Doreen Neo (from Singapore)
Thank you, TNK Travel

My friend, Poon Ee Ping and myself had signed up for a 10 days customised package with TNK Travel in May 2006. We had enjoyed ourselves a lot. TNK Travel had taken good care of us during our trip. The tour guides were very friendly and helpful. The accomodation we had during our stay throughout Vietnam was good. The lunch catered for us were great too.

I would recommend my friends to sign up with TNK Travel if they go to Vietnam. Thanks once again.

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)

Annette - Taipa Area School, NZ
Holiday in Vietnam

I recently spent time in HCMC and surrounding areas on a school history trip which had 10 travellers on board. We searched the web and found AnAn2 hotel, (whom we booked a few days) they forwarded our itinerary ideas to TNK Travel. Within a short time and some emails between TNK & us, we had our itinerary set with a budget direct from Vietnam which could not be beaten in NZ. Arriving at the airport we met our fabulous tour guide. He had so much information and answered all of our questions in English. He was never late and offered us a few extra stops and changed a few things as we wished. Vietnam is a most extroadinary place to visit the people have big hearts, and nothing is too much trouble as we dsicovered at the hotels and restaurants we visited which had been booked by TNK. The food was delicious whereever we were. TNK's driver got us from A-Z without a hitch in a country where driving would be a challenge for most visitors. When outside HCMC TNK had other tour guides to meet us, equally with plenty of information on the area we were visiting, I would recommend both TNK Travel and AnAn2 hotel (which is right next door) to anyone visiting Vietnam. They are situated in the heart of District 1 HCMC where there is an array of street life 24/7. We had a great trip and I would like to return.

Paul Allen
Tour

Hi,
My wife and i have just completed a trip of Vietnam and the Saigon part of our tour was run by TNK.i am full of praise for our guide and driver, Mr Loc and Mr Tung? and the way things were run by your company. Please feel free to use my name and e/mail as a reference. Many thanks and hope we can return in the future.
Paul

Michelle Davis
Feedback

I was interested in visiting Vietnam and found TNK Travel through a search engine. I was a little sceptical about booking online as sometimes you do not get what you paid for. My experience with TNK Travel exceeded my expectations. I was met by our lovely tour guide Nhy in Hochiminh city and she absolutely looked after us. The holiday was very relaxing and experienced with ease. I travelled from HCMC - Hanoi and every experience with the guides and drivers were great.

I would very much recommend TNK Travel. Vietnam is a wonderful place to visit and the people are lovely.

The tour I experienced was good value for money.

Michelle Davis - Sydney, Australia

Def/Air Attache of Chile in Israel
Thank you

Dear all.

This is to say thank you very much for all your support during our trip to Vietnam. We spent a wonderful time in your country, and we were able to know a lot about your people, culture, places and ways of life.

Our three guides, Thong - in Saigon and Mekong Delta; Thom - in Hue and Hoy An; and Ding - in Hanoi and Halong Bay did a wonderful work. Congratulations
for all of them.

I think we can recommend your agency to our friends.
Our best regards
Carlos Bertens and family.

Steve and Jackie LaPlante
Vietnam package tour ( Dec 13th 2008 )

Hello Mr Danh and Mr Trinh
 
Just a short note to let you know that we are now safely back in Seoul after an extremely enjoyable, fascinating and relaxing 10 day tour of Vietnam.  The tour package exceeded our expectations in all respects: the guides were great, the accommodations were excellent, the tours fascinating (and the diving in Nha Trang was very good as well).
 
I would recommend this tour and TNK Travel to my colleagues without hesitation.
 
Thanks for your great work with this- I expect we will come back to Vietnam again soon.

Most sincerely- Steve LaPlante.

Quinn Waterloo
Thanks for a memorable trip!

Recently we completed a customized trip to Vietnam which you planned . My wife and I were very pleased with the entire trip, and the guides who escorted us. I can highly recommend TNK Travel, and have done so to all who ask. Please feel free to use us as a reference.

Thanks for a memorable trip!

Quinn Waterloo

Rosa Fonti
Greetings and Thanksgivings

Dear Mrs. Luu Vo!

first of all, my apologies for writing so late.

I would like to thank you so much for the very nice present we got from Mr. JJ on you behalf!

We appreciated it a lot and once again let me say we are very grateful for the very nice tour we are enjoying throughout Indochina.

Our guides and drivers in Vietnam, Cambodia and now in Laos wereare very good, and the accomodations and restaurants always very nice.

We will definitely recommend your travel agency and the tour to anyone we can.

Again thanks a lot and our best regards,

Rosa Fonti

Natalia Ramos
Private Package Tour - Vietnam & Cambodia 21 days

Hi,

Although we didn't contact you directly (your services were booked by Orbita, a portuguese travel agency) we would like to thank you for the excellent 3 weeks holiday that you provided us last March.

The hotels were very good and the homestays exceeded our expectations. The food was just delicious. We had no problem at all in eating vegetarian. The guides and drivers were great, friendly and helpful, especially M. Manh in Sapa, who was incredibly professional and made sure that our needs were met at all times. Although we enjoyed the all trip very much, the tour in Sapa was the one that we liked most.

We were just a little disapointed with the program change made in Cat Ba island. We just stayed overnight there. For some reason (which we couldn't understand) we had to come back to Halong early in the morning instead of doing the long treck in the island. It was a pitty. Cat Ba is so beautiful.

Vietnam will stay in our hearts!

Thank you!

Natalia & Josefina Ramos
Portugal