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)

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

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.

Joel Ng
Vietnam travel services

Dear Mr Dzung Trinh,

our group will like to thank you and your team for the memorable trip in Ho Chiminh city.

JJ (our tour guide) was good and responsible, he took special care of the old and kids well.

Will sure recommend TNK Travel to friends visiting Vietnam.

Joel Ng
Singapore

George Kowalski
Flight information to Vietnam (Sep)

Dear Hang!
Our Vietnam adventure is coming to an end. We are very happy with our holiday, how beautiful Vietnam is and the itinery you prepared and service we got from your company and your guides. We will strongly recommend your company to our friends in both Australia and Poland. Myself an my brother want to revisit Vietnam in
Last thing we would like to confirm is the late checking out in our last hotel Silk Path in Hanoi, which you mentioned in one of your emails. I will appreciate if you will confirm that with the hotel.

Rainer Passon
Tailormade trip to VIetnam & Cambodia

booked a tailormade trip Hanoi - Angkor Wat - Saigon with TNK; perfectly organised and all in all just great.

Go TNK !!

Max & Lorraine Brown
Vietnam Trip

Dear Dzung Trinh,
Now that we are home in New Zealand my wife and I wish to thank you and your staff for making our stay in Vietnam such a wonderful experience.
We enjoyed every moment of our stay and all our travel and transfers went completely smoothly for which we have to thank TNK Travel.
Your country and people have left a lasting impression on us. Everyone was so friendly and helpful. We would love to return and will recommend to any of our friends, thinking of travelling, that they visit Vietnam, particularly Ho Chi Minh city, and that they contact TNK Travel.

Thanks again for your assistance.
Best regards to you all.
Max & Lorraine Brown.

Andrea Mallett
Thank You

Dear tnk,

Your company organised a wonderful trip for ourselves and our friends (Mallett & Crisp families) over christmas and new year 2006/2007. We have some photos and things we would like to pass on to the wonderful guides that showed us around your beautiful country. If we send them to you are you able to pass them on for us? If possible do you have an address for Dat who did such a wonderful job of showing us around Saigon and Mekong Delta.

Thank You again for a wonderful trip we have been recomending your company to all of our friends.

Andrea Mallett

robert fitzpatrick
www.perfect4u.com

just wanted to say what a great website. we at perfect4u.com are looking for holidays to sell for our clients and Vietnam is such a wonderful place to visit, so perfect4u and the people are so friendly.

thanks

rob and team
perfect4u

Penny and her Group
Thank you Note

Dear Miss Nhu Y,

Thank you for arranging the Vietnam tour for us from the 17 Dec to 24 Dec.

We enjoyed ourselves tremendously and we truly appreciate your quick response to our feedback.
Thank you for the 3 star hotel you picked for us which far exceeded our expectation, and birthday party for our group.

We enjoyed the Chinese dinner, and the beautiful ancient style restaurants at Hue and Hoi Ann and our only regret is that we have not arranged for more shopping time.

I also wish to specially commend our tour guide in Hue and Hoi ann for his professionalism and also wish him happiness and success.


Thank You once again.


Cheers!

Penny and her Group