: 4 | 10-15,000 steps a day is a lot even with the long drives. | |
| Public Transportation | 5 | Other countries should copy Korean mass transit. I have a granddaughter starting a nail tech career and visit to supply house fun. | |
| Any Other Aspect | Koreans are handsome clean cut people. They dress conservatively, wear little jewelry, all wear tennis shoes. We had several old men thanking us for help during the Korean war. We felt very safe. At 76 and 79, this likely our final trip of this degree of vigor. It was wonderful. We are reliving and sharing our trip via screen sharing on our TVs. The only glitches invol ed messages via Wave messages. We are recommending Novaland to others and telling young relatives to learn Korean! | ||
| Overall Score of the Whole Package | 5 | We saw thousands of green houses and pocket gardens everwhere. | |
I just wanted to thank you so much for all your help and support throughout this trip.
Everything has been wonderful: the itinerary, the hotels, the guides, and all the experiences. Everyone has been incredibly kind and attentive, and everything has gone so smoothly.
We’ve truly been having an amazing time in Japan, and we really appreciate all the care and effort that went into organizing this trip for us.
Thank you again for everything!
Sincerely,
Zahia
Amina,
We arrived home safely....journey was 30+ hours and both of us experienced jet-lag but are back and active.
All three of our drivers/guides were excellent! Each offered different aspects. Even with old-lady accommodations and private car &n guide we walked 10-15,000 steps a day. My knees and hips ached every night, my sister had no pains. We liked the hotel breakfasts, fish on Jeju island, and street foods!
Hotel staff suggested good places to dine [Qual Qual a 2 min walk from Seoul hotel was our favorite...ate there 3 evenings].
Ann/I had our first facial and amused Korean masseuses as we
learned the custom of taking off most clothes,and foot soak before 60 minutes of rubs, massages, layers of products. We recommend facials on every tour.. If young, those fancy nail manicures would be a good choice. My biggest souvenir purchase was nail supplies for my granddaughter.
Korea is very safe and we actually witnessed people leaving keys on the table to reserve a spot while ordering food.
We never learned basic Korean words but aps and sign language worked well.
Koreans are very handsome, clean cut, great hair and haircuts. None are overweight or have tattoos. Everyone wears tennis shoes and very little jewelry. No grey hair and we learned coloring hair every two weeks keeps hair black. Koreans, unlike us, do not use big napkins when eating so I am certain they were puzzled with them in our gift bags. They all liked our cowboy keychains and drink coasters.
I am telling young relatives to learn Korean..the country is booming!
We saw very few old white people like us and often no other foreigners....We liked that!
Korea is so modern and technically advanced. The rail and air transport is very easy.
Because of our current political leaders, we were worried people would not like us but they did! Several older men thanked us for helping Korea, especially when they learned out father was stationed in Korea when we were children.
We did have a few communication problems; Often, the driver's communication did not arrive the night before. I suggest in the future to communicate both with
Wave text and email. Here in the US texts and emails get stuck in 'the cloud' and do not always come in a timely fashion! The same happened in Korea. My Samsung phone worked better than my sister's Apple cell phone.
We will suggest you to friends who are interested in future tours. WE WERE VERY PLEASED WITH NOVALAND TOUR AND YOUR SUGGESTIONS.
We have room and would love to have you and a friend visit us here.....Arizona is VERY different and has far fewer people!